Mind Wandering

Question 1

Wong et al 2022 - MW and task switching

Answer 1

• increased MW is associated with improved task switching

Question 2

Kurzban et al 2013 - MW and Task Switching

Answer 2

• MW may occur as an effect of trying to switch tasks and focus on something else

Question 3

Peter 2009 - self interpretation

Answer 3

argue metacognitive access to our own attitudes always results from swift unconscious self-interpretation

Question 4

Castro 2019 - inner speech and metacognition

Answer 4

• inner speech is closely tied to human metacognitive capacities
  -talking to ones self in allows humans to gain access to their own mental states by forming — meta representations states through rehearsal of inner utterances

Question 5

Problems with using Stroop task to investigate MW

Answer 5

• lack of direct measurement > response time/error rates used to infer mind wandering indirectly > may not capture frequency or depth of Mw accurately
• Interpretation > issues interpreting results in context due to fluctuations in performance attributed to various factors > attentional lapses, distraction, difficulty > difficulty isolating Mw as a sole explanatory factors
• Task demand effects > stroop task itself may influence Mw due to repetitive natures, cognitive load or lack of engaging stimuli > also individual differences may lead to different strategies affected Mw frequency, duration and content > could impact results
  Ecological validity > task is lab based, doesn’t capture IRL

Question 6

Theories for why MW occurs

Answer 6

• Failure of metacognition > poor executive control
• Cost of metacognition > cost of trying to exert cognitive control
• Cognitive failure > related to poor attentional control

Question 7

Shenhav 2017 - Cost Benefit model of MW

Answer 7

• argues MW is a representation of your brain weighing out the cost of prioritising the current task over a different task and actively choosing to shift your attention to another task

Question 8

Schooler 2014 - MW and Education

Answer 8

• study focused on relationship between MW and comprehension
• ppts engaged in mindless reading task + report MW > lab + clinincal settings
• self caught and probe caught measures of MW
• FOUND > 5.4 self-caught Zone outs per 45 minutes vs 1.6 probe caught zone outs
• 67% of ppts unaware of zoning out
  _ MW had a negative impact on comprehension > increased Mw correlated with worse understanding and memory of content of the text
• also discovered content of MW was unrelated to the task at hand > suggests MW shifts focus away from external environment to internal thoughts/distractions

Question 9

Default Mode Network (DMN) and MW

Answer 9

• DMN > group of brain regions which are active when the brain is at rest and not focused on a specific task > involved in generating self-referential thoughts
• DMN becomes active during Mw and other brain regions involved in tasked related processing become less active

Question 10

Anterior Cingulate Cortex (AAC) and MW

Answer 10

• AAC involved in monitoring and regulating attention
• found to be less active during Mw

Question 11

McVay and Kane 2009 - MW and Working Memory performance

Answer 11

• found that people who reported more mind wandering on a self-report questionnaire also performed worse on a working memory task

Question 12

Franklin 2013 - MW and Working Memory performance

Answer 12

• individuals who experience more MW during a WM task also performed worse on task
• increased MW correlated with worse WM performance
• perhaps MW interferes with the ability to maintain information in WM

Question 13

Risko et al 2011 - MW and Memory in Academia

Answer 13

• looked at how much students mind wandered during a lecture
• found that MW increases with time on task and memory for the lecture decreases
• significant relation between Mw and memory for lecture material (which decreases as a function of time of lecture)
• memory of lecture related to amount of self reported MW

Question 14

Experience Sampling

Answer 14

• sampling in which ppts subjective experiences are gathered in real time as they occur in the environment
• allows ppts to report their thoughts, emotions and behavior’s
• this sort of data may be biased by factors such as mood, current task and cognitive style
• can be paired with other tasks, can be probed

Question 15

Limitations of experience sampling - MW

Answer 15

• Subjectivity
• Bias
• Lack of reliability
• Effects of extraneous factors

Question 16

Christoff et al 2009 - Simple Decision Task

Answer 16

• ppts presented with series of stimuli > had to make a simple binary choice based on stimuli > e.g. indicate whether a presented word was negative or pisitive in meaning
• stopped ppts periodically to ask if they were focused or if their mind had wandered (probe caught MW)
• also asked metawareness questions when MW caught to see content of ppts thoughts during MW
• found MW had a negative affect on task performance > increased Mw = less accuracy/ slower desicion making
• found that MW without meta-awareness (unintentional) associated with widespread activity across frontal control and monitoring regions > ACC, aPFC
  > challenges idea of MW being a failure of MC > if this was the case we would expect a reduction of activity in MC related areas during MW

Question 17

Killingsworth & Gilbert 2010 - MW and Mood App

Answer 17

• gave ppts app on phone to track how much time they spend MW
• also asked for happiness ratings
• Found ppts spent 53.1% of time MW and MW was associated with lower happiness ratings compared to periods of focus
  Evaluation: easy to distribute, replicate and analyse data quantitatively however prone to differences in mood, understanding of app function, ppts may forget to answer one day etc

Question 18

Varao-Sousa et al 2018 - MW during University Lectures

Answer 18

• students asked to watch video recordings of lectures in the lab
• found MW rates increased as the lecture progressed
• confirmed by RISKO et al etc