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The Role of Mind-Wandering in Measurements of General Aptitude

DOI:10.1037/a0027968
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Michael Mrazek at University of Texas at Austin
Michael Mrazek
Jonathan Smallwood at Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Jonathan Smallwood
Michael S Franklin at University of California, Santa Barbara
Michael S Franklin
Jason Chin at Australian National University
Jason Chin
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Tests of working memory capacity (WMC) and fluid intelligence (gF) are thought to capture variability in a crucial cognitive capacity that is broadly predictive of success, yet pinpointing the exact nature of this capacity is an area of ongoing controversy. We propose that mind-wandering is associated with performance on tests of WMC and gF, thereby partially explaining both the reliable correlations between these tests and their broad predictive utility. Existing evidence indicates that both WMC and gF are correlated with performance on tasks of attention, yet more decisive evidence requires an assessment of the role of attention and, in particular, mind-wandering during performance of these tests. Four studies employing complementary methodological designs embedded thought sampling into tests of general aptitude and determined that mind-wandering was consistently associated with worse performance on these measures. Collectively, these studies implicate the capacity to avoid mind-wandering during demanding tasks as a potentially important source of success on measures of general aptitude, while also raising important questions about whether the previously documented relationship between WMC and mind-wandering can be exclusively attributed to executive failures preceding mind-wandering (McVay & Kane, 2010b). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
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... Consistent with the idea that suppressing mind wandering may require cognitive resources (Mcvay & Kane, 2010), individuals with low working memory capacity (WMC) compared to high WMC are more likely to experience mind wandering during high-load tasks (Mcvay & Kane, 2009, 2012aMrazek et al., 2012). Researchers have reported negative correlations between WMC and mind wandering during high-load tasks (Mcvay & Kane, 2012b;Mrazek et al., 2012;, while positive and null-significant associations have been observed between WMC and mind wandering when the latter is measured in low-load tasks (Levinson et al., 2012;Mcvay & Kane, 2012a;Unsworth, McMillan, Brewer, & Spillers, 2012). ...
... Consistent with the idea that suppressing mind wandering may require cognitive resources (Mcvay & Kane, 2010), individuals with low working memory capacity (WMC) compared to high WMC are more likely to experience mind wandering during high-load tasks (Mcvay & Kane, 2009, 2012aMrazek et al., 2012). Researchers have reported negative correlations between WMC and mind wandering during high-load tasks (Mcvay & Kane, 2012b;Mrazek et al., 2012;, while positive and null-significant associations have been observed between WMC and mind wandering when the latter is measured in low-load tasks (Levinson et al., 2012;Mcvay & Kane, 2012a;Unsworth, McMillan, Brewer, & Spillers, 2012). Building on these results, Ju et al. (2018) found an interaction between WMC and task load on mind wandering (Ju & Lien, 2018). ...
... However, despite individuals with lower WMC investing more executive control and allocating a higher proportion of executive resources to the task during high-load tasks, their total amount of executive resources remains lower compared to individuals with higher WMC. Consequently, they end up allocating fewer resources to the task compared to those with higher WMC, leading to the phenomenon observed in previous literature where individuals with higher WMC exhibit less mind wandering during high-load tasks compared to those with lower WMC (Ju & Lien, 2018;Mcvay & Kane, 2009, 2012aMrazek et al., 2012;Rummel & Boywitt, 2014). ...
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... stimulus-independent) distraction would be you sitting in your office intending to write a paper but wallowing in memories of your last holidays instead. The frequency with which instances of internal distraction are experienced while performing a cognitively taxing task has been shown to be negatively associated with task performance (McVay & Kane, 2009;Mrazek et al., 2012;Robison & Unsworth, 2018;Rummel & Boywitt, 2014;Soemer & Schiefele, 2020;Stawarczyk & D'Argembeau, 2016;Unsworth & McMillan, 2013). Just as often, however, when we experience distractions, they are triggered by the occurrence of some task-irrelevant stimulus in the environment, such as a heated discussion by some colleagues in the hallway that distracts us from writing the paper. ...
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... Moreover, attention and working memory are closely intertwined [4,5], and individual differences in these abilities are dependent on their interrelated variations [6]. Lapses in working memory performance have been associated with differences in individuals' attention [7], wherein low-ability individuals exhibit more frequent mind-wandering, particularly during cognitively demanding tasks, and this phenomenon demonstrates synchronized behavior [4]. ...
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  • Aug 2023
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