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A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind
Abstract
We developed a smartphone technology to sample people’s ongoing thoughts, feelings, and actions and found (i) that people
are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is and (ii) found that doing so typically
makes them unhappy.
... The first question, "How is your mood now?" asked participants to rate their current feeling on a five-point scale (5, very good; 1, very bad). The question of mood was from the ESM item asking the level of happiness [16,26] which showed a relationship with events in daily life [27]. ...
... The average of mood, personal causation, values, interests, and activity satisfaction were all above the midpoint of the scale, indicating that students reported positive rather than negative experiences. Participants reported mind-wandering in the moment 42.9% of the times sampled, which was similar to 46.9% reported in a previous study [26]. ...
... Interests negatively predicted mindwandering, meaning that when participants enjoyed an activity, they were less likely to think about things unrelated to the activity. This finding was consistent with previous findings that mind-wandering was related to an unhappy mind [16,26]. By focusing on volition rather than general states, this study showed that interests in an activity kept an individual's mind on the activity. ...
Our lives are comprised of moment-to-moment activities and experiences. According to the Model of Human Occupation, our occupational experiences can be affected by volition, which consists of personal causation, values, and interests. This study investigated how momentary volition could affect activity satisfaction and mind-wandering while performing occupations. This study also examined the relationship of momentary volition with overall life perspectives on life satisfaction and life balance. Undergraduate students participated in this cross-sectional study. The experience sampling method (ESM), which repeatedly collects real-time data in everyday life, was applied in this study to measure students’ momentary states such as activity, volition, activity satisfaction, and mind-wandering. After completing the ESM, participants’ life satisfaction and life balance were measured using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and the Life Balance Inventory (LBI), respectively. Forty-two participants and 1092 sampling data points were included in the analysis. At the event level, regression analysis was performed to identify volition elements to contribute to activity satisfaction and mind-wandering. At the personal level, correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship of momentary volition to life satisfaction and life balance. Momentary personal causation, values, and interests contributed to activity satisfaction. Mind-wandering was predicted negatively by interests but positively by personal causation. Momentary interests were positively correlated with SWLS and LBI scores. This study demonstrated that momentary volition was associated with activity satisfaction and engagement, as well as life satisfaction and balance in undergraduate students. Momentary volition, especially interests, contributed to positive occupational experiences and life perspectives. This study suggests that occupational therapy practitioners need to consider momentary interests to provide occupation-centered interventions for undergraduate students.
... Also, affect typically has been studied in relation to external stimuli or specific tasks. Yet, we spend almost half of our waking hours immersed in thoughts and experiences not related to the current environment or task at hand (Kane et al., 2017;Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). Such stimulus-independent or task-unrelated experiences are typically referred to as mind-wandering or daydreaming (Seli et al., 2018;Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). ...
... Research shows that affect varies depending on whether we are focused on the here and now or our minds are wandering. Studies indicate that people experience more positive affect when they are focused on what they are doing at a particular moment, rather than when they are thinking about something else (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010;Mills et al., 2021), although contrary evidence also exists (e.g., Gross et al., 2021). Even though mind-wandering is often linked to negative affect, how positive or negative people feel depends on the content of mind wandering. ...
... For example, negatively valenced mind-wandering predicts lower mood and symptoms of psychopathology (DuPre & Spreng, 2018;Poerio et al., 2013). Similarly, negative dream affect predicts negatively valenced post-sleep waking affect Schredl & Reinhard, 2009-2010Sikka et al., 2022). A prominent example is nightmares: negative affect experienced during nightmares often continues into wakefulness and contributes to daytime distress and to various mental health disorders (Levin & Nielsen, 2007, 2009), even to increased risk for suicide (Sandman et al., 2017). ...
Affective scientists traditionally have focused on periods of active wakefulness when people are responding to external stimuli or engaging in specific tasks. However, we live much of our lives immersed in experiences not related to the current environment or tasks at hand—mind-wandering (or daydreaming) during wakefulness and dreaming during sleep. Despite being disconnected from the immediate environment, our brains still generate affect during such periods. Yet, research on stimulus-independent affect has remained largely separate from affective science. Here, we suggest that one key future direction for affective science will be to expand our field of view by integrating the wealth of findings from research on mind-wandering, sleep, and dreaming to provide a more comprehensive account of affect across the wake-sleep cycle. In developing our argument, we address two key issues: affect variation across the wake-sleep cycle, and the benefits of expanding the study of affect across the full wake-sleep cycle. In considering these issues, we highlight the methodological and clinical implications for affective science.
... Seli et al. (2015) and Carriere et al. (2013) suggested a distinction between intentional/ deliberate vs. unintentional/spontaneous MW. Excessive spontaneous MW has been related to several mental health conditions including high levels of neuroticism and anxiety (Christoff et al., 2016;Robison et al., 2017), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and borderline personality disorder (BPD; Mowlem et al., 2016Mowlem et al., , 2019Franklin et al., 2017;Moukhtarian et al., 2020); in addition to lower levels of daily happiness (Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010;Hobbiss et al., 2019), reduced attention, greater interference in performance on executive-function tasks (Smallwood et al., 2004;Mrazek et al., 2012;Mooneyham and Schooler, 2013), reduced dispositional mindfulness (Deng et al., 2014;Marchetti et al., 2016), and increased depressive symptoms (Stawarczyk et al., 2013;Marchetti et al., 2014;Ottaviani et al., 2015). In contrast, potentially linked to deliberate forms of MW, several studies have postulated an adaptive role of MW associated with greater creative problem-solving (Baird et al., 2012;Yamaoka and Yukawa, 2020), adaptive future planning, and better management of personal goals (Baird et al., 2011;Mooneyham and Schooler, 2013;Smallwood and Schooler, 2015). ...
... Finally, to investigate the convergent and divergent validity of the Spanish MEWS by exploring its relationships with well-known theoretical constructs. Based on the existing literature, a positive relationship between MW and negative affect (Robison et al., 2017), rumination (Christoff et al., 2016), and anxious and depressive symptomatology was hypothesized (Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010;Marchetti et al., 2014). In contrast, a negative relationship was expected between MW, and both selfreported attentional control (Mooneyham and Schooler, 2013) and dispositional mindfulness capabilities . ...
... A significant positive relationship between MW and anxious and depressive symptomatology, as well as with negative affect was found in the Spanish sample. This is in line with previous literature linking excessive MW to neuroticism (Robison et al., 2017) and depressive symptoms (Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010;Andrews-Hanna et al., 2013;Hoffmann et al., 2016). However, the mechanism of the MW-Negative mood pathway remains unclear and needs further investigation, since the direction of any causal relationship is still not well understood (Smallwood and O'Connor, 2011;Stawarczyk et al., 2013). ...
Introduction
Over the last decade, excessive spontaneous mind wandering (MW) has been consistently associated with emotional disorders. The main aims of the present study were (1) to re-examine the factor structure of the Mind Excessively Wandering Scale (MEWS); (2) to validate the Spanish version of the MEWS; and (3) to conduct a cross-cultural validation of the MEWS in Spanish and UK samples.
Methods
A forward/backward translation to Spanish was conducted. Data of 391 Spanish and 713 British non-clinical individuals were analysed.
Results
A revised 10-item version of the MEWS (MEWS-v2.0) demonstrated to be a valid instrument to assess MW. A 2-correlated factor structure properly captured the MEWS-v2.0 variance, accounting for two specific but interrelated dimensions ( Uncontrolled thoughts and Mental Overactivity ).
Discussion
The Spanish MEWS-v2.0 showed adequate internal consistency and construct validity, as well as appropriate convergent/divergent validity. Cross-cultural analyses showed that MEWS-v2.0 captured the same construct in both UK and Spanish samples. In conclusion, both Spanish and English MEWS-v2.0 demonstrated to be reliable measures to capture spontaneous MW phenomenon in non-clinical adult populations.
... Our automatic thoughts are often about what bothers, worries, and threatens us, largely because of our nervous system (our biological stress response) but also because of the culture, we are a part of (Goleman, 2018). Killingsworth and Gilbert (2010) showed that our human mind is occupied with mind wandering about half of our awake hours with consequences for our mental health (Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010). When the brain engages in active tasks, the default mode activities calm down as those essential for these tasks gear up, but when the active tasks finish, the default mode activities ramp up again (Goleman, 2018). ...
... Our automatic thoughts are often about what bothers, worries, and threatens us, largely because of our nervous system (our biological stress response) but also because of the culture, we are a part of (Goleman, 2018). Killingsworth and Gilbert (2010) showed that our human mind is occupied with mind wandering about half of our awake hours with consequences for our mental health (Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010). When the brain engages in active tasks, the default mode activities calm down as those essential for these tasks gear up, but when the active tasks finish, the default mode activities ramp up again (Goleman, 2018). ...
... Feeling comfort during rest also seemed to explain important parts of the effects of the MBSR program on improved mental health at 6 months. These results are in accordance with the results by Killingworth and Gilbert, who concluded that mind wandering was associated with decreased well-being (Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010). ...
Background
A large body of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) has shown that mindfulness-based interventions are effective for improving mental health, but research is lacking in regards to the mechanisms of change. We aimed to investigate the mediating effects of self-reported altered resting state of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on mental health, when provided as a universal intervention in a real-life context.
Methods
Autoregressive path models with three time points of measurement, and contemporaneous and constant b paths were used in an RCT. The RCT took place in all five geographical regions of Denmark and included 110 schools and 191 schoolteachers. The schools were randomized 1:1 in each geographical region to intervention or a wait-list control group. The intervention was the standardized MBSR. Data were collected at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. The outcomes were perceived stress, measured by Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), symptoms of anxiety and depression, measured by Hopkins Symptom Check List-5 (SCL-5), and well-being measured by WHO-5 Well-being Index (WHO-5). The mediator was resting state measured by the Amsterdam Resting State Questionnaire (ARSQ).
Results
Statistically significant mediated effects of altered ARSQ-subscales scores for Discontinuity of Mind, Planning, and Comfort were found for the MBSR effect on all outcomes; PSS, SCL-5 and WHO-5. Furthermore, statistically significant mediated effects of altered sleepiness subscale score of the effects on PSS and SCL-5 of MBSR were found. No statistically significant mediating effects of the subscales Theory of Mind, Self and Somatic Awareness for the MBSR intervention effect were found.
Conclusion
The results support that the MBSR program can alter self-reported resting state, towards less mind wandering and more comfort, measured by the ARSQ, and that this may explain some of the mechanisms regarding the effectiveness of MBSR on mental health at 6 months, when provided as a universal intervention. The study provides insight into an active ingredient of how MBSR may improve mental health and well-being. It supports the suggestions that mindfulness meditation may be a sustainable way of training the mental health.
Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov , identifier NCT03886363.
... www.nature.com/scientificdata/ We queried subjective well-being with "How are you feeling right now?" with VAS endpoints "Very bad" and "Very good" 22 . Although feelings of well-being are often measured with separate positive and negative affect dimensions, our study required the least intrusive item possible to not disrupt play more than was necessary, and we therefore used the simple "happiness" question 22 . ...
... We queried subjective well-being with "How are you feeling right now?" with VAS endpoints "Very bad" and "Very good" 22 . Although feelings of well-being are often measured with separate positive and negative affect dimensions, our study required the least intrusive item possible to not disrupt play more than was necessary, and we therefore used the simple "happiness" question 22 . Furthermore, such single-item measures have been found to have good validity and are recommended in intensive longitudinal studies 23 . ...
The potential impacts that video games might have on players’ well-being are under increased scrutiny but poorly understood empirically. Although extensively studied, a level of understanding required to address concerns and advise policy is lacking, at least partly because much of this science has relied on artificial settings and limited self-report data. We describe a large and detailed dataset that addresses these issues by pairing video game play behaviors and events with in-game well-being and motivation reports. 11,080 players (from 39 countries) of the first person PC game PowerWash Simulator volunteered for a research version of the game that logged their play across 10 in-game behaviors and events (e.g. task completion) and 21 variables (e.g. current position), and responses to 6 psychological survey instruments via in-game pop-ups. The data consists of 15,772,514 gameplay events, 726,316 survey item responses, and 21,202,667 additional gameplay status records, and spans 222 days. The data and codebook are publicly available with a permissive CC0 license.
... The cultural background in Japan differs from those regions, making it important to investigate this aspect. To ensure a quantification of emodiversity, without recall bias, we implemented the smartphone-based experience sampling method, which is wellsuited for collecting context-dependent self-reports in real-life settings (refer to the Materials and method section) (25,27). We then analyzed psycho-physical characteristics, including emodiversity, on healthdeclined experimental days. ...
... Due to the inaccuracy of diary-based reports and recall bias, diary-based studies evaluated emodiversity mainly in terms of several-day variations but not intra-day variations. To achieve a more reliable and fine-grained evaluation of emotions based on ecological validity, in the current experiment, emotional self-reports were obtained using the experience sampling method (ESM), also known as ecological momentary assessment (EMA) (25,27,39,40). In ESM, participants respond to self-reports when they receive trigger events on their devices. ...
Introduction
In recent years, the widespread shift from on-site to remote work has led to a decline in employees’ mental health. Consequently, this transition to remote work poses several challenges for both employees and employers. To address these challenges, there is an urgent need for techniques to detect declining mental health in employees’ daily lives. Emotion-based health assessment, which examines emotional diversity (emodiversity) experienced in daily life, is a possible solution. However, the feasibility of emodiversity remains unclear, especially from the perspectives of its applicability to remote workers and countries other than Europe and the United States. This study investigated the association between subjective mental health decline and emotional factors, such as emodiversity, as well as physical conditions, in remote workers in Japan.
Method
To explore this association, we conducted a consecutive 14-day prospective observational experiment on 18 Japanese remote workers. This experiment comprised pre-and post-questionnaire surveys, physiological sensing, daytime emotion self-reports, and subjective health reports at end-of-day. In daytime emotion self-reports, we introduced smartphone-based experience sampling (also known as ecological momentary assessment), which is suitable for collecting context-dependent self-reports precisely in a recall bias-less manner. For 17 eligible participants (mean ± SD, 39.1 ± 9.1 years), we evaluated whether and how the psycho-physical characteristics, including emodiversity, changed on subjective mental health-declined experimental days after analyzing descriptive statistics.
Results
Approximately half of the experimental days (46.3 ± 18.9%) were conducted under remote work conditions. Our analysis showed that physical and emotional indices significantly decreased on mental health-declined days. Especially on high anxiety and depressive days, we found that emodiversity indicators significantly decreased (global emodiversity on anxiety conditions, 0.409 ± 0.173 vs. 0.366 ± 0.143, p = 0.041), and positive emotional experiences were significantly suppressed (61.5 ± 7.7 vs. 55.5 ± 6.4, p < 0.001).
Discussion
Our results indicated that the concept of emodiversity can be applicable even to Japanese remote workers, whose cultural background differs from that of individuals in Europe and the United States. Emodiversity showed significant associations with emotion dysregulation-related mental health deterioration, suggesting the potential of emodiversity as useful indicators in managing such mental health deterioration among remote workers.
... The mean values of mood, personal causation, values, interests, and occupational satisfaction were above the midpoint of the scale, indicating that students reported positive rather than negative experiences. Participants reported mind-wandering at 43% of the sampling moment, which was similar to 46.9% reported in a previous study [28]. ...
... Interests negatively predicted mindwandering, meaning that when participants enjoyed an activity, they were less likely to think about things unrelated to the activity. This finding was consistent with previous findings that mindwandering was related to an unhappy mind [14,28]. By focusing on volition rather than general states, this study showed that interests in an activity kept an individual's mind in the activity. ...
Our lives are comprised of moment-to-moment activity experiences. According to the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO), our occupational experiences can be affected by volition, which consists of personal causation, values, and interests. This study investigated how momentary volition affected occupational satisfaction and mind-wandering while performing occupations. This study also examined the relationship between momentary volition and the overall life perspectives of life satisfaction and life balance. Undergraduate students participated in this cross-sectional study. The experience sampling method (ESM) was used to measure students’ momentary states such as activity, volition, occupational satisfaction, and mind-wandering. After conducting the ESM, the participants’ life satisfaction was measured using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and their life balance was measured by the Life Balance Inventory (LBI). Forty-two participants and 1,092 sampling data were included in the analysis. Momentary personal causation, values, and interests contributed to occupational satisfaction. Mind-wandering was predicted negatively by interests but positively by personal causation. Momentary interests were positively correlated with SWLS and LBI scores. This study demonstrated that momentary volition was associated with occupational satisfaction and engagement, as well as life satisfaction and balance, in undergraduate students.
... They enable the acquisition of large datasets across multiple time points while participants go about their daily lives [14], thereby improving generalizability to robust behavioral predictions outside of the laboratory. In mental health research, methods such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA) or experience sampling are increasingly common to monitor fluctuations in mood or other psychological and physiological states [e.g., 15,16,17,18,19,20]. Consequently, tracking fluctuations in mental states over time may help predict the onset of disorder-specific behavior which is impossible to recreate in the lab, such as binge eating [19,21,22] or binge drinking [23][24][25]. ...
Reinforcement learning is a core facet of motivation and alterations have been associated with various mental disorders. To build better models of individual learning, repeated measurement of value-based decision-making is crucial. However, the focus on lab-based assessment of reward learning has limited the number of measurements and the test-retest reliability of many decision-related parameters is therefore unknown. In this paper, we present an open-source cross-platform application Influenca that provides a novel reward learning task complemented by ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of current mental and physiological states for repeated assessment over weeks. In this task, players have to identify the most effective medication by integrating reward values with changing probabilities to win (according to random Gaussian walks). Participants can complete up to 31 runs with 150 trials each. To encourage replay, in-game screens provide feedback on the progress. Using an initial validation sample of 384 players (9729 runs), we found that reinforcement learning parameters such as the learning rate and reward sensitivity show poor to fair intra-class correlations (ICC: 0.22-0.53), indicating substantial within- and between-subject variance. Notably, items assessing the psychological state showed comparable ICCs as reinforcement learning parameters. To conclude, our innovative and openly customizable app framework provides a gamified task that optimizes repeated assessments of reward learning to better quantify intra- and inter-individual differences in value-based decision-making over time.
... Daha yüksek dikkat dereceleri daha yüksek duygusal denge ve iyi oluşla ilişkilidir. Dolaşan bir zihin "mutsuz bir zihin" olarak adlandırılır (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). Bu nedenle Dikkatin psikolojik iyi oluşla yakından ilişkili olması beklenmektedir (Kesebir vd., 2019). ...
... Attention involves attending fully to the present moment instead of letting ourselves become preoccupied with the past or future (Shapiro et al., 2014). (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). Some people say that humans suffer from a "monkey mind," or the tendency of our thoughts to swing from one idea to the next (Shapiro et al., 2014). ...
Professional Communication in Health Studies is an indispensable resource for students pursuing careers in healthcare. By mastering the art of professional communication in health studies, students can improve patient outcomes, foster collaborative healthcare environments, and make a positive impact on the lives of those accessing our healthcare system. This textbook covers various topics essential to professional communication, including communication theories, verbal and nonverbal communication, interpersonal skills, and intercultural communication. Additionally, it offers practical guidance on communicating with empathy, compassion, clarity, conciseness, and cultural sensitivity.
... However, the relationship between the content of mind-wandering and environmental stimuli has sparked controversy regarding its def-inition. While some researchers define mind-wandering as producing thoughts unrelated to current external stimuli (Killingsworth and Gilbert 2010;Smallwood and Schooler 2015), this definition may be overly restrictive. Thoughts associated with stimuli may also be perceived as mind-wandering by many individuals (Seli et al. 2018b). ...
The aesthetics of poetry is intricately intertwined with the cognitive process of mind-wandering, where attention shifts from the current task and spontaneous thoughts emerge. While mind-wandering has been extensively studied in psychology and neuroscience, its potential relationship to poetry remains underexplored. This study investigates the experience of mind-wandering associated with traditional Chinese regulated verse (律詩), which effectively enables the exploration of inner emotions and perceptions within its concise form. Typically, the first couplet of a regulated verse poem describes how mind-wandering is triggered by a place or event rich in semantic information. The second and third couplets use parallelism to create two distinct mental spaces, with the primary goal of encouraging the mind to wander between them. By meditating on parallel words in these two couplets, readers can reflect upon their essence through creative thinking and sensory imagery. Finally, the fourth couplet serves as a metacognitive endpoint, revealing the self’s position in the universe by evaluating the content of mind-wandering. This study demonstrates how the structure of regulated verse artfully represents the poet’s experience of mind-wandering, providing readers with the opportunity to re-experience this process with spontaneous and controlled cognitive activity.
... 13 On the other hand, Killingsworth and Gilbert based on their research on daydreaming and positive feelings, concluded that a "wandering mind is an unhappy mind". 14 However, as in the case of D aydreaming can be defined as thoughts and images emerging when attention shifts from external tasks to a private, internal flow of consciousness. 1 According to the extensive research of Singer on daydreaming, three styles of daydreaming can be identified: positive constructive daydreaming (i.e., playful-wishful imagery and resourceful-creative thought), guilty-dysphoric daydreaming (i.e., obsessive, distressful fantasies) and poor attentional control (lack of ability to focus on current thought or task). 2 Based on this classification, studies have explored the benefits of daydreaming, as well as its relationship with rumination, mood and cognitive failure. 3 To elaborate, a large body of research has investigated the impact of daydreaming on creativity with seemingly An Investigation of the Equivocal Relationship Between Daydreaming, Creativity and Well-Being RIDDHIMA KAMAT*, JOSEPH M DIEHL † daydreaming and creativity, it has been proposed that the impact of daydreaming on mood is dependent on the content of daydreaming, with positive constructive daydreaming being related to personal growth and positive affect and guilty-dysphoric daydreaming being associated to negative affect, lower well-being and depressive symptoms. ...
An extensive number of studies have been conducted on the relationship between daydreaming, creativity and well-being, with mixed results, nonetheless. Particularly, research has demonstrated both positive and negative effects of daydreaming on creativity and well-being, as well as of creativity on well-being. In addition, most studies have been conducted on adults. Therefore, the purpose of this survey-based study conducted in, Delhi University in May 2023 was to further explore the relationship among the aforesaid constructs on a sample of late adolescents. To this aim, 622 Indian were asked to complete three psychometrically validated scales. The following research hypotheses were proposed: H1) Daydreaming would be a statistically significant predictor of creativity; H2) Daydreaming would be a statistically significant predictor of overall distress, stress, anxiety and depression; H3) There would be a statistically significant difference in daydreaming among severity levels of stress, anxiety and depression; H4) Creativity would be a statistically significant predictor of overall distress, stress, anxiety and depression; and H5) There would be a statistically significant difference in creativity among severity levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Results showed that daydreaming was not a statistically significant predictor of creativity, but greater daydreaming was related to higher distress, stress, anxiety and depression. Furthermore, participants with higher creativity experienced greater anxiety. Nevertheless, creativity was not a statistically significant predictor of distress, stress and depression. Finally, participants with extremely severe depression displayed lower creativity than those with moderate depression. Further research is advised before practical implications are recommended.
... With regards to substate 3, we found it displayed a community led majorly by the DMN and some areas of the limbic system. Our result aligns with previous studies reporting a reduction in DMN activity during meditation Ganesan et al. (2023); Garrison et al. (2015), which could be associated with the phenomenological well-being of meditation (Brandmeyer and Delorme, 2021;Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010). On the other hand, we revealed that substate 4 presented a coordination mainly between the central executive network and the DMN. ...
Contemplative neuroscience has increasingly explored meditation using neuroimaging. However, the brain mechanisms underlying meditation remain elusive. Here, we implemented a causal mechanistic framework to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of expert meditators during meditation and rest. We first applied a model-free approach by defining a probabilistic metastable substate (PMS) space for each state, consisting of different probabilities of occurrence from a repertoire of dynamic patterns. Different brain signatures were mainly found in the triple-network model (i.e., the executive control, salience, and default-mode networks). Moreover, we implemented a model-based approach by adjusting the PMS of the resting state to a whole-brain model, which enabled us to explore in silico perturbations to transition to the meditation state. Consequently, we assessed the sensitivity of different brain areas regarding their perturbability and their mechanistic local-global effects. Using a synchronous protocol, we successfully transitioned from the resting state to the meditative state by shifting areas mainly from the somatomotor and dorsal attention networks. Overall, our work reveals distinct whole-brain dynamics in meditation compared to rest, and how the meditation state can be induced with localized artificial perturbations. It motivates future work regarding meditation as a practice in health and as a potential therapy for brain disorders.
... This paper, in its rst part, honors Boggi's work considering mind-wandering issues according to psychoanalysis and Gestalt psychology. Hopefully, we make it clear how for this phenomenon described by James (1890), Killingsworth and Gilbert (2010), Kane et al. (2007), and Schooler (2002) as a pervasive mental state, as a "standard mode of consciousness," "a basic-consciousness" in this context, requires questioning the fact that most psychological theories of human experience and behavior (and many psychotherapeutic approaches) completely ignore the importance of this phenomenon and imply a constantly undivided state of consciousness of man, which we have to recognize on closer inspection as ction. Not only but most cognitive studies are concentrated on attention and on speci c tasks but even less studies consider mind-wandering a multicomponent phenomenon. ...
In this paper, through the lens of psychoanalysis and Gestalt psychology, we analyze and discuss mind-wandering as a mental dilemmatic phenomenon that is always considered in a continuum between two poles, pathology and normality. These lenses are the same ones used by Boggi to treat her main themes: the self, the human subjectivity, gender and sexuality, family and socialization, language and ideology, the genealogy of femininity, cultural identities, and forms of political domination. We used Lou Andreas Salomè and Anna Freud as tools and links for describing the early work of psychoanalysis, treating women in psychoanalysis, connecting femininity and mind-wandering, and going toward a more contemporaneous approach. Thus, we considered the Gestalt psychological view on this phenomenon, and Stemberger presents the concepts and findings of the Gestalt psychological multiple-field approach in understanding mind-wandering and related phenomena and briefly underlines its potential.KeywordsMind-wandering and correlated phenomenaEarly psychoanalysisGestalt psychologyMultiple field approach
... Mind-wandering (MW) is defined as a shift of attention from external tasks toward internal thoughts, resulting in competition for the limited cognitive resources available for primary tasks (Arabaci & Parris, 2018;Smallwood & Schooler, 2006;Smallwood et al., 2007). MW is a pervasive and ubiquitous mental phenomenon, and individuals may spend up to about 50% of their waking time in this state (Chaieb et al., 2019;Kane et al., 2007;Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). While some previous studies have focused on the negative effects of mindwandering (Mooneyham & Schooler, 2013;Smallwood & Schooler, 2015;Yamaoka & Yukawa, 2020), such as distracting the participant (Feng et al., 2013) and its correlation to negative emotions and poor mental health (Bozhilova et al., 2018;Chaieb et al., 2019;Guesdon et al., 2020;Jonkman et al., 2017;Lanier et al., 2021;Mowlem et al., 2019;Poh et al., 2016), numerous studies have also demonstrated that mind-wandering has positive effects, such as improving creativity and problem-solving (Agnoli et al., 2018;Gable et al., 2019;Leszczynski et al., 2017;Tan et al., 2015;Yamaoka & Yukawa, 2016, and future planning (Baird et al., 2011;Smallwood et al., 2009). ...
Objective
Mind‐wandering (MW) is defined as a shift of attention from external tasks toward internal thoughts and is popularly measured by the sustained attention to response task (SART). SART is able to capture MW, but cannot track the dynamics of mind‐wandering over time well. We thus attempted to modify the sustained attention to response task paradigm (mSART) to capture the participant's mind‐wandering state over time and quantify the degree of mind‐wandering using the current behavioral data.
Methods
179 participants from Wenzhou Medical University were recruited to participate in this experiment. The main changes to the experiment included (1) manipulating different no‐go stimuli frequencies to control the difficulty of the task and setting 9 modes; (2) extending the experiment time to 30 min; (3) allowing participants to correct errors by pressing the b key. Error rate, Mean RTs, RT CV, and d' were used to reflect MW. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed.
Results
ANOVA was used to explore Mean RTs, RT CV and d’ for participants with different levels of mind‐wandering and significant differences were found (Mean RTs:Welch's F (2, 8606.04) = 579.00, p < .001, ηp² = 0.03; RT CV:Welch's F (2, 198.11) = 69.93, p < .001, ηp² = 0.18; d':F (2, 176) = 19.88, p < .001, ηp² = 0.18). The 30‐min experiment was divided into six time windows, and mind‐wandering deepens over time.
Conclusions
The mSART paradigm could quantify the extent of MW based on changes in the frequency at which the no‐go stimuli were presented and also revealed that the recommended length of the experiment was about 20 min.
... Expanding CSR by offering MBSR training to employees helps reduce stress and combat dishonesty. Living in the moment creates great happiness (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). Researchers yoke spirituality (God) with the love of money (mammon) in the performance-and humane-orientation context and explore dishonesty. ...
... The following incomplete list from a literature search shows the diverse range of topics studied via situation sampling (in alphabetical order) 6 : 6 Due to the focus on sampling situations as close as possible to the actual event as it unfolds, this selective list excludes daily diary and day reconstruction approaches which represent alternative methods for situation samplingSOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE 20Aggression(DeWall et al., 2012;Lim et al., 2018), cooperation and interdependence, discrimination(Cook et al., 2011;English et al., 2020;Fazeli et al., 2017;Thoroughgood et al., 2020), empathy(Depow et al., 2021;Kerem et al., 2001), emotion regulation(Benson et al., 2019;Brockman et al., 2017;D. Y. Liu et al., 2021), envy(Lange et al., 2018), food consumption(Bauer et al., 2022;Hofmann, Adriaanse, et al., 2014;McKee et al., 2014;Richard et al., 2017), gender differences(Mehl et al., 2007), goal pursuitMead et al., 2016), gossip and reputation (DoresCruz et al., 2021), habitual behavior(Heintzelman & King, 2019;Williamson & Wilkowski, 2022), happiness and meaning(Choi et al., 2017), mind-wandering and mindfulness(Brown & Ryan, 2003;Friese & Hofmann, 2016;Kane et al., 2007;Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010), morality(Hofmann et al., 2018;Hofmann, Wisneski, et al., 2014;Waytz & Hofmann, 2020), power(Smith & Hofmann, 2016), prosocial helping(Saulin et al., 2019), prospection(Baumeister et al., 2020), relationship processes such as conflict and sacrifice(Carswell et al., 2021;Peetz et al., 2021;Righetti et al., 2015;Righetti et al., 2016;Righetti et al., 2020), self-control(Hofmann, Baumeister, Förster, & Vohs, 2012;Milyavskaya et al., 2015;Williamson & Wilkowski, 2020;Wolff et al., 2021), self-licensing of health behavior(Dohle & Hofmann, 2019), social comparison(Diel et al., 2021;Wheeler & Miyake, 1992), quantity and quality of social interactions(Compernolle et al., 2021;S. S. Liu et al., 2021, for a cross-cultural comparison;Ren et al., 2022;Sun et al., 2020), (social) media use ...
Social psychology is strongly grounded in the experimental method for rigid theory testing. At the same time, our discipline strives to generalize to and fully understand the social–psychological phenomena that manifest in people’s everyday environments (“the field”). Whereas the former requires optimizing internal validity, the latter requires high external validity, particularly ecological validity (representativeness of situations). To make the most of our discipline, we need not only strong experimentation, but also powerful approaches to capture and scrutinize our quintessential element, the psychological situation in the field. Here, we present one such field research approach, called SIP, designed to complement the strengths of experimental social psychology. It consists of three core features: the intensive sampling of Situations in people’s everyday ecologies, an Integrative approach to unite multiple relevant key constructs and levels of analysis (e.g., person and situation) under one working framework, and a Phenomenon-driven, open orientation towards the topic at hand. We illustrate the opportunities (and challenges) provided by the SIP approach with several key insights derived from a program of research applying the approach to various areas such as self-control, morality, and trust. These opportunities include (a) the value of description, (b) the benefits of sampling situations in a continuous and multi-dimensional manner, (c) a better understanding of the temporal dynamics of social–psychological processes, (d) the potential to study various person–environment relations (such as situation selection effects), and (e) new ways of mapping the correspondence between experimental paradigms and everyday environments. These features of SIP can improve theory building in social psychology by creating a stronger symbiosis between the lab and the field.
... Spontaneous thought refers to mental activity that arises in mind with minimal constraints 6-8 , often involving emotional undertones and topics relevant to self-identity 6,9 . It has been suggested that spontaneous thought is an unconstrained memory process in which semantic and episodic memories play an important role 10 , along with bodily sensations [11][12][13] . ...
A bstract
The intricate relationship between the body and the mind has long been recognized, but the specific bodily representations of spontaneous thought remain elusive. Here, we developed and validated predictive models of spontaneous thought based on body maps using the emBODY and Free-Association Semantic tasks. Our valence and self-relevance models demonstrated robust prediction performances across three test datasets, with the valence model accurately decoding the bodily topography of emotions and feelings. Model weight patterns revealed the significance of peripheral limbs and heart area in predicting valence, while the head area played a crucial role in predicting self-relevance. Furthermore, we investigated the neurobiological underpinnings of body map representations using fMRI and ECG data and found evidence for the reflection of body map responses in central and autonomic nervous system activities. Overall, this study provides insights into the bodily representations of spontaneous thought, highlighting the interconnected relationships between the body and the mind.
... Daydreaming is a normal mental activity that crosses all cultures, sex, and age groups (Klinger, 1990;Soffer-Dudek et al., 2020). Research studies suggest that almost half of our waking thoughts are off-task; the focus on real-world tasks is often interspersed with internally generated mind-wandering thoughts (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). When daydreaming is balanced with present-moment awareness then psychological wellbeing is enhanced (Stawarczyk et al., 2012). ...
... Next, we found that individuals mind-wandered intensely during visual search, which mainly involved generating endogenously thoughts unrelated to the task (internal thoughts; see Bertossi et al., 2017: Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). Mind-wandering interfered with the ongoing task (see also Smallwood et al., 2007;Mcvay and Kane, 2010;Franklin et al., 2011): a supplementary analysis showed that individuals indeed were faster and less accurate in trials preceding intense vs. weak mind-wandering reports, which is indicative of more impulsive responding (see Supplementary Material). ...
Distraction reflects a drift of attention away from the task at hand towards task-irrelevant external or internal information (mind-wandering). The right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are known to mediate attention to external information and mind-wandering, respectively, but it is not clear whether they support each process selectively or rather they play similar roles in supporting both. In this study, participants performed a visual search task including salient color singleton distractors before and after receiving cathodal (inhibitory) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the right PPC, the mPFC, or sham tDCS. Thought probes assessed the intensity and contents of mind-wandering during visual search. The results show that tDCS to the right PPC but not mPFC reduced the attentional capture by the singleton distractor during visual search. tDCS to both mPFC and PPC reduced mind-wandering, but only tDCS to the mPFC specifically reduced future-oriented mind-wandering. These results suggest that the right PPC and mPFC play a different role in directing attention towards task-irrelevant information. The PPC is involved in both external and internal distraction, possibly by mediating the disengagement of attention from the current task and its reorienting to salient information, be this a percept or a mental content (mind-wandering). By contrast, the mPFC uniquely supports mind-wandering, possibly by mediating the endogenous generation of future-oriented thoughts capable to draw attention inward, away from ongoing activities.
... They thus confirm the validity and relevance of our VR PM task. Secondly, the overall rates of off-task thoughts, including external distractions (MW & External, 35.5%), was close to the percentage reported in the literature (30-45%), although in most of the other studies, no distinction was made between internal and external distractions when computing MW frequency [1][2][3]26 . Thirdly, we confirmed the MW prospective bias whatever the MW induction: individuals spend more time thinking about the near future (planning) rather than the past 7,24,27,38 . ...
Mind wandering (MW) occurs when our attention spontaneously shifts from the task at hand to inner thoughts. MW is often future-oriented and may help people remember to carry out their planned actions (Prospective Memory, PM). Past-oriented MW might also play a critical role in boosting PM performance. Sixty participants learned 24 PM items and recalled them during an immersive virtual walk in a town. The items were divided into event-based– EB and time-based – TB. During the PM retention phase, participants were randomly assigned to a high or a low cognitive load condition, in order to manipulate MW frequency. Some PM items were encoded before this MW manipulation (pre-PM) and some during the virtual walk (post-PM). A high MW frequency was linked with better global PM performances. Spontaneous past-oriented MW predicted better pre-EB retrospective PM retrieval, while spontaneous future-oriented MW predicted better Pre-EB prospective PM retrieval. Voluntary future-oriented MW predicted better post-EB retrospective retrieval. We highlighted, for the first time, a differential impact of spontaneous MW content depending on the PM component (retrospective or prospective). Past‐oriented MW is crucial for (re)consolidating PM intentions, and episodic future thinking MW for the execution of PM intentions. We discuss the twofold functional role of MW, namely, to consolidate an already programmed intention and to plan future actions.
... Manually labelling images is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Further, mind wandering, boredom, and attention span affect human labelling process [11]. Therefore, data labelling solutions are expected to reach 4.1 billion by 2024, up from 1.7 billion in 2019. ...
Manually labelling datasets for training violence detection systems is time-consuming, expensive, and labor-intensive. Mind wandering, boredom, and short attention span can also cause labelling errors. Moreover, collecting and distributing sensitive images containing violence has ethical implications. Automation is the future for labelling sensitive image datasets. Deep labeller is a two-stage Deep Learning (DL) method that uses pre-trained DL object detection methods on MS-COCO for automatic labelling. The Deep Labeller method labels violent and nonviolent images in WVD and USI. In stage 1, WVD generates weak labels using synthetic images. In stage 2, the Deep labeller method is retrained on weak labels. USI dataset is used to test our method on real-world violence. Deep labeller generated weak and strong labels with an IoU of 0.80036 in stage 1 and 0.95 in stage 2 on the WVD. Automatically generated labels. To test our method’s generalisation power, violent and nonviolent image labels on USI dataset had a mean IoU of 0.7450.
... Mindwandering can be seen as spontaneous thoughts, a condition that is not quite like daydreaming, but also less like thinking with direction or purpose (Christoff et al., 2016). Individuals often spend time thinking about what is happening around them, contemplating events that have happened in the past, events that will happen in the future, or events that will never happen (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). ...
Prayer is a subjective experience that requires solemnity, by seeking a state of mindfulness and minimizing the state of mind wandering so that the prayer is done optimally. This study aims to explore the role of spirituality and religiosity to increase mindfulness and minimize mind-wandering in prayer activities, in Islamic preachers. Analysis was conducted through mixed method explanatory sequential analysis, using quantitative data with Multiple linear regression and qualitative data with Thematic analysis. Qualitative data (n = 3) was used to explore the experience of the meaning of mindfulness and mind-wandering conditions during prayer which was tested using quantitative data (n = 66). The quantitative analysis showed that mindfulness was negatively correlated with mind-wandering in prayer and that religious salience predicted mindfulness. Meanwhile, the experience of mind-wandering in prayer can be explained more qualitatively. There are 3 major themes regarding the experience of mindfulness and mind-wandering as well as the role of spirituality and religiosity in Islamic preachers, namely 1) solemn conditions, consisting of the involvement of a) mental representation, b) mental dialogue, c) expectation, d) control of consciousness, e) appreciation of life experience, and f) feeling comfortable and full of enjoyment, 2) mind-wandering distraction, which consists of the presence of a) worldly ambitions and b) perceptual distraction, and 3) spiritual atmosphere conditioning, consisting of a) preparation of prayer pillars, b) self-preparation, and c) asking for protection.
... Interestingly, threatening and novel events occupy our minds not only during wakefulness, when we drift between mind-wandering (or daydreaming) and more attentive states, but also during sleep and dreaming Nielsen & Stenstrom, 2005;Revonsuo, 2000;Smallwood & Schooler, 2015;Valli et al., 2006). In fact, we spend a large part of our lives mind-wandering (Kane et al., 2017;Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010) and dreaming (Siclari et al., 2017(Siclari et al., , 2018Sikka et al., 2014). The affective quality of these experiences is tightly linked to well-being (DuPre & Spreng, 2018;Levin & Nielsen, 2007;Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008). ...
Despite a surge of studies on the effects of COVID-19 on our well-being, we know little about how the pandemic is reflected in people’s spontaneous thoughts and experiences, such as mind-wandering (or daydreaming) during wakefulness and dreaming during sleep. We investigated whether and how COVID-19-related general concern, anxiety, and daily worry are associated with the daily fluctuation of the affective quality of mind-wandering and dreaming, and to what extent these associations can be explained by poor sleep quality. We used ecological momentary assessment by asking participants to rate the affect they experienced during mind-wandering and dreaming in daily logs over a 2-week period. Our preregistered analyses based on 1,755 dream logs from 172 individuals and 1,496 mind-wandering logs from 152 individuals showed that, on days when people reported higher levels of negative affect and lower levels of positive affect during mind-wandering, they experienced more worry. Only daily sleep quality was associated with affect experienced during dreaming at the within-person level: on nights with poorer sleep quality people reported experiencing more negative and less positive affect in dreams and were more likely to experience nightmares. However, at the between-person level, individuals who experienced more daily COVID-19 worry during the study period also reported experiencing more negative affect during mind-wandering and during dreaming. As such, the continuity between daily and nightly experiences seems to rely more on stable trait-like individual differences in affective processing.
... The importance of counterfactual-self-simulations for choosing appropriate behaviour among possible future versions of ourselves stands in accord with their prevalence. While studies have estimated human beings to spend about half of their waking hours mind-wandering (Killingsworth and Gilbert 2010), mindwandering is not the only form of counterfactual-self-simulation. Counterfactual-self-simulations express themselves in dreams and hypnagogic and hypnopompic imagery (the visuo-auditory phenomena while falling asleep and waking up, respectively), as well as in theory-of-mind-related capabilities such as empathy, perspective taking, and the inference of intentions. ...
Subjective experience is experience in time. Unfolding in a continuous river of moments, our experience, however, consists not only in the changing phenomenological content per se but, further, in additional retrodiction and prospection of the moments that immediately preceded and followed it. It is in this way that William James’s ‘specious present’ presents itself as extending between the past and future. While the phenomenology of temporality always happens, in normal waking states, to someone, and the notions of self-representation and temporal experience have continuously been associated with each other, there has not yet been an explicit account of their relationship. In this paper, the emergence of the subjective experience of temporal extension will be conceived of as arising out of a difference-relation between counterfactual and actual self-representations. After presenting the proposed relationship on both a conceptual level and a formalized and neuronally realistic level of description using information theory, convergent empirical evidence from general findings about temporal experience and inference, altered states of consciousness, and mental illness is examined. The Self-Simulational Theory of temporal extension is able to explain systematic variations in the subjectively experienced length of the temporal Now across numerous domains and holds potentially wide implications for the neuroscience of consciousness, as well as for a deeper understanding of different forms of mental illness.
... One commonly used, subjective approach to assessing attention consistency, both in the lab and in everyday life, is the thought-probe method. This technique is most frequently used to capture subjects' mind-wandering (or task-unrelated thought; TUT) experiences as they occur, and has been used in a variety of tasks and contexts, including attention tasks (e.g., Hutchison et al., 2020;Kane et al., 2016;McVay & Kane, 2012a), reading tasks (e.g., Franklin et al., 2014;McVay & Kane, 2012b;Unsworth & McMillan, 2014), live classroom or virtual learning environments (e.g., Hollis & Was, 2016;Kane et al., 2021a;Wammes et al., 2016), and in everyday life (e.g., Kane et al., 2007Kane et al., , 2017aKillingsworth & Gilbert, 2010;Marcusson-Clavertz et al., 2016). Here, subjects are repeatedly and unpredictably interrupted during a task or activity and asked to report on the contents of their thoughts in the moment immediately preceding the probe appearance. ...
The ability to sustain attention consistency is frequently assessed using either objective behavioral measures, such as reaction time (RT) variability, or subjective self-report measures, such as rates of task-unrelated thought (TUT). The current studies examined whether the individual-difference covariation in these measures provides a more construct valid assessment of attention consistency than does either alone. We argue that performance and self-report measures mutually validate each other; each measurement approach has its own sources of error, so their shared variance should best reflect the attention consistency construct. We reanalyzed two latent-variable studies where RT variability and TUTs were measured in multiple tasks (Kane et al. in J Exp Psychol Gen 145:1017–1048, 2016; Unsworth et al. in J Exp Psychol Gen 150:1303–1331, 2021), along with several nomological network constructs to test the convergent and discriminant validity of a general attention consistency factor. Confirmatory factor analyses assessing bifactor (preregistered) and hierarchical (non-preregistered) models suggested that attention consistency can be modeled as the shared variance among objective and subjective measures. This attention consistency factor was related to working memory capacity, attention (interference) control, processing speed, state motivation and alertness, and self-reported cognitive failures and positive schizotypy. Although bifactor models of general attention consistency provide the most compelling construct validity evidence for a specific ability to sustain attention, multiverse analyses of outlier decisions suggested they are less robust than hierarchical models. The results provide evidence for the general ability to sustain attention consistency and suggestions for improving its measurement.
Background: The default mode network (DMN) is a large-scale brain network tightly correlated with self and self-referential processing, activated by intrinsic tasks and deactivated by externally-directed tasks. Objective: In this study, we aim to investigate the novel approach of default mode activation during progressive muscle relaxation and examine whether differential activation patterns result from the movement of different body parts. Methods: We employed neuroimaging to investigate DMN activity during simple body movements, while performing progressive muscle relaxation. We focused on differentiating the neural response between facial movements and movements of other body parts. Results: Our results show that the movement of different body parts led to deactivation in several DMN nodes, namely the temporal poles, hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and posterior cingulate cortex. However, facial movement induced an inverted and selective positive BOLD pattern in some of these areas precisely. Moreover, areas in the temporal poles selective for face movement showed functional connectivity not only with the hippocampus and mPFC but also with the nucleus accumbens. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that both conceptual and embodied self-related processes, including body movements during progressive muscle relaxation, may be mapped onto shared brain networks. This could enhance our understanding of how practices like PMR influence DMN activity and potentially offer insights to inform therapeutic strategies that rely on mindful body movements.
Το βιβλίο μελετά τα μιμίδια (memes), ένα πολύ γνωστό και διαδεδομένο είδος πολυμεσικού ψηφιακού λαϊκού λόγου που χαρακτηρίζεται από το χιουμοριστικό και δηκτικό του ύφος. Η έρευνα εντάσσεται στο πεδίο της Ψηφιακής Λαογραφίας, ενός ραγδαία αναπτυσσόμενου κλάδου των διεθνών λαογραφικών σπουδών. Κεντρικό θέμα αποτελεί το λαϊκό χιούμορ και ο τρόπος που αυτό εκφράστηκε μέσα από μιμίδια κατά την περίοδο της πανδημίας COVID-19 στα δυο πιο δημοφιλή μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης στη χώρα, το Facebook και το Instagram. Το χιούμορ των μιμιδίων λειτούργησε ως μέσο κριτικής του ηγεμονικού λόγου, στάσεων και συμπεριφορών, αλλά και ως μέσο έκφρασης και εκτόνωσης φόβων και ανησυχιών που ήταν ιδιαίτερα έντονες λόγω του πρωτόγνωρου βιώματος της πανδημίας. Τα θέματα των μιμιδίων σχετικά με την πανδημία αφορούν όλο το φάσμα του βιώματος που περιλαμβάνει εμπειρίες, αντιλήψεις, πρακτικές και πολιτικές που εφαρμόστηκαν κατά τη διάρκειά της. Η λειτουργία τους στα μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης ανέδειξε την πολύπλευρη δυνατότητα ερμηνείας τους, αφού οι χρήστες/τριες τείνουν να αντιλαμβάνονται ποικιλοτρόπως το περιεχόμενό τους. Ως διακριτό χαρακτηριστικό μελετήθηκαν και τα μορφολογικά χαρακτηριστικά του είδους των μιμιδίων. Παρότι αξιοποιείται ο πολυμεσικός τους χαρακτήρας, εντοπίζονται δηλαδή μιμίδια που πλαισιώνονται και από εικόνες και βιντεάκια, φαίνεται ότι το κείμενο τελικά επικρατεί. Τα περισσότερα μιμίδια αποτελούνται τελικά κυρίως από ένα σύντομο κείμενο που προάγει το επιθυμητό μήνυμα. Μέσα από τη μελέτη αυτού του είδους λαϊκού λόγου φάνηκε ότι το χιούμορ και η σάτιρα συνεχίζουν να αποτελούν έναν δημιουργικό τρόπο διαχείρισης δυσχερών καταστάσεων, συνιστώντας ταυτόχρονα ένα ζωντανό τρόπο λαϊκής έκφρασης και επικοινωνίας.
Previous studies have revealed that the differences in individuals’ beliefs about the extent to which mind wandering is controllable—termed the implicit theories of mind wandering—affect the frequencies of and responses to mind wandering. The Theories of Mind Wandering Scale (TOMW) assesses the implicit theories of mind wandering. This study aimed to develop a Japanese version of the TOMW and test its reliability and validity. We found that the Japanese version of the TOMW had a one-factor structure similar to that in the literature. Furthermore, the TOMW score was correlated with established measures of mind wandering in everyday life (Studies 1-4), thought control ability (Study 2), thought control strategies and dysfunctional responses to mind wandering (Study 3), and the frequencies of mind wandering during the Sustained Attention to Response Task (Study 4). Moreover, the scale had high internal consistency and test-retest reliability (Studies 1 & 2). These results suggest that the Japanese version of the TOMW has adequate reliability and validity.
Traditionally, neuroscience and psychology have studied the human brain during periods of "online" attention to the environment, whereas participants actively engage in processing sensory stimuli. However, emerging evidence shows that the waking brain also intermittently enters an "offline" state, during which sensory processing is inhibited and our attention shifts inward. In fact, humans may spend up to half of their waking hours offline [Wamsley, E. J., & Summer, T. Spontaneous entry into an "offline" state during wakefulness: A mechanism of memory consolidation? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 32, 1714-1734, 2020; Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330, 932, 2010]. The function of alternating between online and offline forms of wakefulness remains unknown. We hypothesized that rapidly switching between online and offline states enables the brain to alternate between the competing demands of encoding new information and consolidating already-encoded information. N = 46 participants (34 female) trained on a memory task just before a 30-min retention interval, during which they completed a simple attention task while undergoing simultaneous high-density EEG and pupillometry recording. We used a data-driven method to parse this retention interval into a sequence of discrete online and offline states, with a 5-sec temporal resolution. We found evidence for three distinct states, one of which was an offline state with features well-suited to support memory consolidation, including increased EEG slow oscillation power, reduced attention to the external environment, and increased pupil diameter (a proxy for increased norepinephrine). Participants who spent more time in this offline state following encoding showed improved memory at delayed test. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that even brief, seconds-long entry into an offline state may support the early stages of memory consolidation.
Purpose
As innovations introduce novel benefits to customers, they would need to be positioned in a way that sets them apart in the market. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel approach for the positioning of innovations with the use of the customer imagination and, specifically, mental movies.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the schema approach as this study’s theoretical framework, the author proposes that innovations could be positioned using moving pictures (i.e. mental movies) instead of mental pictures (the approach traditionally taken).
Findings
A new conceptual framework for the positioning of innovations using mental movies is presented. In the framework, this study outlines how innovations can be positioned with the use of mental movies, and why such an approach would be beneficial. The framework outlines mixed reality, i.e. augmented reality, augmented virtuality and virtuality, as well as the metaverse and gaming as avenues for positioning innovations using mental movies. On the benefit side, the framework identifies successful market introductions, engagement and stickiness, memorability and positive emotions, uniqueness and differentiation and market share as the concrete benefits that can be achieved with this type of positioning.
Originality/value
The framework provides a novel approach for the positioning of innovations. It departs from existing literature by proposing that innovations can be positioned using mental movies. The framework also identifies why this approach would be beneficial for marketers and managers and provides concrete guidelines for how such a positioning can be achieved in the market.
Purpose
Drawing on embodied cognition and construal level theory perspectives in marketing literature, the purpose of this study is to propose that closed eyes make events appear distant and increase high-level construal and abstract processing, whereas opened eyes make events appear near and increase low-level construal and concrete processing. The authors further argue that high (low) construal level induced by closed (open) eyes increases favoritism toward utilitarian (hedonic) appeals.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on embodied cognition and construal level theory, the authors conduct three studies to investigate how consumers form varying distance perceptions and attitudes toward advertising appeals depending on whether they open or close their eyes while contemplating the messages. In Study 1, the authors tested the effects of an advertisement featuring utilitarian versus hedonic appeals in a food waste reduction campaign. In Study 2, the authors tested the effects of an advertisement stressing utilitarian versus hedonic aspects of a brand of travel products. In Study 3, the authors tested the effects of an advertisement for hotel reward products depending on consumption motivations.
Findings
The studies support the hypothesis by showing that when individuals close their eyes, they form abstract processing styles (high-level construal), perceive events as more distant and increase preferences for utilitarian advertising appeals; when they open their eyes, they form concrete processing styles (low-level construal), perceive events as nearer and indicate preferences for hedonic advertising appeals.
Originality/value
The novel insight of this study shows how bodily sensations may affect various types of hedonic and utilitarian advertising appeals. This study contributes to the embodied cognition and construal level literature, but the contribution of this study is particularly important for marketers and advertisers in that the authors show interactions between open or closed eyes, hedonic or utilitarian product aspects and processing styles.
Individual differences in autobiographical memory have become a research area of interest, but little is known about its associations with other individual differences dimensions, such as the tendency to engage in spontaneous cognition. We report two studies examining individual differences in autobiographical memory, as measured by the Autobiographical Recollection Test (ART), in relation to eight trait-like measures of spontaneous thought and, in Study 2, also a measure of fantasy proneness. In Study 1, the ART correlated positively and systematically with six out of eight measures of spontaneous thought, even when controlling for age, gender, and trait positive and negative affect. The two exceptions concerned spontaneous thoughts specifically related to attentional deficits. Study 2 replicated these findings and extended them to a measure of fantasy proneness. The findings demonstrate that people who generally consider their autobiographical memories to be vivid, detailed, relevant, and coherent, report a higher tendency to engage in various forms of spontaneous cognition, including positive constructive daydreaming, spontaneous mind wandering, involuntary mental time travel, and vivid and immersive fantasy. We discuss these findings in terms of the role autobiographical memory plays in spontaneous thoughts.
The current research examined how people forecast and experience screen time, social interaction, and solitude. When participants could freely use their smartphone, they forecasted (Study 1) and experienced (Study 2) better mood for face-to-face conversation, but worse mood for sitting alone. When participants were instructed to engage in specific screen time activities, they forecasted (Study 3) and experienced (Study 4) the best mood after watching television; followed by conversation, texting, and browsing social media (no difference); then sitting alone. Although participants in Studies 1 and 2 ranked conversation as their most preferred activity, participants in Studies 3 and 4 ranked it below television and texting, even though conversation improved mood compared to baseline (Study 4). These findings suggest that people may use their smartphones because they enable them to escape the unpleasant experience of being alone, or because they do not recognize or prioritize the mood benefits of social interaction.
Core features of human cognition, for example, the experience of mind wandering, highlight the importance of the capacity to focus on information separate from the here and now. However, the brain mechanisms that underpin these self-generated states remain unclear. An emerging hypothesis is that self-generated states depend on the process of memory replay, which, in animals, is linked to sharp-wave ripples (SWRs) originating in the hippocampus. SWRs are transient high-frequency oscillations that exhibit circadian fluctuations and, in the laboratory, are important for memory and planning. Local field potentials were recorded from the hippocampus of 11 patients with epilepsy for up to 15 days, and experience sampling was used to describe their association with ongoing thought patterns. SWRs were correlated with patterns of vivid, intrusive ongoing thoughts unrelated to the task being performed, establishing their contribution to the ongoing thoughts that humans experience in daily life.
Mind wandering, generally defined as task unrelated thought, has been shown to constitute between 30 and 50% of individuals' thoughts during almost every activity in which they are engaged. Critically however, previous research has shown that the demands of a given task can lead to either the up- or down-regulation of mind wandering, and that engagement in mind wandering may be differentially detrimental to future memory performance depending on learning conditions. The goal of the current research was to gain a better understanding of how the circumstances surrounding a learning episode affect the frequency with which individuals engage in off-task thought, and the extent to which these differences differentially impact memory performance across different test formats. Specifically, while prior work has manipulated the conditions of encoding, we focused on the anticipated characteristics of the retrieval task, thereby examining whether the anticipation of later demands imposed by expected test format/difficulty would influence the frequency or performance costs of mind wandering during encoding. Across three experiments we demonstrate that the anticipation of future test demands, as modeled by expected test format/difficulty, does not impact rates of mind wandering. However, the costs associated with mind wandering do appear to scale with the difficulty of the test. These findings provide important new insights on the impact of off-task thought on future memory performance, and constrain our understanding of the strategic regulation of inattention in the context of learning and memory.
يهدف البحث الحالي الى التعرف على مستوى التجول العقلي لدى طلبة الجامعة والتعرف على مستوى الاداء الاكاديمي لدى طلبة الجامعة تبعاً لمتغيري الجنس (ذكور، إناث) والتخصص (علمي، إنساني) وتكونت عينة البحث من (300) طالباً وطالبة قام الباحث ببناء مقياس التجول العقلي وتبنى مقياس الاداء الاكاديمي من اعداد (الرفاعي، 2019)، قام الباحث بتطبيق المقياسين بعد التأكد من الصدق والثبات على عينة البحث الاساسية من طلبة جامعة تكريت، ولمعالجة البيانات إحصائياً استخدم الباحث برنامج الحقيبة الإحصائية للعلوم الاجتماعية الـ (SPSS)، واستعملَ عدداً من الوسائل الإحصائية مثل الاختبار التائي لعينة واحدة، والاختبار التائي لعينتين مستقلتين، ومعامل ارتباط بيرسون، ومربع كاي، ومعادلة. وتوصلت الدراسة الى ان طلبة الجامعة لديهم مستوى عالي من التجول العقلي وتوجد فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية بين متوسطي درجات أفراد العينة على مقياس التجول العقلي تبعاً لمتغير الجنس ولصالح الذكور وتبعاً لمتغير التخصص ولصالح التخصص العلمي، ارتفاع مستوى الأداء الأكاديمي لدى طلبة الجامعة، لا توجد فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية بين متوسطي درجات أفراد العينة على مقياس الأداء الأكاديمي تبعاً لمتغير الجنس، توجد فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية بين متوسطي درجات أفراد العينة على مقياس الأداء الأكاديمي تبعاً لمتغير التخصص ولصالح التخصص العلمي، توجد علاقة ارتباطية عكسية بين التجول العقلي والأداء الأكاديمي.
Core features of human cognition, for example, the experience of mind wandering, highlight the importance of the capacity to focus on information separate from the here and now. However, the brain mechanisms that underpin these self-generated states remain unclear. An emerging hypothesis is that self-generated states depend on the process of memory replay, which, in animals, is linked to sharp-wave ripples (SWRs) originating in the hippocampus. SWRs are transient high-frequency oscillations that exhibit circadian fluctuations and, in the laboratory, are important for memory and planning. Local field potentials were recorded from the hippocampus of 11 patients with epilepsy for up to 15 days, and experience sampling was used to describe their association with ongoing thought patterns. SWRs were correlated with patterns of vivid, intrusive ongoing thoughts unrelated to the task being performed, establishing their contribution to the ongoing thoughts that humans experience in daily life.
People differ in the propensity to mind-wander, that is, the tendency to slip into thinking about something else than the task at hand or the happenings in the immediate environment. Research indicates that mind-wandering tends to be associated with negative emotional states and that it declines with increasing age in adulthood. A question arises whether these relationships are true of mind-wandering in general, independently of its content and affective tone, or just particular kinds of off-task thinking. Participants ( N = 218) aged 18–84 years filled out the Task-Unrelated Thoughts Questionnaire (TUTQ), a multidimensional instrument for measuring individual tendencies in mind-wandering, and several scales related to affective functioning. A bifactor model for the TUTQ was employed, encompassing a general factor and three orthogonal specific factors that referred to affectively different modes of off-task thinking. The scores on the general factor decreased with increasing age of the respondents, dispositional positive affect, and satisfaction with life, whereas they increased with increasing negative affect and emotional reactivity. Age and affect-related variables, including individual tendencies in emotion regulation, also predicted, selectively, the specific factors. Although methodologically and theoretically challenging, the bifactor model seems to be a promising tool for representing and exploring individual variability in mind-wandering.
In a complex world, we are constantly faced with environmental stimuli that shape our moment-to-moment experiences. But just as rich and complex as the external world is the internal milieu-our imagination. Imagination offers a powerful vehicle for playing out hypothetical experiences in the mind's eye. It allows us to mentally time travel to behold what the future might bring, including our greatest desires or fears. Indeed, imagined experiences tend to be emotion-laden. How and why are humans capable of this remarkable feat? Based on psychological findings, we highlight the importance of imagination for emotional aspects of cognition and behavior, namely in the generation and regulation of emotions. Based on recent cognitive neuroscience work, we identify putative neural networks that are most critical for emotional imagination, with a major focus on the default mode network. Finally, we briefly highlight the possible functional implications of individual differences in imagination. Overall, we hope to address why humans have the capacity to simulate hypothetical emotional experiences and how this ability can be harnessed in adaptive (and sometimes maladaptive) ways. We end by discussing open questions.
Bu araştırma, öznel zindeliğin psikolojik sağlamlık üzerindeki etkisinde zihnin istemli ve istemsiz gezinmesinin rolünü belirlemeyi amaçlamıştır. Araştırmada nicel araştırma modellerinden ilişkisel tarama yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini spor bilimleri fakültesinde öğrenim gören basit tesadüfi örneklem yöntemi ile seçilmiş 303 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak öznel zindelik ölçeği, kısa psikolojik sağlamlık ölçeği, zihnin istemli gezinme ölçeği ve zihnin istemsiz gezinme ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Yapılan araştırmada, öznel zindeliğin istemsiz zihin gezinmesini azalttığı ancak öznel zindeliğin psikolojik sağlamlığı arttırdığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Yapılan araştırmada, zihnin istemsiz gezinmesinin psikolojik sağlamlığı azalttığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Zihnin istemli gezinmesinin psikolojik sağlamlığa anlamlı bir etkisi bulunmamaktadır. Araştırmada istemsiz zihin gezinmesi aracılık rolünde; öznel zindeliğin psikolojik sağlamlığı arttırıcı etkisinin olduğunun yanı sıra bireylerde zihnin istemsiz gezinmesi durumunun yüksek olması halinde psikolojik sağlamlığa ciddi düzeyde düşürücü etkisinin olduğu görülmektedir. Zihnin istemli gezinmesinin aracılık rolü bulunmamaktadır.
Background and objectives:
Mind-wandering, and specifically the frequency and content of mind-wandering, plays an important role in the psychological well-being of individuals. Repetitive negative thinking has been associated with a high risk to develop and maintain Major Depressive Disorder. We here combined paradigms and techniques from cognitive sciences and experimental clinical psychology to study the transdiagnostic psychiatric phenomenon of repetitive negative thinking. This allowed us to investigate the adjustability of the content and characteristics of mind-wandering in individuals varying in their susceptibility to negative affect.
Methods:
Participants high (n = 42) or low (n = 40) on their vulnerability for negative affect and depression performed a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) after a single session of positive fantasizing and a single session of stress induction in a cross-over design. Affective states were measured before and after the interventions.
Results:
After stress, negative affect increased, while after fantasizing both positive affect increased and negative affect decreased. Thoughts were less off-task, past-related and negative after fantasizing compared to after stress. Individuals more susceptible to negative affect showed more off-task thinking after stress than after fantasizing compared to individuals low on this.
Limitations:
In this cross-over design, no baseline measurement was included, limiting comparison to 'uninduced' mind-wandering. Inclusion of self-related concerns in the SART could have led to negative priming.
Conclusions:
Stress-induced negative thinking underlying vulnerability for depression could be partially countered by fantasizing in a non-clinical sample, which may inform the development of treatments for depression and other disorders characterized by maladaptive thinking.
In an experience-sampling study that bridged laboratory, ecological, and individual-differences approaches to mind-wandering research, 72 subjects completed an executive-control task with periodic thought probes (reported by McVay & Kane, 2009) and then carried PDAs for a week that signaled them eight times daily to report immediately whether their thoughts were off task. Subjects who reported more mind wandering during the laboratory task endorsed more mind-wandering experiences during everyday life (and were more likely to report worries as off-task thought content). We also conceptually replicated laboratory findings that mind wandering predicts task performance: Subjects rated their daily-life performance to be impaired when they reported off-task thoughts, with greatest impairment when subjects' mind wandering lacked metaconsciousness. The propensity to mind wander appears to be a stable cognitive characteristic and seems to predict performance difficulties in daily life, just as it does in the laboratory.
Although mind wandering occupies a large proportion of our waking life, its neural basis and relation to ongoing behavior remain controversial. We report an fMRI study that used experience sampling to provide an online measure of mind wandering during a concurrent task. Analyses focused on the interval of time immediately preceding experience sampling probes demonstrate activation of default network regions during mind wandering, a finding consistent with theoretical accounts of default network functions. Activation in medial prefrontal default network regions was observed both in association with subjective self-reports of mind wandering and an independent behavioral measure (performance errors on the concurrent task). In addition to default network activation, mind wandering was associated with executive network recruitment, a finding predicted by behavioral theories of off-task thought and its relation to executive resources. Finally, neural recruitment in both default and executive network regions was strongest when subjects were unaware of their own mind wandering, suggesting that mind wandering is most pronounced when it lacks meta-awareness. The observed parallel recruitment of executive and default network regions--two brain systems that so far have been assumed to work in opposition--suggests that mind wandering may evoke a unique mental state that may allow otherwise opposing networks to work in cooperation. The ability of this study to reveal a number of crucial aspects of the neural recruitment associated with mind wandering underscores the value of combining subjective self-reports with online measures of brain function for advancing our understanding of the neurophenomenology of subjective experience.
This study examined the effect of mood states on mind wandering. Positive, neutral, and negative moods were induced in participants prior to them completing a sustained attention task. Mind wandering was measured by using the frequencies of both behavioral lapses and retrospective indices of subjective experience. Relative to a positive mood, induction of a negative mood led participants to make more lapses, report a greater frequency of task irrelevant thoughts, and become less inclined to reengage attentional resources following a lapse. Positive mood, by contrast, was associated with a better ability to adjust performance after a lapse. These results provide further support for the notion that a negative mood reduces the amount of attentional commitment to the task in hand and may do so by enhancing the focus on task irrelevant personal concerns.
A baseline or control state is fundamental to the understanding of most complex systems. Defining a baseline state in the human brain, arguably our most complex system, poses a particular challenge. Many suspect that left unconstrained, its activity will vary unpredictably. Despite this prediction we identify a baseline state of the normal adult human brain in terms of the brain oxygen extraction fraction or OEF. The OEF is defined as the ratio of oxygen used by the brain to oxygen delivered by flowing blood and is remarkably uniform in the awake but resting state (e.g., lying quietly with eyes closed). Local deviations in the OEF represent the physiological basis of signals of changes in neuronal activity obtained with functional MRI during a wide variety of human behaviors. We used quantitative metabolic and circulatory measurements from positron-emission tomography to obtain the OEF regionally throughout the brain. Areas of activation were conspicuous by their absence. All significant deviations from the mean hemisphere OEF were increases, signifying deactivations, and resided almost exclusively in the visual system. Defining the baseline state of an area in this manner attaches meaning to a group of areas that consistently exhibit decreases from this baseline, during a wide variety of goal-directed behaviors monitored with positron-emission tomography and functional MRI. These decreases suggest the existence of an organized, baseline default mode of brain function that is suspended during specific goal-directed behaviors.
The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) assesses how people spend their time and how they experience the various activities and settings of their lives, combining features of time-budget measurement and experience sampling. Participants systematically reconstruct their activities and experiences of the preceding day with procedures designed to reduce recall biases. The DRM's utility is shown by documenting close correspondences between the DRM reports of 909 employed women and established results from experience sampling. An analysis of the hedonic treadmill shows the DRM's potential for well-being research.
Download link at: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/norbert.schwarz/day_reconstruction_method__time_use____well-being
This article reviews the hypothesis that mind wandering can be integrated into executive models of attention. Evidence suggests that mind wandering shares many similarities with traditional notions of executive control. When mind wandering occurs, the executive components of attention appear to shift away from the primary task, leading to failures in task performance and superficial representations of the external environment. One challenge for incorporating mind wandering into standard executive models is that it often occurs in the absence of explicit intention--a hallmark of controlled processing. However, mind wandering, like other goal-related processes, can be engaged without explicit awareness; thus, mind wandering can be seen as a goal-driven process, albeit one that is not directed toward the primary task.
Despite evidence pointing to a ubiquitous tendency of human minds to wander, little is known about the neural operations that
support this core component of human cognition. Using both thought sampling and brain imaging, the current investigation demonstrated
that mind-wandering is associated with activity in a default network of cortical regions that are active when the brain is
“at rest.” In addition, individuals' reports of the tendency of their minds to wander were correlated with activity in this
network.
Converging evidence from neuroscience suggests that our attention to the outside world waxes and wanes over time. We examined whether these periods of "mind wandering" are associated with reduced cortical analysis of the external environment. Participants performed a sustained attention to response task in which they responded to frequent "nontargets" (digits 0-9) and withheld responses for infrequent "targets" (the letter X). Mind wandering was defined both behaviorally, indicated by a failure to withhold a response to a target, and subjectively, via self-report at a thought probe. The P300 event-related potential component for nontargets was reduced prior to both the behavioral and subjective reports of mind wandering, relative to periods of being "on-task." Regression analysis of P300 amplitude revealed significant common variance between behavioral and subjective markers of mind wandering, suggesting that both markers reflect a common underlying mental state. Finally, control analysis revealed that the effect of mind wandering on the P300 could not be ascribed to changes in motor activity nor was it associated with general arousal. Our data suggest that when trying to engage attention in a sustained manner, the mind will naturally ebb and flow in the depth of cognitive analysis it applies to events in the external environment.
Thirty years of brain imaging research has converged to define the brain's default network-a novel and only recently appreciated brain system that participates in internal modes of cognition. Here we synthesize past observations to provide strong evidence that the default network is a specific, anatomically defined brain system preferentially active when individuals are not focused on the external environment. Analysis of connectional anatomy in the monkey supports the presence of an interconnected brain system. Providing insight into function, the default network is active when individuals are engaged in internally focused tasks including autobiographical memory retrieval, envisioning the future, and conceiving the perspectives of others. Probing the functional anatomy of the network in detail reveals that it is best understood as multiple interacting subsystems. The medial temporal lobe subsystem provides information from prior experiences in the form of memories and associations that are the building blocks of mental simulation. The medial prefrontal subsystem facilitates the flexible use of this information during the construction of self-relevant mental simulations. These two subsystems converge on important nodes of integration including the posterior cingulate cortex. The implications of these functional and anatomical observations are discussed in relation to possible adaptive roles of the default network for using past experiences to plan for the future, navigate social interactions, and maximize the utility of moments when we are not otherwise engaged by the external world. We conclude by discussing the relevance of the default network for understanding mental disorders including autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.
This paper studies the test–retest reliability of a standard self-reported life satisfaction measure and of affect measures collected from a diary method. The sample consists of 229 women who were interviewed on Thursdays, two weeks apart, in Spring 2005. The correlation of net affect (i.e., duration-weighted positive feelings less negative feelings) measured two weeks apart is .64, which is slightly higher than the correlation of life satisfaction (r = .59). Correlations between income, net affect and life satisfaction are presented, and adjusted for attenuation bias due to measurement error. Life satisfaction is found to correlate much more strongly with income than does net affect. Components of affect that are more person-specific are found to have a higher test–retest reliability than components of affect that are more specific to the particular situation. While reliability figures for subjective well-being measures are lower than those typically found for education, income and many other microeconomic variables, they are probably sufficiently high to support much of the research that is currently being undertaken on subjective well-being, particularly in studies where group means are compared (e.g., across activities or demographic groups).
When thinking about the future or the upcoming actions of another person, we mentally project ourselves into that alternative situation. Accumulating data suggest that envisioning the future (prospection), remembering the past, conceiving the viewpoint of others (theory of mind) and possibly some forms of navigation reflect the workings of the same core brain network. These abilities emerge at a similar age and share a common functional anatomy that includes frontal and medial temporal systems that are traditionally associated with planning, episodic memory and default (passive) cognitive states. We speculate that these abilities, most often studied as distinct, rely on a common set of processes by which past experiences are used adaptively to imagine perspectives and events beyond those that emerge from the immediate environment.
An experience-sampling study of 124 undergraduates, pretested on complex memory-span tasks, examined the relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and the experience of mind wandering in daily life. Over 7 days, personal digital assistants signaled subjects eight times daily to report immediately whether their thoughts had wandered from their current activity, and to describe their psychological and physical context. WMC moderated the relation between mind wandering and activities' cognitive demand. During challenging activities requiring concentration and effort, higher-WMC subjects maintained on-task thoughts better, and mind-wandered less, than did lower-WMC subjects. The results were therefore consistent with theories of WMC emphasizing the role of executive attention and control processes in determining individual differences and their cognitive consequences.
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