Journal ArticleDOI
The costs and benefits of mind-wandering: a review
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TLDR
Recent studies have shown that mind-wandering may play a crucial role in both autobiographical planning and creative problem solving, thus providing at least two possible adaptive functions of the phenomenon.Abstract:
Substantial evidence suggests that mind-wandering typically occurs at a significant cost to performance. Mind-wandering-related deficits in performance have been observed in many contexts, most notably reading, tests of sustained attention, and tests of aptitude. Mind-wandering has been shown to negatively impact reading comprehension and model building, impair the ability to withhold automatized responses, and disrupt performance on tests of working memory and intelligence. These empirically identified costs of mind-wandering have led to the suggestion that mind-wandering may represent a pure failure of cognitive control and thus pose little benefit. However, emerging evidence suggests that the role of mind-wandering is not entirely pernicious. Recent studies have shown that mind-wandering may play a crucial role in both autobiographical planning and creative problem solving, thus providing at least two possible adaptive functions of the phenomenon. This article reviews these observed costs and possible functions of mind-wandering and identifies important avenues of future inquiry.read more
Citations
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Proceedings Article
Exploring Mind Wandering in a Technological Setting
TL;DR: This study investigates the moderating role of mind wandering in influencing the relationships between on-task thought and two functional outcomes of interacting with technology and shows that creativity is positively associated with knowledge retention.
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The wandering mood: psychological and neural determinants of rest-related negative affect
TL;DR: Results demonstrate that, rather than an unavoidable outcome of the resting state, RRNA depends on internal allocation of attention at rest, and is therefore likely to occur in the occurrence of RRNA.
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Mind wandering during reading: An interdisciplinary and integrative review of psychological, computing, and intervention research and theory
Sidney K. D'Mello,Caitlin Mills +1 more
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Does Mind Wandering During the Thought Incubation Period Improve Creativity and Worsen Mood
Akina Yamaoka,Shintaro Yukawa +1 more
TL;DR: The results suggest that mind wandering during the incubation stage could be used to generate more diverse ideas but also suggest that there is a risk attached, and the findings indicate that as creativity improved, more negative affect was generated.
References
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Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering
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