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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The default network and self-generated thought: component processes, dynamic control, and clinical relevance
TL;DR: Evidence is presented that self‐generated thought is a multifaceted construct whose component processes are supported by different subsystems within the network, and clinical implications of disruptions to the integrity of the network are discussed.
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The Science of Mind Wandering: Empirically Navigating the Stream of Consciousness
TL;DR: Examination of the information-processing demands of the mind-wandering state suggests that it involves perceptual decoupling to escape the constraints of the moment, its content arises from episodic and affective processes, and its regulation relies on executive control.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mind-wandering with and without intention.
TL;DR: A novel theoretical framework regarding the mechanisms underlying intentional and unintentional mind-wandering is outlined, and it is suggested that, to increase clarity in the literature, there is a need to reconsider the bulk of the mind-Wandering literature with an eye toward deconvolving these two different cognitive experiences.
The restless mind
TL;DR: Evidence suggests that mind wandering shares many similarities with traditional notions of executive control, and can be seen as a goal-driven process, albeit one that is not directed toward the primary task.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mind-wandering, cognition, and performance: a theory-driven meta-analysis of attention regulation.
TL;DR: It was found that greater time-on-task-although not greater task complexity-tended to strengthen the negative relation between cognitive resources and mind-wandering, and the positive association between task-related thought and performance was stronger for more complex tasks and for longer tasks.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Mind-wandering while reading: Attentional decoupling, mindless reading and the cascade model of inattention
TL;DR: Following the presentation of a model of the decoupled state and a specific consideration of mind-wandering during reading, five key unresolved issues for future research in mindless reading are identified.
Journal ArticleDOI
Counting the cost: estimating the economic benefit of pedophile treatment programs.
Martin Shanahan,Ronald Donato +1 more
TL;DR: Based on a reasonable set of parameter estimates, in-prison, cognitive therapy treatment programs for pedophiles are likely to be of net benefit to society and must include further methodological developments in estimating the quantitative impact of child sexual abuse in the community.
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The eyes know what you are thinking: Eye movements as an objective measure of mind wandering
Sarah Uzzaman,Steve Joordens +1 more
TL;DR: The results show that eye movements were generally less complex when participants reported mind wandering episodes, with both duration and frequency of within-word regressions, for example, becoming significantly reduced.
Journal ArticleDOI
Spontaneous repetitive thoughts can be adaptive: Postscript on “mind wandering”.
TL;DR: This view of the spontaneous stream is consistent with the perspective of global workspace theory on conscious contents, which suggests that conscious events are not like unconscious cognitive representations, rather, conscious events trigger widespread adaptive changes in the brain, far beyond their cortical origins.