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EEG microstates offer a unique window into the dynamics of emotional experiences. This study delved into the emotional responses of happiness and sadness triggered by music videos, employing microstate analysis and eLoreta source-level investigation in the alpha band. The results of the microstate analysis showed that regardless of gender, participants during happy music video significantly upregulated class D microstate and downregulated class C microstate, leading to a significantly enhanced global explained variance (GEV), coverage, occurrence, duration, and global field power (GFP) for class D. Conversely, sad music video had the opposite effect. The eLoreta study revealed that during the happy state, there was enhanced CSD in the central parietal regions across both genders and diminished functional connectivity in the precuneus for female participants compared to the sad state. Class D and class C microstates are linked to attention and mind-wandering, respectively. The findings suggest that (1) increased class D and CSD activity could explain heightened attentiveness observed during happy music, and (2) increased class C activity and functional connectivity could explain enhanced mind wandering observed during sad music. Additionally, female participants exhibited significantly higher mean occurrence than males, and the sad state showed significantly higher mean occurrence than the happy state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind wandering (MW) encompasses both a deliberate and a spontaneous disengagement of attention from the immediate external environment to unrelated internal thoughts. Importantly, MW has been suggested to have an inverse relationship with mindfulness, a state of nonjudgmental awareness of present-moment experience. Although they are, respectively, associated with increased and decreased activity in the default mode network (DMN), the specific contributions of deliberate and spontaneous MW, and their relationships with mindfulness abilities and resting-state macro networks remain to be elucidated. Therefore, resting-state MRI scans from 76 participants were analyzed with group independent component analysis to decompose brain networks into independent macro-networks and to see which of them predicted specific aspects of spontaneous and deliberate MW or mindfulness traits. Our results show that temporal variability of the resting-state DMN predicts spontaneous MW, which in turn is negatively associated with the acting with awareness facet of mindfulness. This finding shows that the DMN is not directly associated with overall mindfulness, but rather demonstrates that there exists a close relationship between DMN and MW, and furthermore, that the involvement of mindfulness abilities in this dynamic may be secondary. In sum, our study contributes to a better understanding of the neural bases of spontaneous MW and its relationship with mindfulness. These results open up the possibility of intervening on specific aspects of our cognitive abilities: for example, our data suggest that training the mindfulness facet acting with awareness would allow lessening our tendency for MW at inopportune times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creativity has long been conceptually linked to experiences of emotion and mind wandering, yet these empirical relationships remain unclear, and few studies have explored the thoughts and emotions of creative people in daily life. To investigate how creativity relates to everyday cognitive and affective experiences, the present study (N = 159) used experience sampling to examine how creative cognition (divergent thinking ability) and creative behavior (self-reported creative activity and achievement) measured in the lab may predict thought content, affective state, and the frequency of mind wandering (i.e., task-unrelated thought) in daily life. Additionally, we assessed in-the-moment thoughts and emotions predictive of thinking about a creative project in everyday life (i.e., "creative project thought"). We found that each form of creativity was generally associated with positively-valenced experiences, such as having pleasant thoughts, enjoying one's everyday activities, and feeling motivated and inspired. We also found that positive, activating emotions (happy and energetic) were positively associated with divergent thinking ability and in-the-moment creative project thought. Furthermore, positive, deactivating emotions (relaxed and connected) negatively predicted momentary creative project thought—indicating that positive affect can be tied to less creative thinking, depending on the activation level of emotions. No relationship was found between daily-life mind wandering frequency and divergent thinking ability or creative behavior/achievement, suggesting that the overall amount of task-unrelated thought in everyday life is not related to individual creativity. Taken together, the present findings provide novel evidence on the everyday experiential correlates of creative thinking and behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote learning settings require students to self-regulate their behavioral, affective, and cognitive processes, including preventing mind wandering. Such engagement in task-unrelated thoughts has a negative impact on learning outcomes and can occur with or without students' awareness of it. However, research on the meta-awareness of mind wandering in education remains limited, predominantly relying on self-report measures that capture discrete information at specific time points. Therefore, there is a need to investigate and measure temporal dynamics in the meta-awareness of mind wandering continuously over time. This study examined the temporal patterns of 15 mind-wandering and meta-awareness probes in a sample of university students (N = 87) while they watched a video lecture. We found that the majority (60%) of mind wandering occurred with meta-awareness. Cluster analysis identified five distinct thought sequence clusters. Thought patterns dominated by unaware mind wandering were negatively associated with fact- and inference-based learning, whereas persistent aware mind-wandering patterns were linked to reduced deep-level understanding. Initial exploration into predictive modeling, based on eye gaze features, revealed that the models could distinguish between aware and unaware mind-wandering instances above the chance level (macro F1 = 0.387). Model explainability methods were employed to investigate the intricate relationship between gaze and mind wandering. It revealed the importance of eye vergence and saccade velocity in distinguishing mind-wandering types. The findings contribute to understanding mind-wandering meta-awareness dynamics and highlight the capacity of continuous assessment methods to capture and address mind wandering in remote learning environments. Educational Impact and Implications Statement: Learners often experience thoughts that are unrelated to the learning task, a phenomenon known as mind wandering. They are aware of these thoughts sometimes and are sometimes unaware of them. This study sheds light on learners' attention during online learning, specifically when watching a video lecture. We collected data from 87 university students by repeatedly interrupting them to ask where their attention was directed, gathering their reports on both aware and unaware mind wandering, and recording their gaze using eye trackers. Thought patterns dominated by unaware mind wandering were negatively associated with fact- and inference-based learning, whereas persistent aware mind-wandering patterns were linked to reduced deep-level understanding. Crucially, these internal experiences were reflected in students' gaze patterns, suggesting that eye-tracking and machine learning could help identify when a student's mind is wandering. This advancement holds great promise for educators aiming to create more engaging remote learning experiences, as it allows to react to in different ways, potentially addressing different underlying causes and for researchers dedicated to enhancing our comprehension of student attention dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind wandering can cause workers to overlook safety hazards and delay making accurate operational decisions, ultimately raising the potential for accidents. However, there is relatively little research on the physiological characteristics of drilling workers during mind wandering. The aim of this investigation was to tackle the constraints of previous studies and to establish a more comprehensive theoretical framework and practical guidance for safety management. To this end, the phenomenon of workload on mind wandering among drillers during the drilling process was investigated in depth. It focused on drilling site workers, using SART paradigm tasks and EEG devices to track cognitive states under various loads, exploring how they affect mind wandering and EEG mechanisms. Fifty workers participated, observing drilling images to judge accidents. Results showed workload influenced cognitive processes such as mind wandering occurrence, reaction time, accuracy, and brain connectivity. High workload increased reaction time, decreased accuracy, raised mind wandering frequency, altered theta, beta, and gamma waves, and reduced cerebral synchronisation and engagement. Workload affected employees’ mind wandering, sensations, focus, and work status, with a positive correlation between workload and mind wandering, potentially harming work performance and safety. Analyzing EEG data helps identify mind wandering and develop intervention measures. In depth research on these features not only helps identify employee mind wandering, but also promotes the development of more precise and personalized intervention measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relationship between students' intrinsic learning motivation and mind wandering as well as the moderating role of teachers' emotional display and emotional labor strategies in class, drawing upon the attention-based view. With a sample of 1098 undergraduates, 159 teachers and 10 research assistants from a university in Beijing, China, this study found that students' intrinsic learning motivation was negatively related to their mind wandering; teachers' emotional display strengthened the relationship between students' intrinsic learning motivation and mind wandering; and surface acting weakened the moderating effect of teachers' emotional display on the relationship between students' intrinsic learning motivation and mind wandering. These findings highlight the important role of teachers' emotional display in limiting the occurrence of students' mind wandering in class. The theoretical and pedagogical implications were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of spontaneous mind wandering is crucial for comprehending an individual mental state and holds the potential to enhance performance and productivity. This paper proposes a framework using Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) based ResNet model to analyze Electrodermal Activity (EDA) signals for mind wandering detection. In this analysis, EDA signals are sourced from an openly accessible database and preprocessed for artifact and noise removal. Time-frequency analysis generates CWT spectrogram images, which are classified using a modified ResNet50 model that is custom built to classify the spectrogram images corresponding the mind wandering and awareness. Hyperparameter tuning is carried to obtain the optimal network parameters that provides the best accuracy. Results indicate that batch size of 32, learning rate 1e-5 provides better results. This hyperparameter tuned model achieved an accuracy of 64% in differentiating between the two classes. This paper proposes an adapted ResNet50 model that could be employed in wearable devices as a potential application of knowing the mind awareness of an individual.

The aim of this study was to evaluate cognitive distortions and mind wandering in college students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with and without pornography. The research design was descriptive comparative causal, and it was practical in terms of its purpose. The statistical population of Tehran in 2022 consisted of 2432 students, including 1449 women and 983 men, pornographic students without ADHD symptoms, and students with and without ADHD symptoms. The research sample consisted of 500 adults with ADHD and or without pornography. These individuals were categorized into 4 categories of 125 individuals based on their cutoff scores: 1) with ADHD and pornography, 2) with ADHD and without pornography, 3) without ADHD and pornography, and 4) as usual. The research instruments included the Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Questionnaires (ASRS), Problematic Use of Porn (PPUS-P), Mind Wandering Deliberate and Spontaneous Scales (MWS), and Cognitive Distortions (CDS). The data was analyzed using the spss24 software, which included univariate and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and the Hochberg GT2 post hoc test. The results showed that there is a distinction among the four categories (p

The objective of the current study was to examine the effect of one-session mindfulness on mind wandering, and to assess whether the duration or intervals of the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) influence this effect. Fifty-six undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either a Mindfulness Meditation Group (MMG) or a Controlled Group (CG). The MMG received a 15-minute audio exercise on mindful breathing, while the CG listened to a 15-minute audio exercise on irrelevant news. Subsequently, participants from both groups were asked to complete a 20-minute combination of the Thought Probe and SART. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that the MMG displayed fewer errors of omission and Reaction Time Coefficient of Variability (RTCV) relative to the CG. At 10, 15, and 20 minutes of SART duration, the MMG recorded a significantly fewer errors of omission than the CG, while at 5 minutes of SART duration, there was no significant difference between the two groups. Further analysis showed that the interaction between the groups and the SART time interval had no significant differences in the indicators of omission errors and dependent variables such as RTCV. These results suggest that the effects of a single mindfulness meditation intervention are stable over the duration of 20 minutes of SART, but measures of the effect of a single-session mindfulness meditation on reducing mind wandering are still affected by the duration of the task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Mobile phone addiction is a risk factor for the frequent mind wandering occurrence. • Functional connectivity among frontoparietal, motor, default, and cerebellar networks formed the neural basis of mind wandering. • Functional connectivity among default, basal ganglia, limbic, medial frontal, visual, and cerebellar networks also underpins mind wandering. • Functional connectivity between frontoparietal and motor network mediates the relationship between phone addiction and mind wandering. • Functional connectivity between default and cerebellar network, as well as within cerebellar networks also mediated the relationship. With the increased availability and sophistication of digital devices in the last decade, young people have become mainstream mobile phone users. Heavy mobile phone dependence causes affective problems (depression, anxiety) and loss of attention on current activities, leading to more cluttered thoughts. Problematic mobile phone use has been found to increase the occurrence of mind wandering, but the neural mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. The current study aims to investigate the neural mechanism between mobile phone use and mind wandering. University students from datasets (ongoing research project named Gene-Brain-Behavior project, GBB) completed psychological assessments of mobile phone addiction and mind wandering and underwent resting-state functional connectivity (FC) scanning. FC matrix was constructed to further conduct correlation and mediation analyses. Students with high mobile phone addiction scores were more likely to have high mind wandering scores. FC among the default mode, motor, frontoparietal, basal ganglia, limbic, medial frontal, visual association, and cerebellar networks formed the neural basis of mind wandering. FC between the frontoparietal and motor networks, between the default mode network and cerebellar network, and within the cerebellar network mediated the relationship between mobile phone addiction and mind wandering. The findings confirm that mobile phone addiction is a risk factor for increased mind wandering and reveal that FC in several brain networks underlies this relationship. They contribute to research on behavioral addiction, education, and mental health among young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders in children. According to developmental literature findings, there is a link between executive function (EF) and ADHD. Although EF deficits vary across ADHD presentations in children, working memory capacity is commonly associated with attention impairments. Notably, deficits in working memory capacity are also observed in frequent mind wandering reports for typically developing children. Mind wandering is shifting attention away from a current task to an unrelated thought. To explore the relationship between EF and mind wandering in children with ADHD (n = 47) and further compare our current sample to a typically developing (control) group from a previous study (n = 47), all participants completed three EF-related tasks. They concurrently reported if they were on task or mind wandering. Our results indicate better short-term memory capacity predicted lower mind wandering frequency in children who reported high levels of ADHD symptoms. Similar trends were observed for working memory capacity and ADHD symptomatology. Children with ADHD also reported more overall and unintentional mind wandering on questionnaires compared to children without ADHD. However, the relationship between EF and mind wandering did not differ between these groups. The current study suggests memory-related cognitive abilities may inform our understanding and management of mind wandering in children, driving the development of interventions targeting attention regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, researchers from different fields have become increasingly interested in measuring individual differences in mind wandering as a psychological trait. Although there are several questionnaires that allow for an assessment of people's perceptions of their mind wandering experiences, they either define mind wandering in a very broad sense or do not sufficiently separate different aspects of mind wandering. Here, we introduce the Brief Mind Wandering Three-Factor Scale (BMW-3), a 12-item questionnaire available in German and English. The BMW-3 conceptualizes mind wandering as task-unrelated thought and measures three dimensions of mind wandering: unintentional mind wandering, intentional mind wandering, and meta-awareness of mind wandering. Based on results from 1038 participants (823 German speakers, 215 English speakers), we found support for the proposed three-factorial structure of mind wandering and for scalar measurement invariance of the German and English versions. All subscales showed good internal consistencies and moderate to high test–retest correlations and thus provide an effective assessment of individual differences in mind wandering. Moreover, the BMW-3 showed good convergent validity when compared to existing retrospective measures of mind wandering and mindfulness and was related to conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness as well as self-reported attentional control. Lastly, it predicted the propensity for mind wandering inside and outside the lab (as assessed by in-the-moment experience sampling), the frequency of experiencing depressive symptoms, and the use of functional and dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies. All in all, the BMW-3 provides a brief, reliable, and valid assessment of mind wandering for basic and clinical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People often seem to generate creative ideas during moderately engaging activities, such as showering or walking. One explanation of this shower effect is that creative idea generation requires a balance between focused, linear thinking (which limits originality) and unbounded, random associations (which are rarely useful). Activities like walking may help us strike this balance by allowing mind wandering in an engaging environment that places some constraints on thought. Although past studies have found an inconsistent relationship between mind wandering and creative idea generation, they have two limitations. First, creativity researchers have not studied a key form of mind wandering, which is freely moving thought. Second, studies have used boring tasks that may encourage unconstrained and unproductive mind wandering. To overcome these limitations, we investigate the relationship between idea generation and freely moving mind wandering during boring versus engaging video tasks. Across two studies, we find that mind wandering leads to more creative ideas, but only during moderately engaging activities. Boring activities lead to either more ideas or more semantically distant ideas overall, but these effects were unrelated to mind wandering. Boring activities may therefore lead to ideas by affording time for focused problem solving, whereas engaging activities may do so by encouraging productive mind wandering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was an investigation of the relation between cognitive coupling, a correlation between text difficulty and reading time, and other measures of mind wandering during reading. To measure cognitive coupling, we manipulated the text difficulty of individual sentences. Because mind wandering may shift attention away from the text, we predicted a cognitive coupling interaction, that is, that the effect of difficulty on processing time should be less when readers are off task. We also manipulated the consistency of a target sentence's content with a prior information. Analogous to the text-based cognitive coupling, we predicted an interaction of consistency with task focus: The impact of this consistency should be less noticeable when readers are off task. The results demonstrated the predicted text-based cognitive-coupling effect: There was less of an effect of text difficulty when readers reported being off task. However, there was no such interaction between consistency and task focus. We conclude that the consistency effect may depend on the relatively automatic activation of prior information rather than requiring consciously retrieving related information from memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind wandering occurs when a reader's thoughts are unrelated to the text's ideas. We examined the relation between mind wandering and readers' memory for text. More specifically, we assessed whether mind wandering inhibits the reader's development of the situation model and thus their ability to identify and recall the text's most central ideas. Undergraduate participants (M = 18.92 years; SD = 1.32) read and recalled three expository passages. Participants responded to intermittent probes to report mind wandering frequency. We examined how mind wandering impacted the readers' situation model, indicated by the proportion of central and peripheral ideas recalled. Using path analysis models, we found that mind wandering negatively predicted the recall of central, but not peripheral, ideas. The effect of mind wandering on the recall of central ideas was not explained by working memory span (measured by WAIS-IV digit span backward and letter-number sequencing), word reading skill (measured by Letter-Word Identification and Word Attack), or general reading comprehension skill (measured by the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test). These results indicate that mind wandering hinders the recognition and recall of a text's most central ideas and suggest that mind wandering impacts the development of a coherent situation model. This effect seems to be independent of working memory, word reading, and general reading comprehension skill. Future studies should test approaches to decrease mind wandering among adult readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mind-wandering is a highly dynamic phenomenon involving frequent fluctuations in cognition. However, the dynamics of functional connectivity between brain regions during mind-wandering have not been extensively studied. Methods: We employed an analytical approach aimed at extracting recurring network states of multilayer networks built using amplitude envelope correlation and imaginary phase-locking value of delta, theta, alpha, beta, or gamma frequency band. These networks were constructed based on electroencephalograph (EEG) data collected while participants engaged in a video-learning task with mind-wandering and focused learning conditions. Recurring multilayer network states were defined via clustering based on overlapping node closeness centrality. Results: We observed similar multilayer network states across the five frequency bands. Furthermore, the transition patterns of network states were not entirely random. We also found significant differences in metrics that characterize the dynamics of multilayer network states between mind-wandering and focused learning. Finally, we designed a classification algorithm, based on a hidden Markov model using state sequences as input, that achieved a 0.888 mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for within-participant detection of mind-wandering. Discussion: Our approach offers a novel perspective on analyzing the dynamics of EEG data and shows potential application to mind-wandering detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous mind wandering has been implicated as a feature of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and researchers have wondered if spontaneous remembering is also a feature of ADHD. In this study, we compared spontaneous cognition, principally involuntary autobiographical memories, in participants who scored inside the ADHD range on BAARS‐IV to those who scored outside of the ADHD range. In Study 1, participants reported their involuntary memories and spontaneous thoughts on a laboratory measure of involuntary memory (the vigilance task), as well as estimated their daily involuntary memory frequencies on a separate questionnaire. The results showed that ADHD range participants did not differ from non‐ADHD range participants in reports of involuntary memories and spontaneous thoughts on the vigilance task, but ADHD range participants estimated higher daily involuntary memory frequencies than non‐ADHD range participants on the questionnaire. Additionally, on the questionnaire, ADHD participants reported that their involuntary memories were less positive and more repetitive than non‐ADHD participants. In Study 2, participants recorded their naturally occurring involuntary memories in a structured diary for 48 hours. The results showed that ADHD range participants had more involuntary memories than non‐ADHD range participants, and they also reported that they experienced them as less positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tendency for our minds to wander is a pervasive and disruptive influence on continued task performance. Models of sustained attention have implicated mind wandering, moments when attention has turned inwards toward task-unrelated thought, in characteristic patterns of worsening performance with greater time-on-task, known as the vigilance decrement. Despite their theoretical connection, associations between mind wandering and the vigilance decrement have not been investigated systematically. Across two studies (N = 730), we evaluated covariance between within-task change in rates of probe-caught mind wandering and patterns of worsening behavioral task performance that characterize the vigilance decrement. Bivariate growth curve models characterized patterns of intraindividual linear change in mind wandering alongside concomitant changes in task accuracy, response time (RT), and RT variability. Importantly, models assessing the covariance between intraindividual change in mind wandering and behavioral outcome measures confirmed that increases in mind wandering are associated with patterns of worsening behavioral performance with greater time-on-task. In addition, we investigated the role of several moderating factors associated with patterns of within-task change: self-reported task interest and motivation, and individuals' propensity for mind wandering, and mindfulness in their daily lives. These factors moderated either the overall level or rate of within-task change in mind wandering. Our results provide support for models of sustained attention that directly implicate mind wandering in worsening behavioral performance with greater time-on-task in continuous performance tasks requiring sustained attention. Public Significance Statement: There is a pervasive tendency for our minds to wander away from our current task toward off-task thought. In line with recent theories proposing that mind wandering may disrupt sustained attention, our results implicate mind wandering as a consequential factor in reducing individuals' sustained attention task performance with greater time-on-task. Increases in mind wandering over time are directly associated with patterns of worsening performance over time. Yet, being more mindful, motivated, and task-interested may protect against mind wandering's disruptive influence on task performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to build a model for the direct and indirect effects among the dimensions of epistemic curiosity, self-regulation failure, and mind wandering among university students. The number of participants in the study was 503 male and female students from the Faculty of Education, Helwan University. The researcher prepared and applied two tools which included the epistemic curiosity scale and the self-regulation failure scale. The researcher also translated and applied the mind-wandering scale which prepared by Lopez et al. (2023). The results showed the appropriateness of the proposed model for causal relationships between the study variables to the nature of the study data. It also stated that the presence of a direct effect of the dimensions of epistemic curiosity on the dimensions of self-regulation failure. It also showed that the presence of a direct effect of the dimensions of epistemic curiosity on mind wandering. It also revealed that the presence of a direct effect of the dimensions of self-regulation failure on mind wandering. It also stated that the presence of an indirect effect of the dimensions of epistemic curiosity on mind wandering through the dimensions of self-regulation failure. In addition, the results stated that there were no statistically significant differences in epistemic curiosity, self-regulation failure, and mind wandering attributed to gender (male-female), specialization (scientific-literary), and the two-way interaction between gender and specialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that mind wandering during incubation phases enhances post-incubation creative performance. Recent empirical evidence, however, has highlighted a specific form of mind wandering closely related to creativity, termed freely moving mind wandering (FMMW). In this study, we examined the behavioral and neural associations between FMMW and creativity. Methods: We initially validated a questionnaire measuring FMMW by comparing its results with those from the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). Data were collected from 1316 participants who completed resting-state fMRI scans, the FMMW questionnaire, and creative tasks. Correlation analysis and Bayes factors indicated that FMMW was associated with creative thinking (AUT). To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the relationship between FMMW and creativity, Hidden Markov Models (HMM) were employed to analyze the temporal dynamics of the resting-state fMRI data. Results: Our findings indicated that brain dynamics associated with FMMW involve integration within multiple networks and between networks (r = −0.11, pFDR < 0.05). The links between brain dynamics associated with FMMW and creativity were mediated by FMMW (c' = 0.01, [−0.0181, −0.0029]). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the relationship between FMMW and creativity, offering insights into the neural mechanisms underpinning this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasing number of videos integrating instructor's visuals on screen, we know little about the impacts of this design on mind wandering. The study aims to investigate a) how instructor visibility impacts mind wandering; b) the relationship between mind wandering and retention performance; c) how visual behaviour during video-watching influences mind wandering. Each participant watched a video with or without instructor visibility, while their visual behaviour was recorded by an eye tracker. Retention performance was measured at the completion of the video. Mind wandering was inferred via global self-report measure and objective eye tracking measure. Both measures of mind wandering indicated the instructor visible video resulted in less mind wandering. Findings suggested mind wandering impaired retention performance. Additionally, visual attention to the instructor was associated with less mind wandering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A principal goal of attention research is to develop tasks with clear behavioral signatures of attentional fluctuations. Measures that index attentional states often fall under two broad umbrellas: decision tasks, in which participants make responses based on the changing requirements of each trial, and rhythm tasks, in which participants respond rhythmically to a uniform stimulus (e.g., a metronome tone). In the former, response speeding typically precedes errors (indicative of attention failures). In the latter, increased response variability precedes subjective reports of off-task states. We developed and validated the rhythmic visual response task (RVRT); a rhythm task incorporating trial-unique scene stimuli. The RVRT incorporates two important advances from both task categories: (1) it is free from the influence that differential decision-making has on fluctuations in attentional states, and (2) trial-unique stimuli enable later cognitive judgments to be mapped to specific moments in the task. These features allow a relatively unobtrusive measure of mind wandering that facilitates the downstream assessment of its consequences. Participants completed 900 trials of the RVRT, interrupted periodically by thought probes that assessed their attentional state. We found that both response time variance and speed predicted depth of mind wandering. Encouraged by these findings, we used the same analysis approach on archival data to demonstrate that the combination of variance and speed best predicted attentional states in several rhythm and decision task datasets. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest future research that uses the RVRT to investigate the impact of spontaneous mind wandering on memory, decision-making, and perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tendency for individuals to mind wander is often measured using experience sampling methods in which probe questions embedded within computerized cognitive tasks attempt to catch episodes of off-task thought at random intervals during task performance. However, mind-wandering probe questions and response options are often chosen ad hoc and vary between studies with extant little guidance as to the psychometric consequences of these methodological decisions. In the present study, we examined the psychometric properties of several common approaches for assessing mind wandering using methods from item response theory (IRT). IRT latent modeling demonstrated that measurement information was generally distributed across the range of trait estimates according to when probes were presented in time. Probes presented earlier in time provided more information about individuals with greater tendency to mind wandering than probes presented later. Furthermore, mind-wandering ratings made on a continuous scale or using multiple categorical rating options provided more information about individuals' latent mind-wandering tendency – across a broader range of the trait continuum – than ratings dichotomized into on-task and off-task categories. In addition, IRT provided evidence that reports of "task-related thoughts" contribute to the task-focused dimension of the construct continuum, providing justification for studies conceptualizing these responses as a kind of task-related focus. Together, we hope these findings will help guide researchers hoping to maximize the measurement precision of their mind wandering assessment procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind wandering, an experience characterized by a reduced external focus of attention and an increased internal focus, has seen significant theoretical advancement in understanding its underlying cognitive processes. The levels-of-inattention hypothesis posits that in mind wandering, external attention is reduced in a graded fashion, reflecting different levels of weak versus deep attentional decoupling. However, it has remained unclear whether internal processing during mind wandering, and mindless reading in particular, requires effort and, if so, whether it is graded or distinct. To address this, we analyzed pupil size as a measure of cognitive load in the sustained-attention-to-stimulus task during text reading. We examined whether decoupled external attention is linked to an overall reduction in workload and whether internal focus of attention is graded or represents a distinct cognitive process. Overall, overlooking errors in the text was associated with a small pupil size, indicating reduced effortful processing. However, this effect varied with error type: overlooking high- or medium-level errors (weak decoupling) resulted in reduced pupil size, while overlooking low-level errors (deep decoupling) had no effect on pupil size. Moreover, detecting an error (at any processing level) elicited a task-evoked pupillary response, which was absent when it was overlooked. These findings suggest that weak decoupling reduces internal resource-demanding processing and are in line with the hypothesis that large pupils during deep decoupling may be associated with distinct states of effortful internal processing. They further support both the levels-of-inattention hypothesis and the notion that internal focus is a distinct mode of deeply decoupled processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The default mode network (DMN) is a widely distributed, intrinsic brain network thought to play a crucial role in internally directed cognition. The present study employs stereo-EEG in 13 human patients, obtaining high resolution neural recordings across multiple canonical DMN regions during two processes that have been associated with creative thinking: spontaneous and divergent thought. We probe these two DMN-associated higher cognitive functions through mind wandering and alternate uses tasks, respectively. Our results reveal DMN recruitment during both tasks, as well as a task-specific dissociation in spatiotemporal response dynamics. When compared to the fronto-parietal network, DMN activity was characterized by a stronger increase in gamma band power (30–70 Hz) coupled with lower theta band power (4–8 Hz). The difference in activity between the two networks was especially strong during the mind wandering task. Within the DMN, we found that the tasks showed different dynamics, with the alternate uses task engaging the DMN more during the initial stage of the task, and mind wandering in the later stage. Gamma power changes were mainly driven by lateral DMN sites, while theta power displayed task-specific effects. During alternate uses task, theta changes did not show spatial differences within the DMN, while mind wandering was associated to an early lateral and late dorsomedial DMN engagement. Furthermore, causal manipulations of DMN regions using direct cortical stimulation preferentially decreased the originality of responses in the alternative uses task, without affecting fluency or mind wandering. Our results suggest that DMN activity is flexibly modulated as a function of specific cognitive processes and supports its causal role in divergent thinking. These findings shed light on the neural constructs supporting different forms of cognition and provide causal evidence for the role of DMN in the generation of original connections among concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EEG microstates offer a unique window into the dynamics of emotional experiences. This study delved into the emotional responses of happiness and sadness triggered by music videos, employing microstate analysis and eLoreta source-level investigation in the alpha band. The results of the microstate analysis showed that regardless of gender, participants during happy music video significantly upregulated class D microstate and downregulated class C microstate, leading to a significantly enhanced global explained variance (GEV), coverage, occurrence, duration, and global field power (GFP) for class D. Conversely, sad music video had the opposite effect. The eLoreta study revealed that during the happy state, there was enhanced CSD in the central parietal regions across both genders and diminished functional connectivity in the precuneus for female participants compared to the sad state. Class D and class C microstates are linked to attention and mind-wandering, respectively. The findings suggest that (1) increased class D and CSD activity could explain heightened attentiveness observed during happy music, and (2) increased class C activity and functional connectivity could explain enhanced mind wandering observed during sad music. Additionally, female participants exhibited significantly higher mean occurrence than males, and the sad state showed significantly higher mean occurrence than the happy state.

Mind wandering (MW) encompasses both a deliberate and a spontaneous disengagement of attention from the immediate external environment to unrelated internal thoughts. Importantly, MW has been suggested to have an inverse relationship with mindfulness, a state of nonjudgmental awareness of present-moment experience. Although they are, respectively, associated with increased and decreased activity in the default mode network (DMN), the specific contributions of deliberate and spontaneous MW, and their relationships with mindfulness abilities and resting-state macro networks remain to be elucidated. Therefore, resting-state MRI scans from 76 participants were analyzed with group independent component analysis to decompose brain networks into independent macro-networks and to see which of them predicted specific aspects of spontaneous and deliberate MW or mindfulness traits. Our results show that temporal variability of the resting-state DMN predicts spontaneous MW, which in turn is negatively associated with the acting with awareness facet of mindfulness. This finding shows that the DMN is not directly associated with overall mindfulness, but rather demonstrates that there exists a close relationship between DMN and MW, and furthermore, that the involvement of mindfulness abilities in this dynamic may be secondary. In sum, our study contributes to a better understanding of the neural bases of spontaneous MW and its relationship with mindfulness. These results open up the possibility of intervening on specific aspects of our cognitive abilities: for example, our data suggest that training the mindfulness facet acting with awareness would allow lessening our tendency for MW at inopportune times.

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Mind wandering (MW) is intricately linked to sleep and affect, bearing clinical relevance for various psychiatric conditions, notably attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders. Most reviews concur that the relationship between disturbed sleep and negative affect is bidirectional. The directional relationships between MW propensity and disturbed sleep, as well as MW propensity and negative affect, are less clear. Therefore, this brief review aims to examine the limited studies that have directly explored temporally sequential relationships. These studies provide clear evidence for an impact of affect on MW and of MW on sleep, along with less unequivocal evidence for an influence of MW on affect and sleep on MW. Collectively, these individual reinforcement loops may constitute a threefold vicious cycle, which may contribute to the development and perpetuation of psychiatric disorders. Available data convincingly suggest an impact cycle in the direction "MW propensity → disturbed sleep → negative affect → MW propensity," while evidence for the inverse impact cycle is less pronounced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind wandering is a pervasive feature of experience. But why does the mind wriggle about rather than stay focused? The answer depends on understanding mind wandering as task‐unrelated thought. Despite being the standard view of mind wandering in cognitive psychology, there has been no systematic elaboration of the task‐unrelated thought view of mind wandering. I argue for the task‐unrelated thought view by showing how mind wandering reflects a distinctive form of non‐vigilant thinking. This argument defuses several objections to the task‐unrelated thought view. The account of mind wandering defended here is also compatible with a naturalistic account of subjectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Occupational hazards are partly caused by the physical factors of the work environment, among which are ambient color and brightness, which can interfere with cognitive performance. Especially in modern work environments, performance relies heavily on cognitive functions such as attention, and an important factor in disrupting sustained attention is mind wandering (MW). This study aimed to investigate the effects of white and blue colors with two brightness levels on sustained attention and brain electrophysiology. Methods: A total of 20 participants were exposed to 4 different conditions (white and blue as color and 300 and 800 lx as the brightness level) in separate blocks in a virtual reality environment in which a continuous performance test (CPT) was performed. Results: The high brightness blue condition induced significant changes in sustained attention. MW network analysis showed a significant decrease in delta frequency band in the blue color condition with high brightness and beta decrease in the blue color condition with low brightness, whereas the activity of MW network increased when exposed to the white color condition. Conclusion: High‐brightness blue light resulted in better sustained attention and decreased activity of MW‐related neural regions. It is thus recommended that these results be taken into consideration in the interior design of educational settings and cars among other environments that require a high level and maintenance of cognitive functions, especially sustained attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Creativity and responsibility are enhanced by meditation among adults, but such effects have not been studied in adolescents. Moreover, the determinants of the ethical effect (such as responsibility) of meditation are unclear. Aims: To address this gap by investigating the impact of digital in‐class meditation programmes in middle school, focusing on intentions (self‐centred vs. responsibility‐centred), on adolescents' creative potential and sense of responsibility. These intentions are operationalized by different purpose‐based meditations. Methods: We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 107 year 7 adolescents from six classes, assigning them to two experimental groups and an active control group. Pre‐ and post‐intervention assessments were conducted over an 11‐week period, including a creativity (EPoC) test comprising four exercises (graphic and verbal, divergent and convergent thinking), a responsibility and a mindfulness scale. Results: Our findings revealed no discernible effects on divergent thinking or self‐reported mindfulness. However, we observed significant differences in graphic and verbal convergent creative thinking, as well as impacting responsibility scores, between a responsibility‐centred meditation group and a self‐centred meditation group. Moreover, distinctions were noted between control and self‐centred meditation groups and between some classes. Effect sizes indicated that the interventions had a moderate but significant impact on the variables measured. Conclusion: Our study reveals the effectiveness of digital meditation interventions in enhancing convergent creative thinking and responsibility among middle‐school students. Notably, it shed new light on the importance of meditation intentions, which may be as significant as the form of meditation itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind wandering, a subjective daily experience often conflated with daydreaming or zoning out, has been primarily investigated as “task-unrelated thoughts” in psychology and cognitive neuroscience concerning attention, creativity, mindfulness, mental health, and aging. However, diverse evidence also reveals the limitations of this mainstream definition and prompts alternative viewpoints, that have yet to be systematically reviewed and compared. In addition, the issue regarding its mechanisms or predictive factors in terms of the occurrence of task-related thought remains unsettled. This article thus examines mind-wandering research from two perspectives: “What is mind wandering?” and “How does it occur and how can it be regulated?” Three current viewpoints (the task-centric view, the dynamic framework view, and the family resemblance view) are first introduced in terms of definitions, measurement, related evidence, relations with cognitive performance, creativity and mental health, and limitations. Then we examine the issue regarding how executive control functions or cognitive resources influence the occurrence of mind wandering, on which inconsistent evidence has been addressed. Finally, we propose “the awareness-modulation hypothesis”, highlighting the modulatory role of present-moment awareness (an aspect of mindfulness) to integrate the current diverse evidence better. Its implications for the age of distraction are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resting-state paradigm is frequently applied to study spontaneous activity of the brain in normal and clinical conditions. To assess the relationship between brain activity and subjective experiences, various questionnaires are used. Previous studies using Amsterdam Resting State Questionnaire were focusing on fMRI functional connectivity or EEG microstates and spectral aspect. Here, we utilized Global Field Synchronization as the parameter to estimate global functional connectivity. By re-analyzing the resting-state data from 226 young healthy participants we showed a strong evidence of relationship between ARSQ domain of Comfort and GFS values in the alpha range (r = 0.210, BF10 = 12.338) and substantial evidence for positive relationship between ARSQ domain of Comfort and GFS in the beta frequency range (r = 196, BF10 = 6.307). Our study indicates the relevance of assessments of spontaneous thought occurring during the resting-state for the understanding of the individual intrinsic electrical brain activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how clustered health risk behaviors (HRBs) affect mind wandering (MW) and whether sleep quality and emotional symptoms play a serial mediating role. 1041 college students were recruited through convenience sampling. The measurement scale included a Health Risk Behaviors Questionnaire, the Brief Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Patient Health Questionnaire-4, and the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire. We identified four clusters of HRBs including low-risk behaviors (Class 1), takeaway intake-nutritional imbalance (Class 2), substance use-irregular diet (Class 3), and sedentary (Class 4). There was the highest level of MW in Class 3, followed by Class 1, Class 2, and Class 4. Compared to Class 1, sleep quality and emotional symptoms positively mediated the relationship between Class 2, Class 3, Class 4 and MW. Additionally, the number of HRBs still affected MW via serial mediators of sleep quality and emotional symptoms. Clustered HRBs were significantly associated with MW among young adults via the mediating mechanism of sleep quality and emotional symptoms. This study expands the theoretical knowledge of the relationship between lifestyle, sleep, emotion, and cognition. Our research provides some suggestions for the sake of personality health in young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Mind wandering (MW) among athletes during training and competition can lead to poor performance. However, MW has also been found to have positive effects. This study aims to clarify the causes of the bidirectional (negative and positive) effects of MW in the sports context, specifically focusing on whether these effects are related to the content of MW. Methods: A total of 846 Chinese athletes completed the Chinese version of the MW scales. The survey data were tested for common method biases. Subsequently, Pearson correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were performed using SPSS 25.0 and Mplus 7.0. Results: The frequency of MWcan positively predict its bidirectional effects. MW content plays an important role in the relationships between MW frequency and its negative and positive effects, but the direction of influence varies depending on the content. Conclusion: MW in sports is not always harmful, and its content plays an important role. These findings suggest that managing MW content may be a promising MW intervention method for improving performance in sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One key aspect of the human experience is our ongoing stream of thoughts. These thoughts can be broadly categorized into various dimensions, which are associated with different impacts on mood, well-being, and productivity. While the past literature has often identified eye movements associated with a specific thought dimension (task-relatedness) during experimental tasks, few studies have determined if these various thought dimensions can be classified by oculomotor activity during naturalistic tasks. Employing thought sampling, eye tracking, and machine learning, we assessed the classification of nine thought dimensions (task-relatedness, freely moving, stickiness, goal-directedness, internal–external orientation, self-orientation, others orientation, visual modality, and auditory modality) across seven multi-day recordings of seven participants during self-selected computer tasks. Our analyses were based on a total of 1715 thought probes across 63 h of recordings. Automated binary-class classification of the thought dimensions was based on statistical features extracted from eye movement measures, including fixation and saccades. These features all served as input into a random forest (RF) classifier, which was then improved with particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based selection of the best subset of features for classifier performance. The mean Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) values from the PSO-based RF classifier across the thought dimensions ranged from 0.25 to 0.54, indicating above-chance level performance in all nine thought dimensions across participants and improved performance compared to the RF classifier without feature selection. Our findings highlight the potential of machine learning approaches combined with eye movement measures for the real-time prediction of naturalistic ongoing thoughts, particularly in ecologically valid contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety is a pervasive emotional state where, phenomenologically, subjects often report changes in their experience of time and space. However, a systematic and quantified examination of time and space experience in terms of a self-report scale is still missing which eventually could also be used for clinical differential diagnosis. Based on historical phenomenological literature and patients' subjective reports, we here introduce, in a first step, the Scale for Time and Space Experience of Anxiety (STEA) in a smaller sample of 19 subjects with anxiety disorders and, in a second step, validate its shorter clinical version (cSTEA) in a larger sample of 48 anxiety subjects. The main findings are (i) high convergent and divergent validity of STEA with both Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) (r = 0.7325; p < 0.001) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (r = 0.7749; p < 0.0001), as well as with spontaneous mind wandering (MWS) (r = 0.7343; p < 0.001) and deliberate mind wandering (MWD) (r = 0.1152; p > 0.05), (ii) statistical feature selection shows 8 key items for future clinical usage (cSTEA) focusing on the experience of temporal and spatial constriction, (iii) the effects of time and space experience (i.e., for both STEA and cSTEA scores) on the level of anxiety (BAI) are mediated by the degree of spontaneous mind wandering (MWS), (iv) cSTEA allows for differentiating high levels of anxiety from the severity of comorbid depressive symptoms, and (v) significant reduction in the cSTEA scores after a therapeutic intervention (breathing therapy). Together, our study introduces a novel fully quantified and highly valid self-report instrument, the STEA, for measuring time-space experiences in anxiety. Further we develop a shorter clinical version (cSTEA) which allows assessing time space experience in a valid, quick, and simple way for diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and therapeutic monitoring of anxiety. • Anxiety is closely related to constricted time and space experiences. • The dynamic of thoughts, i.e., mind wandering, may serve as the mediator between the time and space experiences and anxiety. • cSTEA allow a valid and simple way to assess clinical phenomenology of anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although metacognition plays a pivotal role in theoretical accounts of mind wandering, their longitudinal relationships have not yet been investigated during the important developmental period of early adolescence. This study aimed to examine the developmental trajectories of spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering and the dynamic associations between metacognition and two types of mind wandering in early adolescence. A sample of 4302 Chinese students beginning in Grade 4 (47.4% female; initial Mage = 9.84, SDage = 0.47) completed questionnaires on five occasions over 2.5 years. The results showed that deliberate mind wandering, but not spontaneous mind wandering, gradually increased from Grade 4 to Grade 6. Metacognition was negatively related to spontaneous mind wandering but positively related to deliberate mind wandering. These findings provide empirical evidence for theoretical viewpoints from both individual differences and developmental perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In recent years, an increasing number of studies have highlighted the usefulness of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) in identifying varying levels of trait mindfulness. As higher trait mindfulness (as reflected by higher FFMQ scores) has been associated with fewer negative affective symptoms, a thorough understanding of the neural correlates associated with FFMQ scores would inform the development of more individualized mindfulness interventions. The current study investigated how individual differences in trait mindfulness are related to different resting-state functional connectivity patterns, and whether these patterns could predict negative affective symptoms. Methods: We analyzed data from 71 adults (age range: 20–45 years) from the Max Planck Institute-Leipzig Mind-Brain-Body dataset. Participants completed the FFMQ, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans and reported the content of thought emerged during the scanning session. Network-based statistics were used to identify resting-state networks that were significantly associated with the FFMQ facets. The strengths of these networks were then used to predict negative affective symptoms. Results: Results indicated that higher scores on the facets of act with awareness and nonjudge were associated with fewer negative affective symptoms. The network-based statistics revealed networks of edges that were significantly associated with the facet of nonjudge. Moreover, this network significantly predicted multiple measures of negative affect. There were no networks that were significantly associated with other facets. Conclusions: These findings provide evidence at the neural level to suggest that the facet of nonjudge is inversely linked to negative affective symptoms. Preregistration: This study was not preregistered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research aimed to identify the relation between Internet addiction and mind wandering of academic learning disabled middle school students (n=92) with an age mean (13.11) and a standard deviation (0.86). The following tools were applied in the first semester of 2023-2024; Internet addiction scale by Young (1996) adapted by Ibrahim (2009); and mind wandering scale by Mowlem et al. (2016) adapted by Saeed & Boghdady (2022). The descriptive correlational approach was used, and results indicated the existence of a significant positive correlation at (0.01) between Internet addiction and mind wandering of research sample. It is also possible to predict mind wandering from Internet addiction of academic learning disabled middle school students, and the most important factor of Internet addiction that can contribute to predicting mind wandering is work refusal, which explained (25.2%) of the variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]