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Theodor-Katz N, Soffer-Dudek N. Where Is My Mind? The Daydreaming Characteristics Questionnaire, a New Tool to Differentiate Absorptive Daydreaming From Mind-Wandering. J Atten Disord 2025; 29:515-528. [PMID: 39995208 PMCID: PMC11956380 DOI: 10.1177/10870547251319081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/26/2025]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is an impairing condition characterized by addiction to narrative, emotional fantasizing, involving dissociative absorption. By compulsively withdrawing toward vivid imaginative scenarios, MD hinders attentional functioning and replaces social interactions. Previous Interview-based research showed clinical importance in differentiating MD from ADHD and the associated construct of mind-wandering. We aimed to create a self-report tool asking directly about the content and structure of distracting thoughts. METHOD Two samples, namely, 346 undergraduate students and 381 adults from the general community, completed a novel measure, the Daydreaming Characteristics Questionnaire (DCQ), along with validated measures for ADHD, mind-wandering, MD, dissociation, and general distress. RESULTS Exploratory Factor Analyses on the DCQ, replicated across both samples, yielded two distinct factors (immersive daydreaming and daydream functionality) uniquely associated with MD. CONCLUSION The DCQ represents characteristics of immersive daydreaming much more than general attentional deficiency and is thus useful in differentiating MD from ADHD/mind-wandering distractions.
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2
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Hammerdahl E, Vazquez N, Alperin BR. Clinically relevant aspects of thought across psychological disorders. Cogn Process 2025:10.1007/s10339-025-01271-y. [PMID: 40237968 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-025-01271-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/28/2025] [Indexed: 04/18/2025]
Abstract
Thought-related features are prevalent within psychopathologies, with around 50% of psychiatric disorders including aspects of thought in their diagnostic criteria. Even among higher levels of transdiagnostic work and a stronger focus on thought-related phenomenon, a gap remains between cognitive and clinical fields. Here, we aimed to bridge the gap between these two fields by providing a high-level organization of the most prevalently studied mental health-related aspects of thought. In this review, we surveyed the thought literature with a focus on clinical disorders with thought-related phenomena in their diagnostic criteria. From our review we identified three high level dimensions of thoughts: the content of thought, the dynamics of thought, and the relationship to thought. Within each of these levels, we then expanded on the specific aspects of thought highlighted in the cognitive and clinical literature. Identification of these categorical themes will help to isolate the specific aspects of thought driving the persistence of mental health disorders. Knowledge of the underlying cognitive mechanisms that drive disorder-related impairment can then be used to create more effective and targeted interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elsa Hammerdahl
- Department of Psychology, Lawrence University, 711 E Boldt Way, Appleton, WI, 54911, USA
| | - Nicole Vazquez
- Department of Psychology, University of Richmond, 410 Westhampton Way, Richmond, VA, 23173, USA
| | - Brittany R Alperin
- Department of Psychology, Lawrence University, 711 E Boldt Way, Appleton, WI, 54911, USA.
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3
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Moran CN, McGovern DP, Melnychuk M, Smeaton AF, Dockree PM. Oscillations of the Wandering Mind: Neural Evidence for Distinct Exploration/Exploitation Strategies in Younger and Older Adults. Hum Brain Mapp 2025; 46:e70174. [PMID: 40287841 PMCID: PMC12034160 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.70174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2024] [Revised: 02/05/2025] [Accepted: 02/12/2025] [Indexed: 04/29/2025] Open
Abstract
This study traced the neurophysiological signals of fluctuating attention and task-related processing to ascertain the mechanistic basis of transient strategic shifts between competing task focus and mind-wandering, as expressed by the 'exploitation/exploration' framework, and explored how they are differentially affected with age. Thirty-four younger (16 female, mean age 22 years) and 34 healthy older (20 female, mean age 71 years) adults performed the Gradual Contrast Change Detection task; monitoring a continuously presented flickering annulus for intermittent gradual contrast reductions and responding to experience sampling probes to discriminate the nature of their thoughts at discrete moments. Electroencephalography and pupillometry were concurrently recorded during target- and probe-related intervals. Older adults tracked the downward stimulus trajectory with greater sensory integrity (reduced target SSVEP amplitude) and demonstrated earlier initiation of evidence accumulation (earlier onset CPP), attenuated variability in the attentional signal (posterior alpha) and more robust phasic pupillary responses to the target, suggesting steadier attentional engagement with age. Younger adults only exhibited intermittent sensory encoding, indexed by greater variability in the sensory (SSVEP) and attentional (alpha) signals before mind-wandering relative to focused states. Attentional variability was accompanied by disrupted behavioural performance and reduced task-related neural processing, independent of age group. Together, this elucidates distinct performance strategies employed by both groups. Older adults suspended mind-wandering and implemented an exploitative oscillation strategy to circumvent their reduced cognitive resources and allay potential behavioural costs. Conversely, younger adults exhibited greater exploration through mind-wandering, utilising their greater cognitive resources to flexibly alternate between competing goal-directed and mind-wandering strategies, with limited costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine N. Moran
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience & School of PsychologyTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
- School of Population HealthRCSI University of Medicine & Health SciencesDublinIreland
| | - David P. McGovern
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience & School of PsychologyTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
- School of PsychologyDublin City UniversityDublinIreland
| | - Mike Melnychuk
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience & School of PsychologyTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Alan F. Smeaton
- Insight Centre for Data AnalyticsDublin City UniversityDublinIreland
| | - Paul M. Dockree
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience & School of PsychologyTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
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4
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Van den Driessche C, Chappé C, Konishi M, Cleeremans A, Sackur J. States of mind: Towards a common classification of mental states. Conscious Cogn 2025; 129:103828. [PMID: 40009896 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2025.103828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2025] [Accepted: 02/06/2025] [Indexed: 02/28/2025]
Abstract
Thanks to the wealth of studies on mind-wandering, the stream of thought has now become, again, the focus of mainstream investigations in cognitive psychology. Yet, how one should describe and measure the stream of thought is still very much left undecided. Here, we approach the problem through the notion of mental states. Based on conceptual analysis and previous empirical data, we identify five states: focus, task-related interference, external distraction, daydream, and blank. We ask the question whether this classification (the Classification of Mental States - CoMS-5T) - provides an adequate partition of mental states. To do so, first, we rely on participants' free verbal reports of their mental contents, that were then classified off-line by external raters. We provide evidence for the construct validity of the CoMS-5T and for its neutrality, in the sense that it does bias participants' reports. Second, we provide evidence for the criterion validity of the CoMS-5T: by means of a reanalysis of a large data set made available by Beikmohamadi and Meier (2022), we find distinct behavioural signatures for four of the five states in the CoMS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Van den Driessche
- LSCP, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, 29 rue D'Ulm 75005 Paris, France; Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 av. F.D. Roosevelt CP191 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
| | - Clotilde Chappé
- LSCP, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, 29 rue D'Ulm 75005 Paris, France
| | - Mahiko Konishi
- LSCP, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, 29 rue D'Ulm 75005 Paris, France
| | - Axel Cleeremans
- Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 av. F.D. Roosevelt CP191 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - Jérôme Sackur
- LSCP, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, 29 rue D'Ulm 75005 Paris, France; Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de l'X, École Polytechnique 91477 Palaiseau, France
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5
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Zanesco AP, Van Dam NT, Denkova E, Jha AP. Measuring mind wandering with experience sampling during task performance: An item response theory investigation. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:7707-7727. [PMID: 39048861 PMCID: PMC11362314 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-024-02446-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony P Zanesco
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, 5665 Ponce de Leon, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA.
| | - Nicholas T Van Dam
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Ekaterina Denkova
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, 5665 Ponce de Leon, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA
| | - Amishi P Jha
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, 5665 Ponce de Leon, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA
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Li J, Liu Y, Xue S, Tian B. Costs over benefits: mind wandering in sporting performance. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1347561. [PMID: 39015331 PMCID: PMC11250492 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1347561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Athletes' mind wandering during competition has positive and negative effects. The purpose of this study was to explore the reason for these bidirectional effects. Methods We recruited 51 athletes from China to take part in semi-structured interviews in which we explored their experiences of mind wandering in competition. We used grounded theory combined with systems thinking to complete the data analysis and theoretical construction. Results Results showed that the influence of mind wandering on sporting performance was dynamically influenced by "mind wandering source," "competition anxiety," "content of mind wandering," "attentional resources" and "attentional control," resulting in our development of the theory of "mind wandering in sporting performance (MWSP)." The above factors determine how mind wandering occurs and how it affects the competition. Discussion Although the occurrence of mind wandering during competition has positive effects, its negative effects cannot be ignored, which may lead to athletes losing the race (costs over benefits). Potential strategies focusing on the mitigation of negative effects and promotion of positive effects of mind wandering are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieling Li
- School of Physical Education, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China
- Key Laboratory of Measurement and Evaluation in Exercise Bioinformation of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, China
- Physical Education Postdoctoral Research Station, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Yafang Liu
- Department of Physical Education, Tangshan Normal University, Tangshan, China
| | - Shuangpeng Xue
- School of Physical Education, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Bao Tian
- School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
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7
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Welhaf MS, Bugg JM. Positively framing mind wandering does not increase mind wandering in older adults. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1499-1509. [PMID: 38869620 PMCID: PMC11283346 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-024-01983-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Age-related differences in mind wandering are robust, with older adults reporting less mind wandering compared to younger adults. While several theories have been put forth to explain this difference, one view has received less attention than others. Specifically, age-related differences in mind wandering might occur because older adults are reluctant to report on their mind wandering. The aim of the current study was to explicitly test this hypothesis. Older and younger adults completed a go/no-go task with intermittent thought probes to assess mind wandering. In one condition, participants were provided with standard instructions about how to respond to questions about their thoughts. In a second condition, participants were provided with a positive framing of mind wandering. Mind wandering was assessed both subjectively (i.e., via thought probes) and objectively (i.e., using different behavioral measures from the go/no-go task). The results of the study suggest that positively framing mind wandering did not impact rates of mind wandering or objective indicators of mind wandering for older or younger adults. Older adults reported less mind wandering, regardless of condition, compared to younger adults. Older adults also had generally better performance on the go/no-go task compared to younger adults. Bayesian analyses suggested that the main effect of framing condition, although not significant in Frequentist terms, did provide moderate evidence of an overall effect on mind wandering rates. We interpret the results as evidence against the reluctance hypothesis, consistent with previous work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew S Welhaf
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, CB 1125 One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63130-4899, USA.
| | - Julie M Bugg
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, CB 1125 One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63130-4899, USA
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8
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Shimoni H, Axelrod V. Elucidating the difference between mind-wandering and day-dreaming terms. Sci Rep 2024; 14:11598. [PMID: 38773219 PMCID: PMC11109208 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62383-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Self-generated thoughts have been widely investigated in recent years, while the terms "mind-wandering" and "day-dreaming" are usually used interchangeably. But are these terms equivalent? To test this, online study participants were presented with situations of a protagonist engaged in self-generated thoughts. The scenarios differed with regard to type of situation, the activity in which the protagonist was engaged in, and the properties of the self-generated thoughts. Two different groups evaluated the same situations; one group evaluated the extent to which the protagonist mind-wandered and another the extent to which the protagonist day-dreamt. Our key findings were that the situations were perceived differently with regard to mind-wandering and day-dreaming, depending on whether self-generated thoughts occurred when the protagonist was busy with another activity and the type of self-generated thoughts. In particular, while planning, worrying, and ruminating thoughts were perceived more as mind-wandering in situations involving another activity/task, the situations without another activity/task involving recalling past events and fantasizing thoughts were perceived more as day-dreaming. In the additional experiment, we investigated laypeople's reasons for classifying the situation as mind-wandering or day-dreaming. Our results altogether indicate that mind-wandering and day-dreaming might not be fully equivalent terms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hagar Shimoni
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, 5290002, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Vadim Axelrod
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, 5290002, Ramat Gan, Israel.
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9
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Wamsley EJ, Collins M. Effect of cognitive load on time spent offline during wakefulness. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae022. [PMID: 38300213 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans continuously alternate between online attention to the current environment and offline attention to internally generated thought and imagery. This may be a fundamental feature of the waking brain, but remains poorly understood. Here, we took a data-driven approach to defining online and offline states of wakefulness, using machine learning methods applied to measures of sensory responsiveness, subjective report, electroencephalogram (EEG), and pupil diameter. We tested the effect of cognitive load on the structure and prevalence of online and offline states, hypothesizing that time spent offline would increase as cognitive load of an ongoing task decreased. We also expected that alternation between online and offline states would persist even in the absence of a cognitive task. As in prior studies, we arrived at a three-state model comprised of one online state and two offline states. As predicted, when cognitive load was high, more time was spent online. Also as predicted, the same three states were present even when participants were not performing a task. These observations confirm our method is successful at isolating seconds-long periods of offline time. Varying cognitive load may be a useful way to manipulate time spent in at least one of these offline states in future experimental studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin J Wamsley
- Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Johns Hall 206K, Greenville, SC 29613, United States
| | - Megan Collins
- Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Johns Hall 206K, Greenville, SC 29613, United States
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10
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Krasich K, O'Neill K, Murray S, Brockmole JR, De Brigard F, Nuthmann A. A computational modeling approach to investigating mind wandering-related adjustments to gaze behavior during scene viewing. Cognition 2024; 242:105624. [PMID: 37944314 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 07/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
Research on gaze control has long shown that increased visual-cognitive processing demands in scene viewing are associated with longer fixation durations. More recently, though, longer durations have also been linked to mind wandering, a perceptually decoupled state of attention marked by decreased visual-cognitive processing. Toward better understanding the relationship between fixation durations and visual-cognitive processing, we ran simulations using an established random-walk model for saccade timing and programming and assessed which model parameters best predicted modulations in fixation durations associated with mind wandering compared to attentive viewing. Mind wandering-related fixation durations were best described as an increase in the variability of the fixation-generating process, leading to more variable-sometimes very long-durations. In contrast, past research showed that increased processing demands increased the mean duration of the fixation-generating process. The findings thus illustrate that mind wandering and processing demands modulate fixation durations through different mechanisms in scene viewing. This suggests that processing demands cannot be inferred from changes in fixation durations without understanding the underlying mechanism by which these changes were generated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristina Krasich
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
| | - Kevin O'Neill
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Samuel Murray
- Philosophy Department, Providence College, Providence, RI, USA
| | - James R Brockmole
- Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | - Felipe De Brigard
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Philosophy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
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11
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He H, Li H. The Influence of Probe Frequency on Self-Reported Mind Wandering During Tasks With Different Cognitive Loads. Psychol Rep 2023:332941231214504. [PMID: 37933743 DOI: 10.1177/00332941231214504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2023]
Abstract
The use of thought-probe methodologies during tasks with varying loads has become commonplace. The current study aimed to investigate whether there exists an interaction between probe frequency and task load on responses of mind wandering episodes, using within-subject designs. In Experiment 1, We performed 0-back, 1-back, and 3-back tasks, in which low-frequency and high-frequency thought probes were presented to the participants. The results indicated that fewer probes led to more reported mind wandering episodes during 0-back and 1-back tasks. Conversely, a significant increase in mind wandering was observed in the 3-back task when higher-frequency probes were used. Experiment 2 introduced the probe relatedness dimension to the medium- and high-load tasks. Both experiments demonstrated that increasing probe frequency reduced mind wandering during the low- and medium-load tasks, but increased it during the high-load task. Additionally, Experiment 2 revealed that higher probe frequency resulted in more probe-related mind wandering during the high-load task, but not during the medium-load task. The current findings reveal the interaction effect of probe frequency and task load on mind wandering and offer possible explanations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong He
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hong Li
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
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12
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Kucyi A, Kam JWY, Andrews-Hanna JR, Christoff K, Whitfield-Gabrieli S. Recent advances in the neuroscience of spontaneous and off-task thought: implications for mental health. NATURE MENTAL HEALTH 2023; 1:827-840. [PMID: 37974566 PMCID: PMC10653280 DOI: 10.1038/s44220-023-00133-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
People spend a remarkable 30-50% of awake life thinking about something other than what they are currently doing. These experiences of being "off-task" can be described as spontaneous thought when mental dynamics are relatively flexible. Here we review recent neuroscience developments in this area and consider implications for mental wellbeing and illness. We provide updated overviews of the roles of the default mode network and large-scale network dynamics, and we discuss emerging candidate mechanisms involving hippocampal memory (sharp-wave ripples, replay) and neuromodulatory (noradrenergic and serotonergic) systems. We explore how distinct brain states can be associated with or give rise to adaptive and maladaptive forms of thought linked to distinguishable mental health outcomes. We conclude by outlining new directions in the neuroscience of spontaneous and off-task thought that may clarify mechanisms, lead to personalized biomarkers, and facilitate therapy developments toward the goals of better understanding and improving mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron Kucyi
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Drexel University
| | - Julia W. Y. Kam
- Department of Psychology and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary
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13
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Girardeau JC, Ledru R, Gaston-Bellegarde A, Blondé P, Sperduti M, Piolino P. The benefits of mind wandering on a naturalistic prospective memory task. Sci Rep 2023; 13:11432. [PMID: 37454161 PMCID: PMC10349849 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37996-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- J C Girardeau
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, 71 Ave Édouard Vaillant, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.
| | - R Ledru
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, 71 Ave Édouard Vaillant, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| | - A Gaston-Bellegarde
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, 71 Ave Édouard Vaillant, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| | - P Blondé
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, 71 Ave Édouard Vaillant, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
- Icelandic Vision Lab, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - M Sperduti
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, 71 Ave Édouard Vaillant, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| | - P Piolino
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, 71 Ave Édouard Vaillant, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.
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14
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Jangraw DC, Keren H, Sun H, Bedder RL, Rutledge RB, Pereira F, Thomas AG, Pine DS, Zheng C, Nielson DM, Stringaris A. A highly replicable decline in mood during rest and simple tasks. Nat Hum Behav 2023; 7:596-610. [PMID: 36849591 PMCID: PMC10192073 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01519-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/04/2023] [Indexed: 03/01/2023]
Abstract
Does our mood change as time passes? This question is central to behavioural and affective science, yet it remains largely unexamined. To investigate, we intermixed subjective momentary mood ratings into repetitive psychology paradigms. Here we demonstrate that task and rest periods lowered participants' mood, an effect we call 'Mood Drift Over Time'. This finding was replicated in 19 cohorts totalling 28,482 adult and adolescent participants. The drift was relatively large (-13.8% after 7.3 min of rest, Cohen's d = 0.574) and was consistent across cohorts. Behaviour was also impacted: participants were less likely to gamble in a task that followed a rest period. Importantly, the drift slope was inversely related to reward sensitivity. We show that accounting for time using a linear term significantly improves the fit of a computational model of mood. Our work provides conceptual and methodological reasons for researchers to account for time's effects when studying mood and behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C Jangraw
- National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
- Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
| | - Hanna Keren
- Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel
| | - Haorui Sun
- Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
| | - Rachel L Bedder
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
| | - Robb B Rutledge
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
- Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | | | - Adam G Thomas
- National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Daniel S Pine
- National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Charles Zheng
- National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Argyris Stringaris
- Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
- Faculty of Brain Sciences, Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK
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15
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Kornacka M, Skorupski MS, Krejtz I. Maladaptive task-unrelated thoughts: Self-control failure or avoidant behavior? Preliminary evidence from an experience sampling study. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1037443. [PMID: 36998626 PMCID: PMC10043255 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1037443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
IntroductionTask-unrelated thoughts (TUT) play an important role in everyday life functioning (e.g., anticipating the future, or providing a mental break). However, TUT might also be maladaptive, impairing cognitive performance emotion regulation, and increasing the risk of psychological disorders. In the present study, we aimed to test how self-reported control over TUT and task valence moderate the link between task difficulty and TUT intensity, testing the context regulation and avoidant alternative hypotheses of TUT occurrence.MethodForty-nine participants took part in an experience sampling study. They were asked to answer five times a day for 5 days a series of questions assessing the intensity, valence, control over TUT, and their momentary affect along with characteristics of the task they were currently performing. They also filled in trait questionnaires assessing their tendency to daydream, ruminate, and their beliefs on emotions' usefulness and controllability.ResultsThe results showed that both task difficulty and one's lower control over thoughts along with their interaction significantly increased TUT intensity. Task negative valence significantly predicted TUT intensity and moderated the link between task difficulty and TUT intensity. In addition, the tendency to daydream and beliefs in the controllability of negative emotions affect the relations in this model.DiscussionTo the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to provide quantitative evidence from an experience sampling study on the role of the valence of currently performed tasks and beliefs on emotions on TUT intensity. It might be an important indication for research and clinical practice that maladaptive TUT might not be only linked to self-control failure but also to emotion regulation strategies one is using.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Kornacka
- Emotion Cognition Lab, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice, Poland
- *Correspondence: Monika Kornacka
| | - Michał S. Skorupski
- Emotion Cognition Lab, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice, Poland
| | - Izabela Krejtz
- Insitute of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
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16
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Colby A, Wong A, Allen L, Kun A, Mills C. Perceived Group Identity Alters Task-Unrelated Thought and Attentional Divergence During Conversations. Cogn Sci 2023; 47:e13236. [PMID: 36625330 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Task-unrelated thought (TUT) occurs frequently in our daily lives and across a range of tasks, but we know little about how this phenomenon arises during and influences the way we communicate. Conversations also provide a novel opportunity to assess the alignment (or divergence) in TUT during dyadic interactions. We conducted a study to determine: (a) the frequency of TUT during conversation as well as how partners align/diverge in their rates of TUT, (b) the subjective and behavioral correlates of TUT and TUT divergence during conversation, and (c) if perceived social group identity impacts TUT and TUT divergence during conversation. We used a minimal groups induction procedure to assign participants (N = 126) to either an ingroup, outgroup, or control condition. We then asked them to converse with one another via a computer-mediated text chat application for 10 min while self-reporting TUTs. On average, participants reported TUT about once every 2 min; however, this rate was lower for participants in the ingroup condition, compared to the control condition. Conversational pairs in the ingroup condition were also aligned more in their rates of TUT compared to the outgroup condition. Finally, we discuss subjective and behavioral correlates of TUT and TUT divergence in conversations, such as valence, turn-taking ratios, and topic shifts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Aaron Wong
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota
| | - Laura Allen
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire.,Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota
| | - Andrew Kun
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of New Hampshire
| | - Caitlin Mills
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire.,Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota
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17
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Sánchez C, Moskalewicz M. Kinesthesia and Temporal Experience: On the 'Knitting and Unknitting' Process of Bodily Subjectivity in Schizophrenia. Diagnostics (Basel) 2022; 12:2720. [PMID: 36359562 PMCID: PMC9689052 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics12112720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Revised: 10/30/2022] [Accepted: 10/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
This paper proposes a phenomenological hypothesis that psychosis entails a disturbance of the two-fold process of the indication function of kinesthesia and the presentification function of touch that affects the constitution of bodily subjectivity. Recent functional connectivity studies showed that the increased synchrony between the right anterior insula and the default mode network are associated with psychosis. This association is proposed to be correlated with the disrupted dynamics between the pre-reflective and reflective temporal experience in psychotic patients. The paper first examines the dynamic nature of kinesthesia and the influence touch and vision exert on it, and then the reciprocal influence with temporal experience focusing on the body's cyclic sense of temporality and its impact on physiology and phenomenology. Affectivity and self-affection are considered in their basic bodily expressions mainly through the concepts of responsivity and receptivity. The overall constitutive processes referred to throughout the article are proposed as a roadmap to develop body-based therapeutic work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilo Sánchez
- Philosophy of Mental Health Unit, Department of Social Sciences and the Humanities, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 61-701 Poznan, Poland
| | - Marcin Moskalewicz
- Philosophy of Mental Health Unit, Department of Social Sciences and the Humanities, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 61-701 Poznan, Poland
- Institute of Philosophy, Marie Sklodowska-Curie University, 20-400 Lublin, Poland
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18
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Sleeping poorly is robustly associated with a tendency to engage in spontaneous waking thought. Conscious Cogn 2022; 105:103401. [PMID: 36193601 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2021] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
We spend approximately-one third of our lives sleeping, and spontaneous thoughts dominate around 20-50% of our waking life, but little is known about the relation between the two. Studies examining this relationship measured only certain aspects of sleep and certain forms of spontaneous thought, which is problematic given the heterogeneity of both conceptions. The scarce literature suggests that disturbed sleep and the frequency of spontaneous waking thoughts are associated, however this could be caused by shared variance with negative affect. We report a comprehensive survey study with a large range of self-reported sleep and spontaneous thought measures (N = 236), showing that poorer sleep quality, more daytime-sleepiness, and more insomnia symptoms, consistently predicted higher tendencies to engage in disruptive spontaneous thoughts, independently of trait negative affect, age and gender. Contrarily, only daytime sleepiness predicted positive-constructive daydreaming. Findings underscore the role of sleep for spontaneous cognition tendencies.
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19
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Orwig W, Diez I, Bueichekú E, Kelly CA, Sepulcre J, Schacter DL. Intentionality of Self-Generated Thought: Contributions of Mind Wandering to Creativity. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2022; 35:471-480. [PMID: 37576950 PMCID: PMC10414778 DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2022.2120286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Studies suggest that internally oriented cognitive processes are central to creativity. Here, we distinguish between intentional and unintentional forms of mind wandering and explore their behavioral and neural correlates. We used a sample of 155 healthy adults from the mind-brain-body dataset, all of whom completed resting-state fMRI scans and trait-level measures of mind wandering. We analyzed intentional and unintentional mind wandering tendencies using self-report measures. Next, we explored the relationship between mind wandering tendencies and creativity, as measured by a divergent thinking task. Finally, we describe patterns of resting-state network connectivity associated with mind wandering, using graph theory analysis. At the behavioral level, results showed a significant positive association between creativity and both intentional and unintentional mind wandering. Neuroimaging analysis revealed higher weighted degree connectivity associated with both forms of mind wandering, implicating core regions of the default network and the left temporal pole. We observed topological connectivity differences within the default network: intentional mind wandering was associated with degree connectivity in posterior regions, whereas unintentional mind wandering showed greater involvement of prefrontal areas. Overall, the findings highlight patterns of resting-state network connectivity associated with intentional and unintentional mind wandering, and provide novel evidence of a link between mind wandering and creativity.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Orwig
- Harvard University, Department of Psychology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts
| | - Ibai Diez
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts
| | - Elisenda Bueichekú
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts
| | - Christopher A. Kelly
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London
- Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London
| | - Jorge Sepulcre
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts
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20
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Where Is My Mind…? The Link between Mind Wandering and Prospective Memory. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12091139. [PMID: 36138875 PMCID: PMC9497275 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12091139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2022] [Revised: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 08/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Mind wandering (MW) is a common feature of the human experience occurring when our attention shifts from the task at hand to inner thoughts. MW seems to be often future-oriented and could be used to help people to carry out their planned actions (Prospective Memory PM). Here, we tested the link between MW and the ability to perform PM intentions. We assessed MW and PM over 15 days using experience-sampling probes via mobile phone (226 participants) associated with a naturalistic PM task. We confirmed that MW occupies a significant proportion of our mental activity (40%). This time seems to be mainly used to project ourselves into the future (64%), whether to anticipate and imagine the long term (20%) or to plan daily obligations (44%). Intriguingly, only past-oriented thoughts (9%) predict the PM performance. We discuss the possible functional role played by MW in maintaining intentions in mind.
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21
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Cárdenas-Egúsquiza AL, Berntsen D. Sleep well, mind wander less: A systematic review of the relationship between sleep outcomes and spontaneous cognition. Conscious Cogn 2022; 102:103333. [PMID: 35623268 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Despite an upsurge of research on spontaneous cognition, little is known about its associations with sleep-related outcomes. This systematic review, following PRISMA guidelines, examined the relationship between sleep and spontaneous thoughts, across different definitions and measurements of sleep outcomes and spontaneous cognition, and a diversity of methodologies. Twenty-one articles with survey and/or experimental designs were identified. Self-reported disturbed sleep-comprising poor sleep quality, more insomnia symptoms, more daytime sleepiness and a tendency towards eveningness-and experimentally induced sleep deprivation were associated with a tendency to engage in disruptive mind wandering and daydreaming, but not positive-constructive daydreaming. Findings regarding circadian fluctuation in spontaneous thoughts were mixed and inconclusive. This systematic review bridges the gap between the sleep and spontaneous cognition research by contributing to the understanding of potential psychological and cognitive mechanisms of spontaneous cognition, as well as by elucidating the emotional and cognitive consequences of disturbed sleep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Lucía Cárdenas-Egúsquiza
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus University, Denmark.
| | - Dorthe Berntsen
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus University, Denmark
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22
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Hua J, Wolff A, Zhang J, Yao L, Zang Y, Luo J, Ge X, Liu C, Northoff G. Alpha and theta peak frequency track on- and off-thoughts. Commun Biol 2022; 5:209. [PMID: 35256748 PMCID: PMC8901672 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03146-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Our thoughts are highly dynamic in their contents. At some points, our thoughts are related to external stimuli or tasks focusing on single content (on-single thoughts), While in other moments, they are drifting away with multiple simultaneous items as contents (off-multiple thoughts). Can such thought dynamics be tracked by corresponding neurodynamics? To address this question, here we track thought dynamics during post-stimulus periods by electroencephalogram (EEG) neurodynamics of alpha and theta peak frequency which, as based on the phase angle, must be distinguished from non-phase-based alpha and theta power. We show how, on the psychological level, on-off thoughts are highly predictive of single-multiple thought contents, respectively. Using EEG, on-single and off-multiple thoughts are mediated by opposite changes in the time courses of alpha (high in on-single but low in off-multiple thoughts) and theta (low in on-single but high in off-multiple thoughts) peak frequencies. In contrast, they cannot be distinguished by frequency power. Overall, these findings provide insight into how alpha and theta peak frequency with their phase-related processes track on- and off-thoughts dynamically. In short, neurodynamics track thought dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingyu Hua
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.,Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.,Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.,School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Annemarie Wolff
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.,Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Jianfeng Zhang
- Center for Brain Disorder and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.,College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Lin Yao
- Department of Neurobiology, NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, and the MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Research and Brain-Machine Integration, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Yufeng Zang
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.,Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,TMS center, Deqing Hospital of Hangzhou Normal university, Deqing 313200, China
| | - Jing Luo
- School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xianliang Ge
- Center for Psychological Sciences at Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chang Liu
- School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
| | - Georg Northoff
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. .,Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. .,Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. .,Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. .,Mental Health Centre, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
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23
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Kam JWY, Mittner M, Knight RT. Mind-wandering: mechanistic insights from lesion, tDCS, and iEEG. Trends Cogn Sci 2022; 26:268-282. [PMID: 35086725 PMCID: PMC9166901 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2021] [Revised: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive neuroscience has witnessed a surge of interest in investigating the neural correlates of the mind when it drifts away from an ongoing task and the external environment. To that end, functional neuroimaging research has consistently implicated the default mode network (DMN) and frontoparietal control network (FPCN) in mind-wandering. Yet, it remains unknown which subregions within these networks are necessary and how they facilitate mind-wandering. In this review, we synthesize evidence from lesion, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) studies demonstrating the causal relevance of brain regions, and providing insights into the neuronal mechanism underlying mind-wandering. We propose that the integration of complementary approaches is the optimal strategy to establish a comprehensive understanding of the neural basis of mind-wandering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia W Y Kam
- Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
| | | | - Robert T Knight
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
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24
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Koelsch S, Andrews‐Hanna JR, Skouras S. Tormenting thoughts: The posterior cingulate sulcus of the default mode network regulates valence of thoughts and activity in the brain's pain network during music listening. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:773-786. [PMID: 34652882 PMCID: PMC8720190 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Many individuals spend a significant amount of their time "mind-wandering". Mind-wandering often includes spontaneous, nonintentional thought, and a neural correlate of this kind of thought is the default mode network (DMN). Thoughts during mind-wandering can have positive or negative valence, but only little is known about the neural correlates of positive or negative thoughts. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and music to evoke mind-wandering in n = 33 participants, with positive-sounding music eliciting thoughts with more positive valence and negative-sounding music eliciting thoughts with more negative valence. Applying purely data-driven analysis methods, we show that medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC, part of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) and the posterior cingulate sulcus (likely area 23c of the posterior cingulate cortex), two sub-regions of the DMN, modulate the valence of thought-contents during mind-wandering. In addition, across two independent experiments, we observed that the posterior cingulate sulcus, a region involved in pain, shows valence-specific functional connectivity with core regions of the brain's putative pain network. Our results suggest that two DMN regions (mOFC and posterior cingulate sulcus) support the formation of negative spontaneous, nonintentional thoughts, and that the interplay between these structures with regions of the putative pain network forms a neural mechanism by which thoughts can become painful.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Koelsch
- Department of Biological and Medical PsychologyUniversity of BergenBergen
| | | | - Stavros Skouras
- Department of Biological and Medical PsychologyUniversity of BergenBergen
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25
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Blondé P, Girardeau JC, Sperduti M, Piolino P. A wandering mind is a forgetful mind: A systematic review on the influence of mind wandering on episodic memory encoding. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 132:774-792. [PMID: 34906400 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 11/03/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
In the last two decades, mind wandering has received increased interest in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Despite the strong links between attention and memory, its effect on episodic memory encoding has only been recently investigated. To date, there is no systematic synthesis on this link. Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review of the literature on mind wandering and episodic memory was conducted. Five online bibliographic databases (PsycNET, Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science and Taylor & Francis) were searched. Twenty-four studies were eligible for the current review and were compared based on their methodologies and results. Overall, stimulus-independent mind wandering appeared to be a reliable negative factor influencing the encoding of both words and audio-visual stimuli. However, a few studies pointed out a potential positive effect of stimulus-dependent mind wandering on episodic memory encoding. Theoretical explanations of these results, the limits of existing investigations and avenues for potential future research are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Blondé
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université de Paris, Paris, France.
| | - Jean-Charles Girardeau
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université de Paris, Paris, France.
| | - Marco Sperduti
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université de Paris, Paris, France.
| | - Pascale Piolino
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université de Paris, Paris, France; Institut Universitaire de France, France.
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26
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Cole SN, Tubbs PMC. Predictors of obsessive-compulsive symptomology: mind wandering about the past and future. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:1518-1534. [PMID: 34510252 PMCID: PMC8435105 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01585-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 08/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Purpose Obsessive and compulsive tendencies are known to occur in the general population and
involve worry around specific concerns (obsessions) and an urge to resolve the concern with thoughts or behaviours (compulsions). Spontaneous, but not deliberate, mind wandering experiences (when attention turns to internal mentation), have been found to predict obsessive– compulsive tendencies [Seli, P., Risko, E.F., Purdon, C. & Smilek, D. (2017). Intrusive thoughts: linking spontaneous mind wandering and OCD symptomatology. Psychological Research, 81, 392–398. 10.1007/s00426-016-0756-3]. Recent cognitive theory suggests a particular role for future-oriented spontaneous thought in obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms. Thus, we hypothesised that future-oriented rather than past-oriented spontaneous mind
wandering would predict OC symptoms, such that more future-oriented mind wandering would be associated with increases in OC symptoms. Methods In an online survey design (nonclinical sample of 104 adults), participants completed three measures: Mind wandering: Spontaneous (MW-S) and Deliberate (MW-D) (Carriere, Seli & Smilek, 2013); Involuntary Autobiographical Memory Inventory (Berntsen, Rubin & Salgado, 2015); and Dimensional Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (DOCS) (Abramowitz et al., 2010). We adopted a linear regression approach to examine our hypotheses. Results We provided the first replication of the finding that OC symptoms are predicted by the frequency of spontaneous (but not deliberate) mind wandering, with an underlying positive relationship. Additionally, we found that temporality of spontaneous thought had different
predictive effects as a function of the dimension of OC symptoms (i.e., responsibility, unacceptable thoughts, need for symmetry/completeness).
Conclusions We found moderate support for our temporality hypothesis, which highlights how the construct of temporality can add to our understanding of OC symptoms. The present study also adds to recent conceptual debates regarding mind wandering. We suggest new cognitive and methodological approaches to enhance the understanding of obsessive–compulsive disorder, opening new avenues for clinical and experimental research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott N Cole
- Senior Lecturer, Psychology, School of Psychological and Social Sciences, York St John University, York, YO31 7EX,, UK.
| | - Peter M C Tubbs
- Senior Lecturer, Psychology, School of Psychological and Social Sciences, York St John University, York, YO31 7EX,, UK
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27
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Abstract
The distinction between a semantic memory system, encompassing conceptual knowledge, and an episodic memory system, characterized by specific episodes, is one of the most important theoretical proposals in cognitive science. However, the distinction between systems has rarely been discussed in relation to spontaneous thought that comes to mind with reduced cognitive effort and intentionality. In this review, we propose that the growing research on spontaneous thought can contribute to current discussions on the interaction between the episodic and semantic systems. Firstly, we review research that shows that, as in deliberate retrieval, spontaneous thoughts are influenced by both episodic and semantic memory, as reflected by the mix of semantic and episodic elements in descriptions of spontaneous thoughts, as well as semantic priming effects in spontaneous thoughts. We integrate the current evidence based on the interplay between cues and semantic activation. Namely, we suggest that cues are key to access episodic memory and modulate the frequency of spontaneous thought, while semantic activation modulates the content of spontaneous thought. Secondly, we propose that spontaneous retrieval is a privileged area to explore the question of functional independence between systems, because it provides direct access to the episodic system. We review the evidence for spontaneous thought in semantic dementia, which suggests that episodic and semantic systems are functionally independent. We acknowledge the scarcity of evidence and suggest that future studies examine the contents of spontaneous thought descriptions and their neural correlates to test the functional relationship and inform the interaction between episodic and semantic systems.
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Mind wandering at encoding, but not at retrieval, disrupts one-shot stimulus-control learning. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 83:2968-2982. [PMID: 34322789 PMCID: PMC8318327 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02343-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The one-shot pairing of a stimulus with a specific cognitive control process, such as task switching, can bind the two together in memory. The episodic control-binding hypothesis posits that the formation of temporary stimulus-control bindings, which are held in event-files supported by episodic memory, can guide the contextually appropriate application of cognitive control. Across two experiments, we sought to examine the role of task-focused attention in the encoding and implementation of stimulus-control bindings in episodic event-files. In Experiment 1, we obtained self-reports of mind wandering during encoding and implementation of stimulus-control bindings. Results indicated that, whereas mind wandering during the implementation of stimulus-control bindings does not decrease their efficacy, mind wandering during the encoding of these control-state associations interferes with their successful deployment at a later point. In Experiment 2, we complemented these results by using trial-by-trial pupillometry to measure attention, again demonstrating that attention levels at encoding predict the subsequent implementation of stimulus-control bindings better than attention levels at implementation. These results suggest that, although encoding stimulus-control bindings in episodic memory requires active attention and engagement, once encoded, these bindings are automatically deployed to guide behavior when the stimulus recurs. These findings expand our understanding of how cognitive control processes are integrated into episodic event files.
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29
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Andrillon T, Burns A, Mackay T, Windt J, Tsuchiya N. Predicting lapses of attention with sleep-like slow waves. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3657. [PMID: 34188023 PMCID: PMC8241869 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23890-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Attentional lapses occur commonly and are associated with mind wandering, where focus is turned to thoughts unrelated to ongoing tasks and environmental demands, or mind blanking, where the stream of consciousness itself comes to a halt. To understand the neural mechanisms underlying attentional lapses, we studied the behaviour, subjective experience and neural activity of healthy participants performing a task. Random interruptions prompted participants to indicate their mental states as task-focused, mind-wandering or mind-blanking. Using high-density electroencephalography, we report here that spatially and temporally localized slow waves, a pattern of neural activity characteristic of the transition toward sleep, accompany behavioural markers of lapses and preceded reports of mind wandering and mind blanking. The location of slow waves could distinguish between sluggish and impulsive behaviours, and between mind wandering and mind blanking. Our results suggest attentional lapses share a common physiological origin: the emergence of local sleep-like activity within the awake brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Andrillon
- School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
- Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute-ICM, Sorbonne Université, Inserm, CNRS, Paris, France.
| | - Angus Burns
- School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Teigane Mackay
- School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Jennifer Windt
- Philosophy Department, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Naotsugu Tsuchiya
- School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, Japan
- Advanced Telecommunications Research Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Soraku-gun, Kyoto, Japan
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30
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Alperin BR, Christoff K, Mills C, Karalunas SL. More than off-task: Increased freely-moving thought in ADHD. Conscious Cogn 2021; 93:103156. [PMID: 34119895 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2020] [Revised: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Off-task thought has been found to occur at high rates and is related to impairment in ADHD. However, off-task thought is heterogenous and it remains unclear which specific dimensions of off-task thought are more prevalent in this disorder. It is therefore important to dissociate different aspects of off-task thought in order to better understand the mechanisms underlying impairment. The current study focused on the dimension of constrained (focused) to freely moving off-task thought. Self-report and neurophysiological measures during a computerized attention tasks provided convergent evidence that individuals with ADHD not only have more off-task thought than those without, but also engaged in a greater proportion of freely moving off-task thought than non-ADHD controls. Overall, this work demonstrated differences in both the quantity and type of off-task thought in adults with ADHD. It provides novel insight into both the phenomenology of off-task thought, as well as potential mechanisms underlying impairment in ADHD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kalina Christoff
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Caitlin Mills
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, United States
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31
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Konu D, Mckeown B, Turnbull A, Siu Ping Ho N, Karapanagiotidis T, Vanderwal T, McCall C, Tipper SP, Jefferies E, Smallwood J. Exploring patterns of ongoing thought under naturalistic and conventional task-based conditions. Conscious Cogn 2021; 93:103139. [PMID: 34111726 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2020] [Revised: 04/17/2021] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Previous research suggests that patterns of ongoing thought are heterogeneous, varying across situations and individuals. The current study investigated the influence of multiple tasks and affective style on ongoing patterns of thought. We used 9 different tasks and measured ongoing thought using multidimensional experience sampling. A Principal Component Analysis of the experience sampling data revealed four patterns of ongoing thought: episodic social cognition, unpleasant intrusive, concentration and self focus. Linear Mixed Modelling was used to conduct a series of exploratory analyses aimed at examining contextual distributions of these thought patterns. We found that different task contexts reliably evoke different thought patterns. Moreover, intrusive and negative thought pattern expression were influenced by individual affective style (depression level). The data establish the influence of task context and intrinsic features on ongoing thought, highlighting the importance of documenting how thought patterns emerge in cognitive tasks with different requirements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Delali Konu
- Department of Psychology, University of York, UK.
| | | | | | | | | | - Tamara Vanderwal
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Cade McCall
- Department of Psychology, University of York, UK
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32
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He H, Hu L, Li H, Cao Y, Zhang X. The influence of mood on the effort in trying to shift one's attention from a mind wandering phase to focusing on ongoing activities in a laboratory and in daily life. Cogn Emot 2021; 35:1136-1149. [PMID: 34006189 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2021.1929854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
This research investigated the effect of mood on self-reported effort in trying to focus back from mind wandering to ongoing things. We conducted three studies (one correlational and two experimental studies). Study 1 served as a correlational demonstration (questionnaires) of the negative relations between focus back effort and negative mood and between mind wandering and focus back effort at the trait level. Furthermore, a self-reported measure of focus back effort was developed to examine the effect of mood inductions on the ratings of focus back effort in the laboratory (Study 2) and daily life (Study 3). The findings of Studies 2 and 3 revealed that both in the laboratory and in daily life, participants in a negative mood reported lower levels of focus back effort rating than those in a positive mood. Thus, moods modulated mind wandering and an individual's effort in trying to focus back to some extent. Future work should account for the role of moods in mind wandering or focus back episodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong He
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Luming Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Hui Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuqing Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xuemin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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33
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Arango-Muñoz S, Bermúdez JP. Intentional mind-wandering as intentional omission: the surrealist method. SYNTHESE 2021; 199:7727-7748. [PMID: 34970008 PMCID: PMC8668849 DOI: 10.1007/s11229-021-03135-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Mind-wandering seems to be paradigmatically unintentional. However, experimental findings have yielded the paradoxical result that mind-wandering can also be intentional. In this paper, we first present the paradox of intentional mind-wandering and then explain intentional mind-wandering as the intentional omission to control one's own thoughts. Finally, we present the surrealist method for artistic production to illustrate how intentional omission of control over thoughts can be deployed towards creative endeavors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago Arango-Muñoz
- Instituto de Filosofía, Universidad de Antioquia, Calle 67 N° 53-108, Of. 12-408, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Juan Pablo Bermúdez
- Institut de philosophie, University of Neuchâtel, Espace Tilo-Frey 1, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Programa de Filosofia, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Calle 12 No 1-17 Este, Bogotá, Colombia
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34
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He H, Hu L, Zhang X, Qiu J. Pleasantness of mind wandering is positively associated with focus back effort in daily life: Evidence from resting state fMRI. Brain Cogn 2021; 150:105731. [PMID: 33866054 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2021] [Revised: 04/04/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Despite the dynamic property of consciousness, little research has explored the characteristic of the effort in trying to focus back, in which attention is shifted from mind wandering to ongoing activities. In the current study, we assessed the frequency of daily mind wandering, the pleasantness of daily mind wandering content, and the daily focus back effort of 69 participants, and then collected their resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) scans. Our results revealed that (1) participants who experienced more daily pleasant mind wandering tended to have higher effort in trying to focus back than individuals with less pleasant mind wandering whereas there were no significant relations between pleasantness of mind wandering and mind wandering frequency or between focus back effort and mind wandering frequency in everyday life; (2) the pleasantness of mind wandering and focus back effort were associated with two functional connectivity that related to focus back episodes (right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-right middle frontal gyrus, right inferior parietal - right middle frontal gyrus). The nodes forming these functional connections belonged to the executive network. Taken together, these findings support the content regulation hypothesis that humans maintain their minds wandering away from unpleasant topics by engaging in executive control processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong He
- Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Luming Hu
- Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xuemin Zhang
- Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
| | - Jiang Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China; Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University.
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35
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Testing the construct validity of competing measurement approaches to probed mind-wandering reports. Behav Res Methods 2021; 53:2372-2411. [PMID: 33835393 PMCID: PMC8613094 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01557-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Psychology faces a measurement crisis, and mind-wandering research is not immune. The present study explored the construct validity of probed mind-wandering reports (i.e., reports of task-unrelated thought [TUT]) with a combined experimental and individual-differences approach. We examined laboratory data from over 1000 undergraduates at two U.S. institutions, who responded to one of four different thought-probe types across two cognitive tasks. We asked a fundamental measurement question: Do different probe types yield different results, either in terms of average reports (average TUT rates, TUT-report confidence ratings), or in terms of TUT-report associations, such as TUT rate or confidence stability across tasks, or between TUT reports and other consciousness-related constructs (retrospective mind-wandering ratings, executive-control performance, and broad questionnaire trait assessments of distractibility–restlessness and positive-constructive daydreaming)? Our primary analyses compared probes that asked subjects to report on different dimensions of experience: TUT-content probes asked about what they’d been mind-wandering about, TUT-intentionality probes asked about why they were mind-wandering, and TUT-depth probes asked about the extent (on a rating scale) of their mind-wandering. Our secondary analyses compared thought-content probes that did versus didn’t offer an option to report performance-evaluative thoughts. Our findings provide some “good news”—that some mind-wandering findings are robust across probing methods—and some “bad news”—that some findings are not robust across methods and that some commonly used probing methods may not tell us what we think they do. Our results lead us to provisionally recommend content-report probes rather than intentionality- or depth-report probes for most mind-wandering research.
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36
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Zanesco AP, Denkova E, Jha AP. Associations between self-reported spontaneous thought and temporal sequences of EEG microstates. Brain Cogn 2021; 150:105696. [PMID: 33706148 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2020] [Revised: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Thought dynamically evolves from one moment to the next even in the absence of external stimulation. The extent to which patterns of spontaneous thought covary with time-varying fluctuations in intrinsic brain activity is of great interest but remains unknown. We conducted novel analyses of data originally reported by Portnova et al. (2019) to examine associations between the intrinsic dynamics of EEG microstates and self-reported thought measured using the Amsterdam Resting-State Questionnaire (ARSQ). Accordingly, the millisecond fluctuations of microstates were associated with specific dimensions of thought. We evaluated the reliability of these findings by combining our results with those of another study using meta-analysis. Importantly, we extended this investigation using multivariate methods to evaluate multidimensional thought profiles of individuals and their links to sequences of successive microstates. Thought profiles were identified based on hierarchical clustering of ARSQ ratings and were distinguished in terms of the temporal ordering of successive microstates based on sequence analytic methods. These findings demonstrate the relevance of assessing spontaneous thought for understanding intrinsic brain activity and the novel use of sequence analysis for characterizing microstate dynamics. Integrating the phenomenological view from within remains crucial for understanding the functional significance of intrinsic large-scale neurodynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Amishi P Jha
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, United States
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37
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Wolff W, Bieleke M, Martarelli CS, Danckert J. A Primer on the Role of Boredom in Self-Controlled Sports and Exercise Behavior. Front Psychol 2021; 12:637839. [PMID: 33732197 PMCID: PMC7957048 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.637839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-control is critical for successful participation and performance in sports and therefore has attracted considerable research interest. Yet, knowledge about self-control remains surprisingly incomplete and inconsistent. Here, we draw attention to boredom as an experience that likely plays an important role in sports and exercise (e.g., exercise can be perceived as boring but can also be used to alleviate boredom). Specifically, we argue that studying boredom in the context of sports and exercise will also advance our understanding of self-control as a reward-based choice. We demonstrate this by discussing evidence for links between self-control and boredom and by highlighting the role boredom plays for guiding goal-directed behavior. As such, boredom is likely to interact with self-control in affecting sports performance and exercise participation. We close by highlighting several promising routes for integrating self-control and boredom research in the context of sports performance and exercise behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanja Wolff
- Department of Sport Science, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Maik Bieleke
- Department for Psychology of Development and Education, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - James Danckert
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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38
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Vroegh T, Wiesmann SL, Henschke S, Lange EB. Manual motor reaction while being absorbed into popular music. Conscious Cogn 2021; 89:103088. [PMID: 33636569 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2020] [Revised: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
In three experiments, we investigated the behavioral consequences of being absorbed into music on performance in a concurrent task. We tested two competing hypotheses: Based on a cognitive load account, captivation of attention by the music and state absorption might slow down reactions in the decisional task. Alternatively, music could induce spontaneous motor activity, and being absorbed in music might result in a more autonomous, flow-driven behavior with quicker motor reactions. Participants performed a simple, visual, two-alternative forced-choice task while listening to popular musical excerpts. Subsequently, they rated their subjective experience using a short questionnaire. We presented music in four tempo categories (between 80 and 140 BPM) to account for a potential effect of tempo and an interaction between tempo and absorption. In Experiment 1, absorption was related to decreased reaction times (RTs) in the visual task. This effect was small, as expected in this setting, but replicable in Experiment 2. There was no effect of the music's tempo on RTs but a tendency of mind wandering to relate to task performance. After slightly changing the study setting in Experiment 3, flow predicted decreased RTs, but absorption alone - as part of the flow construct - did not predict RTs. To sum up, we demonstrated that being absorbed in music can have the behavioral consequence of speeded manual reactions in specific task contexts, and people seem to integrate the music into an active, flow-driven and therefore enhanced performance. However, shown relations depend on task settings, and a systematic study of context is necessary to understand how induced states and their measurement contribute to the findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thijs Vroegh
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Sandro L Wiesmann
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany; Scene Grammar Lab, Department of Psychology, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany
| | | | - Elke B Lange
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany
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39
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Re-examining the effect of motivation on intentional and unintentional task-unrelated thought: accounting for thought constraint produces novel results. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:87-97. [PMID: 33630143 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01487-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/02/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
It has been proposed that motivating participants to perform well on a cognitive task ought to lead to decreases in rates of intentional, but not unintentional, task-unrelated thought (TUT; a commonly studied variety of mind wandering). However, at odds with this prediction, research has found that increasing motivation results in decreases in both intentional and unintentional TUTs. One possible explanation for this surprising finding is that standard assessments of TUT may inadvertently conflate TUTs with another variety of mind wandering: unconstrained thought. If so, then deconfounding task-unrelated and unconstrained varieties of mind wandering might produce the predicted effect of a decrease in intentional, but not unintentional, TUT when motivation is increased. To explore this possibility, in the present study, participants completed a sustained-attention task after receiving standard instructions (normal-motivation condition) or instructions informing them that they could leave the study early if they achieved a certain level of performance (motivated condition). Throughout the task, we assessed rates of TUT (both intentional and unintentional) and unconstrained thoughts. Consistent with prior work, the results indicated that motivated participants reported being on-task significantly more frequently than non-motivated participants. However, unlike previous work, we found that when deconfounding TUTs and unconstrained thoughts, participants in the motivation condition reported significantly fewer bouts of intentional TUT than those in the non-motivation condition, but no differences in rates of unintentional TUT were observed between groups. These results suggest that (a) motivation specifically targets intentional TUT and (b) standard assessments of TUT conflate task-relatedness and thought constraint.
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40
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Berntsen D. Involuntary autobiographical memories and their relation to other forms of spontaneous thoughts. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20190693. [PMID: 33308074 PMCID: PMC7741080 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Involuntary autobiographical memories are memories of personal events that come to mind spontaneously-that is, with no conscious initiation of the retrieval process. Such spontaneously arising memories were long ignored in cognitive psychology, which generally has focused on controlled and strategic forms of remembering, studied in laboratory settings. Recent evidence shows that involuntary memories of past events are highly frequent in daily life, and that they represent a context-sensitive, and associative way of recollecting past events that involves little executive control. They operate by constraints that favour recent events and events with a distinct feature overlap to the current situation, which optimizes the probability of functional relevance to the ongoing situation. In addition to adults, they are documented in young children and great apes and may be an ontogenetic and evolutionary forerunner of strategic retrieval of past events. Findings suggest that intrusive involuntary memories observed clinically after traumatic events should be viewed as a dysfunctional subclass of otherwise functional involuntary autobiographical memories. Because of their highly constrained, situation-dependent and automatic nature, involuntary autobiographical memories form a distinct category of spontaneous thought that cannot be equated with mind wandering. This article is part of the theme issue 'Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorthe Berntsen
- Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 11, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
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41
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Windt JM. How deep is the rift between conscious states in sleep and wakefulness? Spontaneous experience over the sleep-wake cycle. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20190696. [PMID: 33308071 PMCID: PMC7741079 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether we are awake or asleep is believed to mark a sharp divide between the types of conscious states we undergo in either behavioural state. Consciousness in sleep is often equated with dreaming and thought to be characteristically different from waking consciousness. Conversely, recent research shows that we spend a substantial amount of our waking lives mind wandering, or lost in spontaneous thoughts. Dreaming has been described as intensified mind wandering, suggesting that there is a continuum of spontaneous experience that reaches from waking into sleep. This challenges how we conceive of the behavioural states of sleep and wakefulness in relation to conscious states. I propose a conceptual framework that distinguishes different subtypes of spontaneous thoughts and experiences independently of their occurrence in sleep or waking. I apply this framework to selected findings from dream and mind-wandering research. I argue that to assess the relationship between spontaneous thoughts and experiences and the behavioural states of sleep and wakefulness, we need to look beyond dreams to consider kinds of sleep-related experience that qualify as dreamless. I conclude that if we consider the entire range of spontaneous thoughts and experiences, there appears to be variation in subtypes both within as well as across behavioural states. Whether we are sleeping or waking does not appear to strongly constrain which subtypes of spontaneous thoughts and experiences we undergo in those states. This challenges the conventional and coarse-grained distinction between sleep and waking and their putative relation to conscious states. This article is part of the theme issue 'Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer M. Windt
- Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
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42
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Quantifying streams of thought during cognitive task performance using sequence analysis. Behav Res Methods 2021; 52:2417-2437. [PMID: 32424551 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-020-01416-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Streams of thought vary in content from one moment to the next, and these temporal patterns have been argued to be critical to understanding the wandering mind. But few analytic methods have been proposed that can account for both the content and temporal ordering of categorical experience sampling thought probes over time. In the present study, I apply sequence analytic methods to quantify the dynamics of thought from time series sequences of categorical experience sampling thought probes delivered across five different cognitive tasks in the same individuals (N = 545). Analyses revealed some patterns of consistency in streams of thought within individuals, but also demonstrated considerable variability within and between task sessions. Hierarchical clustering of sequence dissimilarities further revealed common typologies of mind wandering across individuals. These findings demonstrate the application of sequence analytic methods for quantifying the dynamics of thought over the course of task performance and show that contextual task constraints are associated with how streams of thought unfold over time. More broadly, sequence analysis provides a valuable framework for investigation of time ordered cognitive and behavioral processes across psychological domains.
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43
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Philippi CL, Bruss J, Boes AD, Albazron FM, Streese CD, Ciaramelli E, Rudrauf D, Tranel D. Lesion network mapping demonstrates that mind-wandering is associated with the default mode network. J Neurosci Res 2021; 99:361-373. [PMID: 32594566 PMCID: PMC7704688 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2019] [Revised: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 02/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Functional neuroimaging research has consistently associated brain structures within the default mode network (DMN) and frontoparietal network (FPN) with mind-wandering. Targeted lesion research has documented impairments in mind-wandering after damage to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampal regions associated with the DMN. However, no lesion studies to date have applied lesion network mapping to identify common networks associated with deficits in mind-wandering. In lesion network mapping, resting-state functional connectivity data from healthy participants are used to infer which brain regions are functionally connected to each lesion location from a sample with brain injury. In the current study, we conducted a lesion network mapping analysis to test the hypothesis that lesions affecting the DMN and FPN would be associated with diminished mind-wandering. We assessed mind-wandering frequency on the Imaginal Processes Inventory (IPI) in participants with brain injury (n = 29) and healthy comparison participants without brain injury (n = 19). Lesion network mapping analyses showed the strongest association of reduced mind-wandering with the left inferior parietal lobule within the DMN. In addition, traditional lesion symptom mapping results revealed that reduced mind-wandering was associated with lesions of the dorsal, ventral, and anterior sectors of mPFC, parietal lobule, and inferior frontal gyrus in the DMN (p < 0.05 uncorrected). These findings provide novel lesion support for the role of the DMN in mind-wandering and contribute to a burgeoning literature on the neural correlates of spontaneous cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carissa L. Philippi
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Joel Bruss
- Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Aaron D. Boes
- Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Fatimah M. Albazron
- Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | | | - Elisa Ciaramelli
- Department of Psychology and Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - David Rudrauf
- Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Tranel
- Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
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44
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Mills C, Zamani A, White R, Christoff K. Out of the blue: understanding abrupt and wayward transitions in thought using probability and predictive processing. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20190692. [PMID: 33308075 PMCID: PMC7741073 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Thoughts that appear to come to us ‘out of the blue’ or ‘out of nowhere’ are a familiar aspect of mental experience. Such thoughts tend to elicit feelings of surprise and spontaneity. Although we are beginning to understand the neural processes that underlie the arising of such thoughts, little is known about what accounts for their peculiar phenomenology. Here, we focus on one central aspect of this phenomenology—the experience of surprise at their occurrence, as it relates to internal probabilistic predictions regarding mental states. We introduce a distinction between two phenomenologically different types of transitions in thought content: (i) abrupt transitions, which occur at surprising times but lead to unsurprising thought content, and (ii) wayward transitions, which occur at surprising times and also lead to surprising thought content. We examine these two types of transitions using a novel approach that combines probabilistic and predictive processing concepts and principles. We employ two different probability metrics—transition and occurrence probability—to characterize and differentiate between abrupt and wayward transitions. We close by discussing some potentially beneficial ways in which these two kinds of transitions in thought content may contribute to mental function, and how they may be implemented at the neural level. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin Mills
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
| | - Andre Zamani
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Rebecca White
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
| | - Kalina Christoff
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.,Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.,Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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45
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Boayue NM, Csifcsák G, Kreis IV, Schmidt C, Finn I, Hovde Vollsund AE, Mittner M. The interplay between executive control, behavioural variability and mind wandering: Insights from a high-definition transcranial direct-current stimulation study. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 53:1498-1516. [PMID: 33220131 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2020] [Revised: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 11/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
While the involvement of executive processes in mind wandering is largely undebated, their exact relationship is subject to an ongoing debate and rarely studied dynamically within-subject. Several brain-stimulation studies using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have attempted to modulate mind-wandering propensity by stimulating the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) which is an important hub in the prefrontal control network. In a series of three studies testing a total of N = 100 participants, we develop a novel task that allows to study the dynamic interplay of mind wandering, behavioural varibility and the flexible recruitment of executive resources as indexed by the randomness (entropy) of movement sequences generated by our participants. We consistently find that behavioural variability is increased and randomness is decreased during periods of mind wandering. Interestingly, we also find that behavioural variability interacts with the entropy-MW effect, opening up the possibility to detect distinct states of off-focus cognition. When applying a high-definition transcranial direct-current stimulation (HD-tDCS) montage to the left DLPFC, we find that propensity to mind wander is reduced relative to a group receiving sham stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nya M Boayue
- Institute for Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Gábor Csifcsák
- Institute for Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Isabel V Kreis
- Institute for Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Carole Schmidt
- Institute for Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Iselin Finn
- Institute for Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Matthias Mittner
- Institute for Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
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46
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Karapanagiotidis T, Vidaurre D, Quinn AJ, Vatansever D, Poerio GL, Turnbull A, Ho NSP, Leech R, Bernhardt BC, Jefferies E, Margulies DS, Nichols TE, Woolrich MW, Smallwood J. The psychological correlates of distinct neural states occurring during wakeful rest. Sci Rep 2020; 10:21121. [PMID: 33273566 PMCID: PMC7712889 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77336-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
When unoccupied by an explicit external task, humans engage in a wide range of different types of self-generated thinking. These are often unrelated to the immediate environment and have unique psychological features. Although contemporary perspectives on ongoing thought recognise the heterogeneity of these self-generated states, we lack both a clear understanding of how to classify the specific states, and how they can be mapped empirically. In the current study, we capitalise on advances in machine learning that allow continuous neural data to be divided into a set of distinct temporally re-occurring patterns, or states. We applied this technique to a large set of resting state data in which we also acquired retrospective descriptions of the participants' experiences during the scan. We found that two of the identified states were predictive of patterns of thinking at rest. One state highlighted a pattern of neural activity commonly seen during demanding tasks, and the time individuals spent in this state was associated with descriptions of experience focused on problem solving in the future. A second state was associated with patterns of activity that are commonly seen under less demanding conditions, and the time spent in it was linked to reports of intrusive thoughts about the past. Finally, we found that these two neural states tended to fall at either end of a neural hierarchy that is thought to reflect the brain's response to cognitive demands. Together, these results demonstrate that approaches which take advantage of time-varying changes in neural function can play an important role in understanding the repertoire of self-generated states. Moreover, they establish that important features of self-generated ongoing experience are related to variation along a similar vein to those seen when the brain responds to cognitive task demands.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Diego Vidaurre
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Andrew J Quinn
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK
| | - Deniz Vatansever
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China
| | - Giulia L Poerio
- Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, UK
| | - Adam Turnbull
- Department of Psychology, York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Nerissa Siu Ping Ho
- Department of Psychology, York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Robert Leech
- Centre for Neuroimaging Science, Kings College, London, SE5 8AF, UK
| | - Boris C Bernhardt
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology, York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Daniel S Margulies
- Brain and Spine Institute (ICM), National Center for Scientific Research, Paris, 75013, France
| | - Thomas E Nichols
- Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Mark W Woolrich
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK
| | - Jonathan Smallwood
- Department of Psychology, York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
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47
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He H, Li Y, Chen Q, Wei D, Shi L, Wu X, Qiu J. Tracking resting-state functional connectivity changes and mind wandering: A longitudinal neuroimaging study. Neuropsychologia 2020; 150:107674. [PMID: 33186573 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2019] [Revised: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Mind wandering (MW) refers to a drift of attention away from the ongoing events to internal concerns and activates brain regions in the default mode network (DMN) and the frontoparietal control network (FPCN). Although a number of studies using rest-fMRI data have shown that static and dynamic functional connectivity within the DMN were related to individual variations in self-reported MW, whether the brain functional connectivity could predict MW remained unclear. Here, we carried out longitudinal data collection from 122 participants that underwent three times of MRI scans and simultaneously completed self-reported MW scales over the course of two years to clarify whether a direct relationship existed between brain functional connectivity and MW. We identified 16 functional connectivity involving the DMN and FPCN that were consistently and stably associated with MW across the three time points. However, there were only significant cross-lagged effects between DMN-involved connections and MW frequency rather than FPCN-involved connections. In addition, the results indicated that the mean value of functional connectivity involving the DMN (FC-DMN) in the low stable (LS) group was the weakest, followed by mean connectivity in the moderate increasing (MI) group and mean connectivity in the high stable (HS) group. These results support previous research linking MW with connections between partial areas involving the DMN and FPCN. Importantly, our findings indicated that brain functional connectivity involving DMN predicted the subsequent MW and provided further support for the trait-based nature of MW.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong He
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Chongqing, 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China; Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Yu Li
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Chongqing, 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Qunlin Chen
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Chongqing, 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Dongtao Wei
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Chongqing, 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Liang Shi
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Chongqing, 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Xinran Wu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Chongqing, 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Jiang Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Chongqing, 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China; Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University, China.
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48
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Irving ZC, Glasser A, Gopnik A, Pinter V, Sripada C. What Does "Mind-Wandering" Mean to the Folk? An Empirical Investigation. Cogn Sci 2020; 44:e12908. [PMID: 33037714 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2019] [Revised: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Although mind-wandering research is rapidly progressing, stark disagreements are emerging about what the term "mind-wandering" means. Four prominent views define mind-wandering as (a) task-unrelated thought, (b) stimulus-independent thought, (c) unintentional thought, or (d) dynamically unguided thought. Although theorists claim to capture the ordinary understanding of mind-wandering, no systematic studies have assessed these claims. Two large factorial studies present participants (N = 545) with vignettes that describe someone's thoughts and ask whether her mind was wandering, while systematically manipulating features relevant to the four major accounts of mind-wandering. Dynamics explains between four and 40 times more variance in participants' mind-wandering judgments than other features. Our third study (N = 153) tests and supports a unique prediction of the dynamic framework-obsessive rumination contrasts with mind-wandering. Our final study (N = 277) used vignettes that resemble mind-wandering experiments. Dynamics had significant and large effects, while task-unrelatedness was nonsignificant. These results strongly suggest that the central feature of mind-wandering is its dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Aaron Glasser
- Corcoran Department of Philosophy, University of Virginia
| | - Alison Gopnik
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
| | - Verity Pinter
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
| | - Chandra Sripada
- Departments of Psychiatry and Philosophy, University of Michigan
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49
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Sripada C, Taxali A. Structure in the stream of consciousness: Evidence from a verbalized thought protocol and automated text analytic methods. Conscious Cogn 2020; 85:103007. [PMID: 32977240 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.103007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2019] [Revised: 07/12/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
A key question about the spontaneous stream of thought (SST), often called the stream of consciousness, concerns its serial structure: How are thoughts in an extended sequence related to each other? In this study, we used a verbalized thought protocol to investigate "clump-and-jump" structure in SST-clusters of related thoughts about a topic followed by a jump to a new topic, in a repeating pattern. Several lines of evidence convergently supported the presence of clump-and-jump structure: high interrater agreement in identifying jumps, corroboration of rater-assigned jumps by automated text analytic methods, identification of clumps and jumps by a data-driven algorithm, and the inferred presence of clumps and jumps in unverbalized SST. We also found evidence that jumps involve a discontinuous shift in which a new clump is only modestly related to the previous one. These results illuminate serial structure in SST and invite research into the processes that generate the clump-and-jump pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chandra Sripada
- Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
| | - Aman Taxali
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
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50
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O'Neill K, Smith AP, Smilek D, Seli P. Dissociating the freely-moving thought dimension of mind-wandering from the intentionality and task-unrelated thought dimensions. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 85:2599-2609. [PMID: 32935185 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01419-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2019] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The recently forwarded family-resemblances framework of mind-wandering argues that mind-wandering is a multidimensional construct consisting of a variety of exemplars. On this view, membership in the mind-wandering family is graded along various dimensions that define more or less prototypical instances of mind-wandering. In recent work, three dimensions that have played a prominent role in defining prototypicality within the mind-wandering family include: (a) task-relatedness (i.e., how related the content of a thought is to an ongoing task), (b) intentionality (i.e., whether thought is deliberately or spontaneously engaged), and (c) thought constraint (i.e., how much attention constrains thought dynamics). One concern, however, is that these dimensions may be redundant with each other. The utility of distinguishing among these different dimensions of mind-wandering rests upon a demonstration that they are dissociable. To shed light on this issue, we indexed the task-relatedness, intentionality, and constraint dimensions of thought during the completion of a laboratory task to evaluate how these dimensions relate to each other. We found that 56% of unconstrained thoughts were "on-task" and that 23% of constrained thoughts were "off-task." Moreover, we found that rates of off-task thought, but not "freely-moving" (i.e., unconstrained) thought, varied as a function of expected changes in task demands, confirming that task-relatedness and thought constraint are separable dimensions. Participants also reported 21% of intentional off-task thoughts that were freely moving and 9% of unintentional off-task thoughts that were constrained. Finally, off-task thoughts were more likely to be freely-moving than unintentional. Taken together, the results suggest that these three dimensions of mind-wandering are not redundant with one another.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin O'Neill
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Dr, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
| | - Anna P Smith
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Dr, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - Daniel Smilek
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Paul Seli
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Dr, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
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