Increasing participant motivation reduces rates of intentional and unintentional mind wandering

Unravelling the threads of thought: Probing the impact of contextual factors on mind wandering

This study investigated the influence of contextual factors on mind wandering (MW) by leveraging an online platform for an established laboratory task. We investigated how direct performance feedback, information about task progression, and the feeling of being monitored influenced performance indices in a task used to investigate the effect of MW on executive control. Our results indicate that specific performance feedback, and not general positive feedback, consistently improved performance, while neither impacted self-reported MW. Conversely, feedback on task progression and the feeling of being monitored increased self-reported MW, possibly reflecting participant self-awareness due to contextual distractions. Intriguingly, information relaying task progression also substantially increased performance. These findings highlight the potential of performance feedback to reduce the negative effects of MW on task performance in an online setting. Additionally, the findings suggest that information about task progression, as well as the notion of being monitored during the experiment can influence task focus and should be taken into consideration when investigating fluctuations of attention during cognitive tasks.

Mobilizing effort to reduce lapses of sustained attention: examining the effects of content-free cues, feedback, and points

Three experiments with the psychomotor vigilance task examined whether presenting content-free cues, feedback, and points would reduce lapses of sustained attention. In all three experiments, behavioral lapses of attention (particularly slow reaction times) were reduced with the motivation manipulations compared with control conditions, but self-reports of off-task thinking (e.g., mind-wandering) were unaffected. Pupillary responses (preparatory and phasic) also tended to be larger with the different manipulations compared to control conditions. Collectively, the results are consistent with attentional effort models, suggesting that sustained attention was improved and lapses of attention reduced owing to participants in the motivation conditions mobilizing more attentional effort than participants in the control conditions. These results are consistent with recent research, which suggests that the locus coeruleus norepinephrine system is associated with the mobilization of effort.

Towards an ecologically valid naturalistic cognitive neuroscience of memory and event cognition

The landscape of human memory and event cognition research has witnessed a transformative journey toward the use of naturalistic contexts and tasks. In this review, we track this progression from abrupt, artificial stimuli used in extensively controlled laboratory experiments to more naturalistic tasks and stimuli that present a more faithful representation of the real world. We argue that in order to improve ecological validity, naturalistic study designs must consider the complexity of the cognitive phenomenon being studied. Then, we review the current state of "naturalistic" event segmentation studies and critically assess frequently employed movie stimuli. We evaluate recently developed tools like lifelogging and other extended reality technologies to help address the challenges we identified with existing naturalistic approaches. We conclude by offering some guidelines that can be used to design ecologically valid cognitive neuroscience studies of memory and event cognition.

Mind wandering on command

Three experiments (N = 336) examined whether participants can systematically adjust levels of mind wandering on command. Participants performed four blocks of the metronome response task (MRT) in which they pressed a spacebar in sync with a steady audio tone. Levels of spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering were measured using intermittent thought probes. Performance was indexed with MRT response time variability and omission errors. Each block started with instructions to mind wander either 20, 40, 60, or 80% of the time. Analysis was primarily conducted using linear mixed effects models. We found that mind wandering (spontaneous and deliberate), response time variability, and omission errors increased progressively with instructions to mind wander more and that these instruction-related changes were larger for deliberate than spontaneous mind wandering (Experiments 1-3). This pattern held regardless of whether participants' eyes were open or shut (Experiment 2). Relative to a control group receiving no commands to mind wander, instructing people to mind wander 60 or 80% of the time led to more deliberate mind wandering, and strikingly, asking people to mind wander 20% of the time led to less spontaneous mind wandering (Experiment 3). Our results suggest that individuals can titrate mind wandering experiences to roughly match instructed levels indicating that mind wandering can be manipulated through simple instructions. However, other features of the data suggest that such titration is effortful and may come with a cost to performance.

Examining the effects of caffeine during an auditory attention task

Participants completed two sessions of an auditory attention task and intermittently responded to thought probes asking about their level of mind-wandering. After the first session one group received 200 mg of caffeinated chewing gum (n = 61) and another group received regular (placebo) chewing gum (n = 66). The gum was chewed for 20-minutes and then disposed of before beginning the second session. Participants who received caffeine showed a performance benefit as well as reported being more on task and fewer instances of spontaneous mind-wandering compared to those in the placebo group. Participants who received caffeine also reported greater positive affect and arousal, as well as less feelings of boredom, sleepiness, and mental effort required to stay on task compared to those who received placebo. These results suggest that caffeine may benefit attentional engagement as well as performance during a sustained attention task.

Examining the effect of expected test format and test difficulty on the frequency and mnemonic costs of mind wandering

Mind wandering, generally defined as task-unrelated thought, has been shown to constitute between 30% and 50% of individuals' thoughts during almost every activity in which they are engaged. Critically, however, previous research has shown that the demands of a given task can lead to either the up- or down-regulation of mind wandering and that engagement in mind wandering may be differentially detrimental to future memory performance depending on learning conditions. The goal of the current research was to gain a better understanding of how the circumstances surrounding a learning episode affect the frequency with which individuals engage in off-task thought, and the extent to which these differences differentially affect memory performance across different test formats. Specifically, while prior work has manipulated the conditions of encoding, we focused on the anticipated characteristics of the retrieval task, thereby examining whether the anticipation of later demands imposed by the expected test format/difficulty would influence the frequency or performance costs of mind wandering during encoding. Across three experiments, we demonstrate that the anticipation of future test demands, as modelled by expected test format/difficulty, does not affect rates of mind wandering. However, the costs associated with mind wandering do appear to scale with the difficulty of the test. These findings provide important new insights into the impact of off-task thought on future memory performance and constrain our understanding of the strategic regulation of inattention in the context of learning and memory.

Side effects of monaural beat stimulation during sustained mental work on mind wandering and performance measures

Excessive mind wandering (MW) contributes to the development and maintenance of psychiatric disorders. Previous studies have suggested that auditory beat stimulation may represent a method enabling a reduction of MW. However, little is known about how different auditory stimulation conditions are subjectively perceived and whether this perception is in turn related to changes in subjective states, behavioral measures of attention and MW. In the present study, we therefore investigated MW under auditory beat stimulation and control conditions using experience sampling during a sustained attention to response task (SART). The subjective perception of the stimulation conditions, as well as changes in anxiety, stress and negative mood after versus before stimulation were assessed via visual-analog scales. Results showed that any auditory stimulation applied during the SART was perceived as more distracting, disturbing, uncomfortable and tiring than silence and was related to more pronounced increases of stress and negative mood. Importantly, the perception of the auditory conditions as disturbing was directly correlated with MW propensity. Additionally, distracting, disturbing and uncomfortable perceptions predicted negative mood. In turn, negative mood was inversely correlated with response accuracy for target stimuli, a behavioral indicator of MW. In summary, our data show that MW and attentional performance are affected by the adverse perception of auditory stimulation, and that this influence may be mediated by changes in mood.

On the relation between oral contraceptive use and self-control

In two studies we examined the relation between oral contraceptive (OC) use and self-reported levels of self-control in undergraduate women using OCs (Study 1: OC group N = 399, Study 2: OC group N = 288) and naturally cycling women not using any form of hormonal contraceptives (Study 1: Non-OC group N = 964, Study 2: Non-OC group N = 997). We assessed the self-overriding aspect of self-control using the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS) and strategies for self-regulation using the Regulatory Mode Scale (RMS), which separately measures the tendency to assess one's progress towards a goal (assessment), and the tendency to engage in activities that move one towards an end goal (locomotion). In Study 1, we found no significant differences between OC and non-OC groups in their levels of self-overriding or self-regulatory assessment. However, we found that those in the OC group reported significantly greater levels of self-regulatory locomotion compared to those in the non-OC group, even after controlling for depression symptoms and the semester of data collection. The findings from Study 2 replicated the findings from Study 1 in a different sample of participants, with the exception that OC use was also related to higher levels of assessment in Study 2. These results indicate that OC use is related to increases in self-regulatory actions in service of goal pursuit and perhaps the tendency to evaluate progress towards goals.

Childhood adversity and mind wandering: the mediating role of cognitive flexibility and habitual tendencies

ABSTRACTBackground: Initial evidence proposes that exposure to childhood adversity may induce avoidance or withdrawal behaviour. However, it remains unclear whether childhood adversity results in avoidance from externally directed thinking to both deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering, i.e. intentionally or unintentionally diverting attention from ongoing task to task-independent thoughts.Objective: To assess the associations between childhood adversity, and mind wandering, and to evaluate the mediating roles of cognitive flexibility, and habit tendencies.Methods: A total of 601 Chinese subjects (378 females, Mage = 19.37) participated in the current study. The participants completed a series of questionnaires including demographics, childhood maltreatment, cognitive flexibility, habitual tendencies, and mind wandering.Results: Hierarchical regression analyses showed childhood adversity, the control facet of cognitive flexibility, and the automaticity facet of habitual tendencies had significant contributions to deliberate mind wandering (β = 0.10, β = -0.40, and β = 0.06) and spontaneous mind wandering (β = 0.09, β = -0.28, and β = 0.07). Serial mediation analyses revealed that the control and automaticity partially mediated associations between childhood adversity and mind wandering (deliberate mind wandering: 95% CIs = [0.037 0.078], and spontaneous mind wandering: 95% CIs = [0.023, 0.062]).Conclusions: The findings underscore the pivotal role of mediators in delineating the relationship between childhood adversity and mind wandering in everyday life. Interventions geared toward augmenting the control component of cognitive flexibility and regulating the automatic component of habitual tendencies show the potential to ameliorate the propensity of individuals affected by childhood adversity to disengage cognitively from the present moment.

A combined experimental-correlational approach to the construct validity of performance-based and self-report-based measures of sustained attention

The ability to sustain attention is often measured with either objective performance indicators, like within-person RT variability, or subjective self-reports, like mind wandering propensity. A more construct valid approach, however, may be to assess the covariation in these performance and self-report measures, given that each of these is influenced by different sources of measurement error. If the correlation between performance-variability and self-report measures reflects the sustained attention construct, then task manipulations aimed at reducing the sustained attention demands of tasks should reduce the correlation between them (in addition to reducing mean levels of variability and mind wandering). The current study investigated this claim with a combined experimental-correlation approach. In two experiments (Ns ~ 1,500 each), participants completed tasks that either maximized or minimized the demand for sustained attention. Our demand manipulations successfully reduced the mean levels of sustained attention failures in both the objective and subjective measures, in both experiments. In neither experiment, however, did the covariation between these measures change as a function of the sustained attention demands of the tasks. We can therefore claim only minimal support for the construct validity of our measurement approach to sustained attention.

A randomized controlled pilot trial of brief online mindfulness training in young drivers

OBJECTIVE

Driver distraction contributes to fatal and injury crashes in young drivers. Mind wandering (MW) is a covert form of distraction involving task-unrelated thoughts. Brief online mindfulness training (MT) may reduce unsafe driving by enhancing recognition (meta-awareness) of MW and reducing its occurrence. This pilot trial tested these proposed mechanisms of MT and explored its specificity of action, effects on driving behaviour in simulation, as well as intervention adherence and acceptability in young drivers.

METHODS

A pre-post (T1, T2), randomized, active placebo-controlled, double-blinded design was used. Twenty-six drivers, aged 21-25, received either brief online MT (experimental) or progressive muscle relaxation (PMR, control) over 4-6 days. A custom website blindly conducted randomization, delivered interventions, administered questionnaires, and tracked adherence. At T1 and T2, a simulator measured driving behaviour while participants indicated MW whenever they recognized it, to assess meta-awareness, and when prompted by a thought-probe, to assess overall MW.

RESULTS

MT reduced MW while driving in simulation. The MT group reported higher state mindfulness following sessions. Motivation did not account for MW or mindfulness results. MT and meta-awareness were associated with more focus-related steering behaviour. Intervention groups did not significantly differ in adherence or attrition. No severe adverse effects were reported, but MT participants reported more difficulty following intervention instructions.

CONCLUSION

Results support a plausible mechanism of MT for reducing MW-related crash risk (i.e., reduction of MW) in young drivers. This preliminary evidence, alongside promising online adherence and acceptability results, warrants definitive efficacy and effectiveness trials of online MT.

Comparing attentional disengagement between Prolific and MTurk samples

Attention often disengages from primary tasks in favor of secondary tasks (i.e., multitasking) and task-unrelated thoughts (i.e., mind wandering). We assessed whether attentional disengagement, in the context of a cognitive task, can substantially differ between samples from commonly used online participant recruitment platforms, Prolific and Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Initially, eighty participants were recruited through Prolific to perform an attention task in which the risk of losing points for errors was varied (high risk = 80% chance of loss, low risk = 20% chance of loss). Attentional disengagement was measured via task performance along with self-reported mind wandering and multitasking. On Prolific, we observed surprisingly low levels of disengagement. We then conducted the same experiment on MTurk. Strikingly, MTurk participants exhibited more disengagement than Prolific participants. There was also an interaction between risk and platform, with the high-risk group exhibiting less disengagement, in terms of better task performance, than the low-risk group, but only on MTurk. Platform differences in individual traits related to disengagement and relations among study variables were also observed. Platform differences persisted, but were smaller, after increasing MTurk reputation criteria and remuneration in a second experiment. Therefore, recruitment platform and recruitment criteria could impact results related to attentional disengagement.

The role of focus back effort in the relationships among motivation, interest, and mind wandering: an individual difference perspective

Considerable research suggests a link between mind wandering and diminished levels of motivation and interest. During episodes of mind wandering, individuals may engage in efforts to redirect their attention back to the task at hand (known as focus back effort). Building on the resource-control hypothesis, we hypothesized that the influence of interest and motivation on mind wandering may be mediated by focus back effort. In Study 1, we employed a latent-variable approach to investigate these relationships across three tasks with varying cognitive demands. The results showed that individual differences in interest indirectly influenced mind wandering through the mediating factors of motivation and focus back effort. Furthermore, individual differences in interest indirectly predicted task performance through the mediating factors of motivation, focus back effort, and mind wandering during the high-load task. In Study 2, we replicated the relationships among these factors in a reading comprehension task. The results consistently support the role of focus back effort as an adaptive mechanism for executive control, enabling the allocation of cognitive resources to both mind wandering and task performance. These findings underscore the significance of focus back effort in elucidating the interplay between mind wandering, motivation, interest, and task performance. Importantly, our results align with the resource-control theory.

Collaborative Retrieval Practice Reduces Mind-Wandering During Learning

Research has shown engaging in retrieval practice can reduce the frequency of mind-wandering. However, no prior research has examined how engaging in collaborative (as compared to individual) retrieval practice impacts mind-wandering during learning. In the current experiment, participants were asked to study a list of words, followed by retrieval practice that either occurred collaboratively (as a dyad) or individually. During retrieval practice, participants provided self-reports as to whether they were on task or off task. Following retrieval practice, all participants completed an individual final test. Of greatest interest, the results showed that engaging in collaborative retrieval practice decreased the frequency of mind-wandering during learning. In addition, and consistent with prior collaborative learning research, collaborative inhibition during practice and postcollaborative benefits on the final test were observed. The current results provide the first demonstration of an additional benefit to using collaborative retrieval practice: This technique reduces the frequency of mind-wandering.

The effect of video playback speed on learning and mind-wandering in younger and older adults

Prior work has demonstrated that watching videos at faster speeds does not significantly impair learning in younger adults; however, it was previously unclear how increased video speed impacts memory in older adults. Additionally, we investigated the effects of increased video speed on mind-wandering. We presented younger and older adults with a pre-recorded video lecture and manipulated the video to play at different speeds. After watching the video, participants predicted their performance on a memory test covering the material from the video and then completed said memory test. We demonstrated that although younger adults can watch lecture videos at faster speeds without significant deficits in memory, older adults' test performance is generally impaired when watching at faster speeds. Additionally, faster playback speeds seem to reduce mind-wandering (and mind-wandering was generally reduced in older adults relative to younger adults), potentially contributing to younger adults' preserved memory at faster speeds. Thus, while younger adults can watch videos at faster speeds without significant consequences, we advise against older adults watching at faster speeds.

Mind wandering state detection during video-based learning via EEG

The aim of this study is to explore the potential of technology for detecting mind wandering, particularly during video-based distance learning, with the ultimate benefit of improving learning outcomes. To overcome the challenges of previous mind wandering research in ecological validity, sample balance, and dataset size, this study utilized practical electroencephalography (EEG) recording hardware and designed a paradigm consisting of viewing short-duration video lectures under a focused learning condition and a future planning condition. Participants estimated statistics of their attentional state at the end of each video, and we combined this rating scale feedback with self-caught key press responses during video watching to obtain binary labels for classifier training. EEG was recorded using an 8-channel system, and spatial covariance features processed by Riemannian geometry were employed. The results demonstrate that a radial basis function kernel support vector machine classifier, using Riemannian-processed covariance features from delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands, can detect mind wandering with a mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.876 for within-participant classification and AUC of 0.703 for cross-lecture classification. Furthermore, our results suggest that a short duration of training data is sufficient to train a classifier for online decoding, as cross-lecture classification remained at an average AUC of 0.689 when using 70% of the training set (about 9 min). The findings highlight the potential for practical EEG hardware in detecting mind wandering with high accuracy, which has potential application to improving learning outcomes during video-based distance learning.

When there is noise on Sherlock Holmes: mind wandering increases with perceptual processing difficulty during reading and listening

We investigated whether increased perceptual processing difficulty during reading or listening to a Sherlock Holmes novella impacts mind wandering as well as text comprehension. We presented 175 participants with a novella in either a visual or an auditory presentation format and probed their thoughts and motivational states from time to time during reading/listening. For half of the participants in each presentation-format condition (visual or auditory), the story was superimposed by Gaussian noise. For both presentation formats, the participants who were exposed to noise while processing the story mind-wandered more and performed worse in a later comprehension test than the participants who processed the story without added noise. These negative effects of increased perceptual processing difficulty on task focus and comprehension were partly driven by motivational factors: reading/listening motivation mediated the relationship between perceptual processing difficulty and mind wandering.

The effect of video playback speed on learning and mind-wandering in younger and older adults

Prior work has demonstrated that watching videos at faster speeds does not significantly impair learning in younger adults; however, it was previously unclear how increased video speed impacts memory in older adults. Additionally, we investigated the effects of increased video speed on mind-wandering. We presented younger and older adults with a pre-recorded video lecture and manipulated the video to play at different speeds. After watching the video, participants predicted their performance on a memory test covering the material from the video and then completed said memory test. We demonstrated that although younger adults can watch lecture videos at faster speeds without significant deficits in memory, older adults' test performance is generally impaired when watching at faster speeds. Additionally, faster playback speeds seem to reduce mind-wandering (and mind-wandering was generally reduced in older adults relative to younger adults), potentially contributing to younger adults' preserved memory at faster speeds. Thus, while younger adults can watch videos at faster speeds without significant consequences, we advise against older adults watching at faster speeds.

Context independent reductions in external processing during self-generated episodic social cognition

Ongoing cognition supports behavioral flexibility by facilitating behavior in the moment, and through the consideration of future actions. These different modes of cognition are hypothesized to vary with the correlation between brain activity and external input, since evoked responses are reduced when cognition switches to topics unrelated to the current task. This study examined whether these reduced evoked responses change as a consequence of the task environment in which the experience emerges. We combined electroencephalography (EEG) recording with multidimensional experience sampling (MDES) to assess the electrophysiological correlates of ongoing thought in task contexts which vary on their need to maintain continuous representations of task information for satisfactory performance. We focused on an event-related potential (ERP) known as the parietal P3 that had a greater amplitude in our tasks relying on greater external attention. A principal component analysis (PCA) of the MDES data revealed four patterns of ongoing thought: off-task episodic social cognition, deliberate on-task thought, imagery, and emotion. Participants reported more off-task episodic social cognition and mental imagery under low external demands and more deliberate on-task thought under high external task demands. Importantly, the occurrence of off-task episodic social cognition was linked to similar reductions in the amplitude of the P3 regardless of external task. These data suggest the amplitude of the P3 may often be a general feature of external task-related content and suggest attentional decoupling from sensory inputs are necessary for certain types of perceptually-decoupled, self-generated thoughts.

A desire for distraction: uncovering the rates of media multitasking during online research studies

Interpretations of task performance in many cognitive studies rest on the assumption that participants are fully attentive to the tasks they agree to complete. However, with research studies being increasingly conducted online where monitoring participant engagement is difficult, this assumption may be inaccurate. If participants were found to be engaging in off-task behaviours while participating in these studies, the interpretation of study results might be called into question. To investigate this issue, we conducted a secondary data analysis across nearly 3000 participants in various online studies to examine the prevalence of one form of off-task behaviour: media multitasking. Rates of media multitasking were found to be high, averaging 38% and ranging from 9 to 85% across studies. Our findings broadly raise questions about the interpretability of results from online studies and urge researchers to consider the likelihood that participants are simultaneously engaging in off-task behaviours while completing online research tasks.

Judgments of learning reactively facilitate visual memory by enhancing learning engagement

Recent studies have found that making judgments of learning (JOLs) for verbal materials changes memory itself, a form of reactivity effect on memory. The current study explores the reactivity effect on visual (image) memory and tests the potential role of enhanced learning engagement in this effect. Experiment 1 employed object image pairs as stimuli and observed a positive reactivity effect on memory for visual details. Experiment 2 conceptually replicated this positive reactivity effect using pairs of scene images. Experiment 3 introduced mind wandering (MW) probes to measure participants' attentional state (learning engagement) and observed that making JOLs significantly reduced MW. More importantly, reduced MW mediated the reactivity effect. Lastly, Experiment 4 found that a manipulation that heightened learning motivation decreased the reactivity effect. Overall, the current study provides the first demonstration of the reactivity effect on visual memory, as well as support for the enhanced learning engagement explanation. Practical implications are discussed.

Executive failure hypothesis explains the trait-level association between motivation and mind wandering

Mind wandering (MW) is commonly observable in daily life. Early studies established an association between motivation and MW at the trait level using a questionnaire survey. Considering that the mechanism of state-level association between them is known, this study was conducted to replicate the trait-level association and determine its possible mechanisms. Two independent samples were analysed using several questionnaires, which included motivation and MW. General one- and multi-dimensional scales were administered for both variables. Besides the successful replication of the significant association between motivation and MW at the trait level, we found that people with low levels of executive function experience high rates of spontaneous MW. This finding indicates that the underlying mechanism of trait-level association is the executive failure hypothesis, which postulates that a failure of executive control during task-related objectives evokes MW. Further, the motivation–MW relationship exhibits a different psychological basis at the state and trait levels.

Effort Mobilization and Lapses of Sustained Attention

The current study examined whether effort mobilization would enhance sustained attention and reduce lapses of attention. Participants performed a sustained attention task and were randomly assigned to either an effort condition where they were instructed to "Try Hard" on a subset of trials or were assigned to a control condition with no "Try Hard" instructions. Pupillary responses were continuously recorded, and periodically during the task participants were presented with thought probes to determine whether they were on or off task. The results suggested within the effort condition there were no behavioral differences between Try Hard and "Standard" trials. Preparatory pupil responses were increased in Try Hard trials, but there were no differences for phasic pupillary responses to stimulus onset. In contrast, examining differences between the effort and control conditions suggested that participants who received the Try Hard instructions demonstrated faster overall performance, a reduction in very long reaction times, and reported fewer off-task thoughts compared with participants in the control condition. Participants in the effort condition also demonstrated a larger ramp-up in pupillary responses during the preparatory interval and a larger phasic response to stimulus onset compared with participants in the control condition. These results are consistent with attention allocation models suggesting that participants in the effort condition mobilized more attentional effort than participants in the control condition, resulting in enhanced sustained attention and a reduction in lapses of attention. These results also are consistent with recent theories, which suggest that the locus coeruleus norepinephrine system is associated with effort mobilization.

Life Skills Link to Mind Wandering Among University Students: An Exploratory Study

The occurrence of mind wandering (MW) leads to lower performance on memory tasks related to lecture contents in educational settings, which has been recognized as problematic. To date, several dispositional factors have been reported as being associated with MW. This study investigated whether another psychological component—life skills—is linked to MW. Specifically, it clarified the relationship between life skills and two types of MW: state MW (occurs while performing a given task) and trait MW (occurs subjectively in daily life), using a sample of university students. From the perspective of cognitive and emotional control functions, life skills are thought to be related to the occurrence of MW. In addition to common questionnaire surveys, by recording and analyzing the participants' self-reports for MW occurrence during the experimental task, we clarified not only the quantitative associations among the variables but also the qualitative differences. Multiple regression analysis for the data from 53 students showed that decision-making and coping-with-emotion skills are negatively related to the occurrence of mind wandering. The qualitative data additionally revealed that participants with high decision-making skills are more likely than those with low decision-making skills to attempt to maintain their concentration on the task by thinking about task execution. These results suggest that life skills are associated with MW and that the ability to inhibit MW may be enhanced by improving life skills because they comprise acquired, learnable behaviors and attitudes. Life skills training may help in reducing students' MW in educational contexts.

Mind-Wandering Across the Age Gap: Age-Related Differences in Mind-Wandering Are Partially Attributable to Age-Related Differences in Motivation

OBJECTIVES

A common finding in the mind-wandering literature is that older adults (OAs) tend to mind-wander less frequently than young adults (YAs). Here, we sought to determine whether this age-related difference in mind-wandering is attributable to age-related differences in motivation.

METHOD

YAs and OAs completed an attention task during which they responded to thought probes that assessed rates of mind-wandering, and they provided self-reports of task-based motivation before and after completion of the attention task.

RESULTS

Age-related differences in mind-wandering are partially explained by differences in motivation, and motivating YAs via incentive diminishes mind-wandering differences across these groups.

DISCUSSION

We consider these results in the context of theories on age-related differences in mind wandering, with a specific focus on their relevance to the recently proposed motivational account of such age-related differences.

The influence of student engagement on the effects of an inferential reading comprehension intervention for struggling middle school readers

Although many students benefit from evidence-based reading comprehension interventions, not all students will exhibit adequate response. Moderation analysis provides a statistical approach to examine for whom and under what conditions interventions are most effective. Conducted within a parent project, which investigated the effects of an inferential reading comprehension intervention, the current study examined factors related to the deployment of students' attention as well as language status that might be associated with differential response to intervention. Sixty-six struggling middle school readers were randomly assigned to a computerized version of the intervention, a teacher-led version, or business-as-usual (BaU) control instruction. The influence of language status (i.e., English Learner status) and pre-intervention levels of mind-wandering, anxiety, and mindset on the effects of the inferential reading comprehension intervention were examined. There were no moderator effects for the teacher-led group compared to the BaU control. Conversely, anxiety, mind-wandering, and language status moderated the effects of the computer-led intervention for some reading and inference-making outcomes. The computer-led intervention was associated with improved inference-making for students with higher levels of self-reported anxiety and mind-wandering. In contrast, the computer-led intervention was less beneficial than BaU instruction for English learners. Findings are discussed with respect to how these factors might be relevant for interpreting the effects of interventions for struggling middle school readers in general, and for English learners in particular. The findings also point to the importance of considering the characteristics of both student and instructional features in the creation and testing of reading comprehension interventions.

Dispositional factors account for age differences in self-reported mind-wandering

The present study investigated the contribution of dispositional factors in accounting for the perplexing negative relationship between aging and mind-wandering (MW). First, we sought to examine whether experimentally manipulating participants' motivation during a modified Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) would modulate sustained attention performance and MW reports for younger and older adults. Results indicated that a performance-based motivational incentive influenced self-reported motivation and objective measures of sustained attention performance for younger, but not older, adults as compared to a control block. However, the motivation manipulation did not significantly modulate either younger or older adults' MW reports. Second, we tested the unique contributions of conscientiousness, interest, and motivation in predicting state-level, trait-level, and SART MW reports along with a composite measure of all three predictors. The results from a series of mediation and regression analyses indicated (a) that conscientiousness and interest fully accounted for the relationship between age and four different self-reported MW estimates and (b) that self-reported motivation did not account for any unique variance in predicting MW reports above and beyond age. The dispositional factors also accounted for the observed differences in No-Go accuracy but did not fully account for the age differences in the coefficient of variation. Discussion focuses on distinctions between self-report and objective measures of MW and more general implications of considering dispositional factors in cognitive aging research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing the construct validity of competing measurement approaches to probed mind-wandering reports

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.

Re-examining the effect of motivation on intentional and unintentional task-unrelated thought: accounting for thought constraint produces novel results

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.

Mind wandering increases linearly with text difficulty

Although mind wandering during reading is known to be affected by text difficulty, the nature of this relationship is not yet fully understood. To examine this issue, we conducted an experiment in which participants read non-fiction texts that varied along five levels of difficulty under naturalistic conditions. Difficulty levels were determined based on Flesch-Kincaid Grade Levels and verified with Coh-Metrix indices. Mind wandering was measured with thought probes. We predicted that text difficulty and mind wandering have a U-shaped (i.e., quadratic) relationship. Contrary to our expectations, but in line with some prior studies, mind wandering linearly increased with text difficulty. Additionally, text interest moderated the effect of text difficulty on mind wandering. Finally, mind wandering was associated with worse performance on a comprehension test. Together, our findings extend previous work by showing that (a) a linear relationship between difficulty and mind wandering exists during common page-by-page reading of pre-existing texts and that (b) this relationship holds across a broad range of difficulty levels.

Regression-based mediation analysis: a formula for the bias due to an unobserved precursor variable

Researchers want to know whether the change in an explanatory variable X affects the change in a response variable Y (i.e., X causes Y). In practice, there can be two causal paths from X to Y, the path through a mediating variable M (indirect effect) and the path not through M (direct effect). The parameter estimation and hypothesis testing can be performed by a regression-based mediation model. It is already known that randomization of X is not enough for unbiased estimation, and the bias due to an unobserved variable has been discussed in literature but often overlooked. In this article, we first review the challenge under a simple mediation model, then we provide a formula for the exact bias due to an unobserved precursor variable W, the variable which potentially causes the changes in X, M, and/or Y. We present simulation studies to demonstrate the impact of an unobserved precursor variable on hypothesis testing for indirect effect and direct effect. The simulation results show that the inflation of type I error is serious particularly in a large sample study. To numerically demonstrate the formula of the exact bias, a popular data set published in a journal of statistics education is revisited, and we quantify why the conclusion of data analysis can be different before and after accounting for the precursor variable. The result shall remind the importance of a precursor variable in mediation analysis.

Sustained attention and the experience of flow

The state of flow-often referred to as being "in the zone"-is characterized by the experience of deep, effortless concentration on the activity one is engaged in. While much of the flow literature seems to imply a tight link between flow and attention processes, relatively little work has assessed this question empirically. In the present study, we explored how the experience of flow relates to behavioural performance on the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). Flow was indexed at the state level using thought-probes and at the trait level via questionnaires. The main finding was that those who experienced more state-level flow during the SART made fewer commission errors during the task, indicating that flow is linked to better sustained attention. Interestingly, the correlation between flow and sustained attention performance was found to increase in the second half of the task. While trait flow was not related to SART performance, it was found to be predictive of state flow during the task, such that those who tended to experience higher levels of flow in their everyday lives also experienced more flow during the experiment.

The metronome response task for measuring mind wandering: Replication attempt and extension of three studies by Seli et al

Science requires replicable tools to measure its intended constructs. Attention research has developed tools that have been used in mind-wandering research, but mind-wandering measures often rely on response-inhibition, which introduces speed-accuracy trade-offs that may conflate errors for mind-wandering. We sought to replicate three studies that used an improved mind-wandering measure: the Metronome Response Task (MRT). In a large (N=300) multisite sample, the primary MRT finding was replicated, showing that continuous rhythmic response time variability reliably predicted self-reported mind-wandering. Our findings also show previously undetected differences between intentional and unintentional mind-wandering. While previously reported mediators (motivation) and moderators (confidence) did not replicate, additional covariates add predictive value and additional constructs (e.g., boredom, effort) demonstrate convergent validity. The MRT is useful for inducing and measuring mind-wandering and provides an especially replicable tool. The MRT's measurement of attention could support future models of the complete cycle of sustained attention.

Lay Theories of the Wandering Mind: Control-Related Beliefs Predict Mind Wandering Rates in- and outside the Lab

People often fail to keep their mind from wandering. Here, we examine how the tendency to mind wander is affected by people's beliefs, or lay theories. Building on research on lay theories and self-regulation, we test whether differences in people's beliefs about the extent to which mind wandering is controllable affect thought control strategies and mind-wandering rates in daily life and the laboratory. We develop a new scale to assess control-related beliefs about mind wandering. Scores on the scale predict mind wandering (Study 1) and intrusive thoughts (Study 2) in everyday life, thought control strategies and dysfunctional responses to unwanted thoughts (Study 2), and mind wandering during reading in the laboratory (Studies 3-6). Moreover, experimentally induced lay theories affect mind-wandering rates during reading (Studies 4 and 5). Finally, the effectiveness of strategies people can use to reduce their mind wandering depends on their lay theories (Studies 2 and 6).

The association of motivation with mind wandering in trait and state levels

Mind wandering (MW) is a phenomenon in which attention drifts away from task-related thoughts toward task-unrelated thoughts. Recent studies have demonstrated that MW occurs during tasks in which participants are unmotivated. However, motivation ranges on a continuum from trait to state. We examined the association between trait-state motivation and trait-state MW. Participants (176 undergraduate students 18–24 years old; 68 male) completed three questionnaires for our trait level investigation. State level indices were measured using the experience sampling method with 104 students completing a sustained attention to response task. Through correlation analyses, we demonstrated an association between motivation and MW within the same dimension (trait and state, respectively) but found no association across dimensions in which the correlation coefficient was nearly zero. We show the significant association between motivation and MW whose novelty is especially evident in the trait level. Although the relationship between motivation and MW is substantial, trait-state dimensionality would be important for them. The state MW is a phasic phenomenon driven by a range of factors, one being state motivation. The causality and confounding factors remain to be further studied.

Task-related thought and metacognitive ability in mind wandering reports: an exploratory study

Recent research has focused on mind wandering (MW), which is caused when a person's attention shifts from a primary task to unrelated internal thoughts. One of the research interests for this psychological action is the diversity of MW content: from the future to the past, from the real to imaginary worlds, and from internal and external distractions. However, to date, there have been only a few studies that have explicitly examined MW content. Therefore, we attempted to fill this research gap, to some degree, through this exploratory study. We used an unbiased method that allowed the 59 participants to freely report their psychological experiences, after which their answers were categorized post hoc, to avoid any acquiescence. We found a substantial number of task-related thoughts, or task-related psychological experiences, during the typical MW task. The experiences were further analyzed using a data-driven method, which reported that metacognitive ability possibly contributed to MW. The occurrence of task-related thoughts and metacognitive ability should be given attention when evaluating MW.

Using tests to reduce mind-wandering during learning review

Research suggests testing improves the retention of previously learned information. Here, we examined whether this might be due (in part) to the fact that tests help learners stay on task during the review stages of learning. In two experiments, participants encoded a list of words and later had an opportunity to review the material via a free recall test or re-reading the words. During review, participants provided self-reports as to whether their minds were on or off task. Results from both experiments show testing decreased mind-wandering. Importantly, this reduction in mind-wandering was associated with improved performance on a final memory test. These results suggest the mnemonic benefits associated with testing may stem not only from act of retrieval itself, but also from the fact that taking tests encourages a more efficient and engaged review of the material.

The relation between task-unrelated media multitasking and task-related motivation

In two experiments, we explored the relation between participants' (a) levels of motivation to complete a task and (b) task-unrelated media multitasking. In Experiment 1, we examined the extent to which participants' levels of motivation to complete a task influenced their tendency to engage in task-unrelated media multitasking. Participants completed a 1-back task, while having the opportunity to turn on and off an unrelated, optional video. Results showed that participants who were told they would finish the experiment early if they achieved a sufficient level of performance (the motivated group) were significantly less likely to play the optional video during the 1-back task than those who were not given the opportunity to finish early (control condition). In Experiment 2, we examined the extent to which engaging in task-unrelated media multitasking affected task-related motivation. Three groups of participants completed a 1-back task, while (a) no video was presented, (b) a video was continuously played, or (c) participants could turn on and off a video at their leisure (as in Experiment 1). At both the beginning and the end of Experiment 2, participants were asked to indicate their level of motivation to complete the task. Interestingly, results revealed that continuously having the video playing helped sustain task-related motivation. Thus, although greater motivation to perform a task reduces the likelihood of engaging in task-unrelated media multitasking, such media multitasking also appears to increase levels of motivation.

The awakening of the attention: Evidence for a link between the monitoring of mind wandering and prospective goals

Across 2 independent samples, we examined the relation between individual differences in rates of self-caught mind wandering and individual differences in temporal monitoring of an unrelated response goal. Rates of self-caught mind wandering were assessed during a commonly used sustained-attention task, and temporal goal monitoring was indexed during a well-established prospective-memory task. The results from both samples showed a positive relation between rates of self-caught mind wandering during the sustained-attention task and rates of checking a clock to monitor the amount of time remaining before a response was required in the prospective-memory task. This relation held even when controlling for overall propensity to mind-wander (indexed by intermittent thought probes) and levels of motivation (indexed by subjective reports). These results suggest the possibility that there is a common monitoring system that monitors the contents of consciousness and the progress of ongoing goals and tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record