自发走神和有意走神及其与元认知的关系

走神包括有意走神和自发走神两种类型,元认知对二者的影响可能不同。研究使用两维度走神量表和元认知-30量表,对国内部分高校学生的走神和元认知(元认知信念、元认知加工和认知自信判断)进行调查,结果显示:(1)走神可以划分为有意走神和自发走神;(2)失控和危险感既能预测自发走神也能预测有意走神,但认知自信只能预测自发走神,认知的自我意识只能预测有意走神。说明元认知对自发走神和有意走神的影响存在差异。     

Tracking the train of thought from the laboratory into everyday life: An experience-sampling study of mind wandering across controlled and ecological contexts

In an experience-sampling study that bridged laboratory, ecological, and individual-differences approaches to mind-wandering research, 72 subjects completed an executive-control task with periodic thought probes (reported by McVay & Kane, 2009) and then carried PDAs for a week that signaled them eight times daily to report immediately whether their thoughts were off task. Subjects who reported more mind wandering during the laboratory task endorsed more mind-wandering experiences during everyday life (and were more likely to report worries as off-task thought content). We also conceptually replicated laboratory findings that mind wandering predicts task performance: Subjects rated their daily-life performance to be impaired when they reported off-task thoughts, with greatest impairment when subjects’ mind wandering lacked metaconsciousness. The propensity to mind wander appears to be a stable cognitive characteristic and seems to predict performance difficulties in daily life, just as it does in the laboratory     

The Impact of Modality on Mind Wandering during Comprehension

The executive resource hypothesis assumes a positive relationship between resource availability and mind wandering. Under the assumption that different modalities of information delivery differentially tax resources, we compared mind wandering across different modalities during the presentation of The Red Headed League (Experiment 1 and 2) and Walden (Experiment 3). An Audio only condition produced the most mind wandering. Two conditions that presumably consumed more executive resources than the Audio Only condition (i.e. Audio + Text and Self‐paced Reading) produced equivalent amounts of mind wandering during Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiment 3 the reading time of the Self‐paced readers moderated the effect of mind wandering in that the fast readers mind wandered more than those in the Audio + Text condition. Results are discussed in the context of the demands of different modes of information delivery methods and mind wandering as well as the potential effects of material type. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wandering eyes: Eye movements during mind wandering in video lectures

Video lectures are increasingly prevalent, but they present challenges to learners. Students' minds often wander, yet we know little about how mind wandering affects attention during video lectures. This paper presents two studies that examined eye movement patterns of mind wandering during video lectures. In the studies, mind wandering reports were collected by either self-caught reports or thought probes. Results were similar across the studies: mind wandering was associated with an increased allocation of fixations to the instructor's image. For fixations on the slides, the average duration increased but the dispersion decreased. Moreover, preliminary evidence suggested that fixation duration and dispersion can diminish soon after self-caught reports of mind wandering. Overall, these findings help advance our understanding of how learners' attention is affected during mind wandering and may facilitate efforts in objectively identifying mind wandering. Future research is needed to determine if these findings can extend to other instructional formats.     

On Being Found: How Habitual Patterns of Thought Influence Creative Interest,Behavior, and Ability

This study on 138 undergraduate students used path analysis to investigate the relationship between creativity (interest, measured by a creative activities survey; and ability: fluency, originality, and elaboration) and different aspects of thought patterns presumed to influence the preparation and illumination phase of the creative process: habitual patterns of thought (ruminative brooding, ruminative self-reflection), thought suppression, thought intrusion, mind wandering, and associative ability. Such relationship was hinted at in Wallas’s classical model of the creative sequence, but is rarely investigated. We found that creative behavior/interest was driven by self-reflection, thought intrusion, and the lack of a need for thought suppression; creative ability was fueled mainly by associative ability. The only variable that influenced both aspects of creativity was the lack of resistance to thought suppression; this distinguished the creativity variables from dysphoria, which was associated with a desire for thought suppression. The results suggest that what drives the need to create is not creative ability per se, but rather self-focused attention, as well as the feeling or experience of being found by thought, rather than finding it. That is, the need to create is associated with having thoughts that interrupt one’s ordinary stream of consciousness and that are seen as welcome rather than interfering.     

Mindfulness and mind wandering: The protective effects of brief meditation in anxious individuals

Mind wandering can be costly, especially when we are engaged in attentionally demanding tasks. Preliminary studies suggest that mindfulness can be a promising antidote for mind wandering, albeit the evidence is mixed. To better understand the exact impact of mindfulness on mind wandering, we had a sample of highly anxious undergraduate students complete a sustained-attention task during which off-task thoughts including mind wandering were assessed. Participants were randomly assigned to a meditation or control condition, after which the sustained-attention task was repeated. In general, our results indicate that mindfulness training may only have protective effects on mind wandering for anxious individuals. Meditation prevented the increase of mind wandering over time and ameliorated performance disruption during off-task episodes. In addition, we found that the meditation intervention appeared to promote a switch of attentional focus from the internal to present-moment external world, suggesting important implications for treating worrying in anxious populations.     

Do drives drive the train of thought?—Effects of hunger and sexual arousal on mind-wandering behavior

Physiological needs that are currently unfulfilled are known to affect human cognition and behavior. The present study investigates whether and how the temporary activation of two primary physiological needs, namely hunger and sexual arousal, influence both the frequency and the contents of mind-wandering episodes. To induce hunger, one group of participants fasted for a minimum of five hours whereas another group of participants was exposed to audio material with explicit sexual content to provoke sexual arousal. Both groups as well as an additional control group, which had not received hunger instructions and had not been exposed to arousing material of any kind beforehand, performed a reading task during which mind wandering was assessed using a standard experience-sampling method. Results showed that acute hunger but not elevated sexual arousal renders the occurrence of mind-wandering episodes more likely. Induction of both hunger and sexual arousal rendered the occurrence of need-related off-task thoughts more likely and changed time orientations of mind wandering. The present findings are well in line with the assumption that unfulfilled needs regularly achieve cognitive priority and extend the cognitive-priority idea to self-generated thoughts.     

Everyday Attention: Variation in Mind Wandering and Memory in a Lecture

Understanding the factors underlying variation in attentional state is critical in a number of domains. Here, we investigate the relation between time on task and mind wandering (i.e., a state of decoupled attention) in the context of a lecture. Lectures are the primary means of knowledge transmission in post secondary education rendering an understanding of attentional variations in lectures a pressing practical concern. We report two experiments wherein participants watched a video recorded lecture either alone (Experiment 1) or in a classroom context (Experiment 2). Participants responded to mind wandering probes at various times in the lecture in an effort to track variations in mind wandering over time. In addition, following the lecture, memory for the lecture material was tested. Results demonstrate that in a lecture mind wandering increases with time on task and memory for the lecture material decreases. In addition, there was a significant relation between mind wandering and memory for lecture material. Theoretical and practical applications of the present results are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“I Should not Forget the Apples!”—Mind‐Wandering Episodes Used as Opportunities for Rehearsal in an Interrupted Recall Paradigm

Mind‐wandering is mostly studied for its negative effects on ongoing cognitive tasks but may be also of adaptive value. We tested the idea of mind‐wandering providing opportunities for rehearsal by asking participants to study 20 grocery items for a recall test. After cued recall of 10 items, participants were either told that the recall task was finished or that it was interrupted for another task. All participants then performed a two‐back task during which thought contents were repeatedly probed. Cued recall of the remaining items was better in the interrupted than in the finished condition, and this effect was accompanied by a more efficient rehearsal strategy: Participants' thought‐reports in the interrupted condition revealed a stronger and more persistent engagement in shopping‐task‐related thoughts. Activating a relevant goal led to mind‐wandering episodes being persistently used as opportunities for rehearsal revealing participants' adaptive usage of off‐task thoughts.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

心智游移的研究：理论、方法及进展

心智游移普遍存在于个体的意识体验中,主要指自发产生的、与当前外界环境无关的思维加工。目前,有关心智游移的理论在其与执行控制的关系上存在争议,主要有心智游移的执行控制理论、控制失败假说和全局可用性假说等。当前的研究主要基于口头报告,并辅以问卷和量表,一些客观指标和认知神经科学的方法也正尝试着对它进行探究。采用这些方法,心智游移的研究已取得了很大的进展。在行为水平上,相关研究探讨了它的时间属性、与元意识的关系、不同因素对它的作用以及它对认知加工的影响等;在认知神经水平上,默认网络与心智游移的关系备受关注,对心智游移时脑电成分的研究也有助于对其机制的了解。未来的研究在心智游移的产生机制、功能和研究方法上可以有进一步的发展。     

走神的理论假设、影响因素及其神经机制

围绕“为什么会走神”这一问题, 文章首先介绍了走神的两个理论假设：解耦合假设和执行控制失败假设。接着论述了影响走神的各种因素, 并探讨了走神的神经机制。最后指出未来研究应着眼于走神的潜在功能来发展理论假设; 整合影响走神的各种因素到一个模型中, 从而更好地发现各因素对走神的综合影响; 应用同步脑电和功能磁共振成像技术以更精确地探索走神的神经机制。此外, 对特殊群体的走神研究以及走神的跨文化研究也是很有必要的。     

Working Memory Capacity Offers Resistance to Mind‐Wandering and External Distraction in a Context‐Specific Manner

The present study examined the impact of mind‐wandering and distraction in silent and noisy studying environments and how individual differences in working memory capacity offered resistance to these two distinct forms of attention failure. Two groups of participants read a text in different environments and answered reading comprehension questions. While reading, thought probes asked participants to indicate the current focus of their attention. Results showed that the relationship between working memory capacity and reading comprehension was partially driven by resistance to mind‐wandering in the silent condition and by resistance to external distraction in the noise condition. The findings support the distinction between mind‐wandering and external distraction, two separate yet related types of attention failure that impact task performance. Further, executive abilities seem to offer resistance to these two types of attention failure differentially depending on the context. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the Link Between Mind Wandering,Mindfulness, and Creativity: A Multidimensional Approach

Even if mind wandering (MW) and mindfulness have traditionally been intended as separate and antithetical constructs, the roles of these 2 mental states on creative behavior were jointly explored in this article. In particular, MW was analyzed in light of a recent approach suggesting a differentiation between deliberate and spontaneous MW, whereas mindfulness was analyzed by distinguishing its 5 different constitutional dimensions: observing, acting with awareness, describing, nonreactivity, and nonjudging. The influence on creativity of these 2 mental states was analyzed using a sample of 77 undergraduate students both on a performance index (i.e., originality) and on a self-report index (i.e., creative achievement). Results showed that MW and mindfulness dimensions predicted creative behavior both alone and in combination, suggesting a complex interdependence between these 2 mental states within the creative thinking process. In particular, the critical importance of distinguishing between deliberate and spontaneous MW was revealed by a final path analysis, which revealed the opposite effects of these 2 dimensions on originality and creative achievement. That is, deliberate MW positively predicted creative performance, whereas spontaneous MW was negatively associated with such performance. Moreover, the nonreactivity and awareness dimensions of mindfulness, the latter in interaction with deliberate MW, emerged as main predictors of response originality. Finally, the describing facet of mindfulness predicted creative achievement both directly and indirectly through an interaction with deliberate MW. The implications emerging from the adoption of a multi-dimensional approach to the analysis of MW and mindfulness in the study of creativity are discussed herein.     

毅力与学业成绩的关系：有意走神和自发走神的不同中介作用

以3372名5年级小学生为研究对象,采用毅力量表、有意走神和自发走神量表以及学业成绩测验,考察毅力（兴趣一致性和坚持努力）对学业成绩的影响,并检验有意走神和自发走神的中介作用。结果发现：（1）兴趣一致性和坚持努力均显著正向预测学业成绩;（2）有意走神、自发走神在兴趣一致性和坚持努力与学业成绩之间均起显著的中介作用,但两者的中介作用模式存在差异。有意走神在兴趣一致性和坚持努力与学业成绩间的中介作用不同：兴趣一致性负向影响有意走神,有意走神正向影响学业成绩,坚持努力正向影响有意走神,有意走神正向影响学业成绩;而自发走神在兴趣一致性和坚持努力对学业成绩预测的中介作用相同,即兴趣一致性和坚持努力均负向影响自发走神,自发走神负向影响学业成绩。     

Minimally Creative Thought

Creativity has received, and continues to receive, comparatively little analysis in philosophy and the brain and behavioural sciences. This is in spite of the importance of creative thought and action, and the many and varied resources of theories of mind. Here an alternative approach to analyzing creativity is suggested: start from the bottom up with minimally creative thought. Minimally creative thought depends non‐accidentally upon agency, is novel relative to the acting agent, and could not have been tokened before the time it is in fact tokened, relative to the agent in question. Thoughts that meet these three conditions—agency, psychological novelty, and modal—are what may be called cognitive breakthroughs. Even if such breakthroughs are not necessary to or definitive of richer creativity, they are indeed central to much of creativity. The minimal analysis provides a more workable explanandum for theories of creativity of varied motivation and method.     

Mood—Creativity Relationship in Groups: The Role of Equality in Idea Contribution in Temporal Mood Effects

As people working in groups might fare better in solving complex problems than those working alone (e.g., Laughlin, Hatch, Silver, & Boh, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90 , 2006 and 644), organizations have increasingly assigned creative projects to groups. Group members contribute their collective efforts over time until the creative project has come to fruition. Although mood is identified as an important antecedent to creativity, little is known about the temporal pattern of how group mood enhances or inhibits group creativity, as well as the underpinning group process that explains the mood—creativity link in groups. We set out to address these questions by taking a within-group approach to study the temporal trends of how group mood precedes group creativity and to examine idea contribution equality (ICE) as a mediating group process. We conducted a three-wave longitudinal study among student workgroups tasked to complete a creativity project over a 1-month span. Evidence showed that positive mood is positively associated with concurrent ICE and negative mood is negatively associated with lagged ICE. Furthermore, a mediation model showed that negative mood eventually hampered expert-rated group creative performance by reducing ICE over time. These findings add new knowledge to the temporal mood—creativity relation within the group context.     

The Creative Brain/The Creative Mind

In the past few decades, neuroscience research has greatly expanded our understanding of how the human brain functions. In particular, we have begun to explore the basis of emotions, intelligence, and creativity. These brain functions also have been applied to various aspects of behavior, thought, and experience. We have also begun to develop an understanding of how the brain and mind work during aesthetic and religious experiences. Studies on these topics have included neuropsychological tests, physiological measures, and brain imaging. These different techniques have enabled us to open up a window into the brain. It is by understanding the functioning of the creative brain that we begin to understand the concept of the creative mind. It is through the use of emotions and other higher cognitive functions that the brain and mind can create ideas, music, literature, and ultimately our entire repertoire of behaviors. How these different creative abilities are derived can also be traced to various parts of the brain and how they function. Modern neuroscience allows us to begin to understand the creative aspect of the brain and mind and perhaps can take us one step further toward understanding the most profound types of aesthetic and religious experiences.     

The role of off-task thoughts and behaviors in linking self-control with achievement-related and well-being outcomes

Self-control has been linked to a range of important outcomes. However, little research has examined how individuals high in self-control achieve these positive outcomes. This research investigated the day-to-day behaviors and experiences that may be responsible for these links, focusing on off-task thoughts/behaviors. Specifically, two studies examined mind wandering, distractions, interruptions, and procrastination as mechanisms linking self-control with task completion, GPA, job performance, and affect. Participants initially completed measures of dispositional self-control. They were then sent survey links twice a day for seven days to assess day-to-day behaviors/experiences. Results supported the role of off-task thoughts/behaviors in relationships between self-control and task completion, GPA, job performance, and affect. These findings shed new light on how self-control leads to valued outcomes.     

Counting the cost of an absent mind: Mind wandering as an underrecognized influence on educational performance

Successful learning requires that individuals integrate information from the external environment with their own internal representations. In this article, we consider the role that mind wandering plays in education. Mind wandering represents a state of decoupled attention because, instead of processing information from the external environment, our attention is directed toward our own private thoughts and feelings. In principle, because mind wandering is a state of decoupled attention, it represents a fundamental breakdown in the individual’s ability to attend (and therefore integrate) information from the external environment. We consider evidence that mind wandering impairs the encoding of information, leading to failures in building a propositional model of a sentence and, ultimately, impairing the building of a narrative model with sufficient detail to allow generating inferences. Next, because recognizing and correcting for mind wandering is a metacognitive skill, certain client groups, such as those suffering from dysphoria or attention deficit disorder, may be unable to correct for the deficits associated with mind wandering, and so may suffer greater negative consequences during education. Finally, we consider how to apply this research to educational settings.     

Age-related changes in ongoing thought relate to external context and individual cognition

Understanding how age-related changes in cognition manifest in the real world is an important goal. One means of capturing these changes involves “experience sampling” participant’s self-reported thoughts. Research has shown age-related changes in ongoing thought: e.g., older adults have fewer thoughts unrelated to the here-and-now. However, it is currently unclear how these changes reflect cognitive aging or lifestyle changes. 78 younger adults and 35 older adults rated their thought contents along 20 dimensions and the difficulty of their current activity in their daily lives. They also performed cognitive tasks in the laboratory. In a set of exploratory analyses, we found that older adults spent more time thinking positive, wanted thoughts, particularly in demanding contexts, and less time mind wandering about their future selves. Past-related thought related to episodic memory differently in older and younger adults. These findings inform the use of experience sampling to understand cognitive aging.