Mindfulness and mind-wandering: finding convergence through opposing constructs

Research into both mindfulness and mind-wandering has grown rapidly, yet clarification of the relationship between these two seemingly opposing constructs is still absent. A first study addresses the relationship between a dispositional measure of mindfulness (Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale, MAAS) and converging measures of both self-reported and indirect markers of mind-wandering. Negative correlations between dispositional mindfulness and 4 measures of mind-wandering confirm the opposing relationship between the 2 constructs and further validate the use of the MAAS as a dispositional measure of mindfulness. A second study demonstrated that 8 minutes of mindful breathing reduces behavioral indicators of mind-wandering during a Sustained Attention to Response Task compared with both passive relaxation and reading. Together these studies clarify the opposition between the constructs of mindfulness and mind-wandering and so should lead to greater convergence between what have been predominately separate, yet mutually relevant, lines of research.     

Leisure-Time Physical Activity and Perceived Health in People Living with Osteoporosis

Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) represents an important factor contributing to the development and management of osteoporosis yet research linking LTPA with perceived health markers has been limited in this cohort. The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between LTPA and perceived health controlling for select demographic factors and chronic conditions in people living with osteoporosis. Population-health survey data from cycle 2.2 of the Canadian Community Health Survey were used in conjunction with linear multiple regression models. Participants were 1538 (n _female = 1371) adults who reported living with osteoporosis. Demographic factors, chronic conditions, and more frequent participation in LTPA accounted for variance in diverse indices representing perceived health. LTPA was the only predictor to account for unique variance in each marker of perceived health. Overall, it would appear that increased use of LTPA as an adjunct to therapeutic interventions may be a viable aid to enhancing self-perceived health amongst Canadians living with osteoporosis.     

Sleep and Affective Brain Regulation

Rapidly emerging evidence continues to describe an intimate and causal relationship between sleep and affective brain regulation. These findings are mirrored by long‐standing clinical observations demonstrating that nearly all mood and anxiety disorders co‐occur with one or more abnormalities of sleep. This review aims to (1) provide a synthesis of recent human evidence describing affective brain and behavioral benefits of sleep when it is obtained, and conversely, detrimental impairments following a lack thereof, (2) set forth a rapid eye movement sleep hypothesis of affective brain homeostasis, optimally preparing the organism for next‐day social and emotional functioning, and (3) outline how this model may explain the prevalent relationships observed between sleep and affective disorders, including relevant treatment mechanisms, with a particular focus on post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).     

Crying: Call for a Lifespan Approach

Although crying is woven through the life course, from the doctor’s slap to a deathbed vigil, there is no well‐established lifespan tradition of studying crying. Instead the study of crying is broken into separate bodies of work on childhood (mostly on infants) and on adults. In this contribution, we share our enthusiasm and our ideas for the construction of a lifespan narrative of crying behavior. The evolutionary and phylogenic basis of crying is first outlined. We highlight the most important transitions in humans, including changes in the antecedents of crying, and the ways crying is increasingly regulated. We piece together existing research on these transitions and identify key gaps in knowledge, including the developmental periods, such as adolescence and old age, that have been the most seriously neglected. Finally, we suggest key empirical and methodological future directions that will most invigorate the study of crying as a developmental phenomenon.     

Neural correlates of creativity in analogical reasoning

Brain-based evidence has implicated the frontal pole of the brain as important for analogical mapping. Separately, cognitive research has identified semantic distance as a key determinant of the creativity of analogical mapping (i.e., more distant analogies are generally more creative). Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess brain activity during an analogy generation task in which we varied the semantic distance of analogical mapping (as derived quantitatively from a latent semantic analysis). Data indicated that activity within an a priori region of interest in left frontopolar cortex covaried parametrically with increasing semantic distance, even after removing effects of task difficulty. Results implicate increased recruitment of frontopolar cortex as a mechanism for integrating semantically distant information to generate solutions in creative analogical reasoning.     

The persistence of thought: evidence for a role of working memory in the maintenance of task-unrelated thinking

Tasks that tax working memory (WM) have consistently been found to decrease mind wandering. These findings may indicate that maintenance of mind wandering requires WM resources, such that mind wandering cannot persist when WM resources are being consumed by a task. An alternative explanation for these findings, however, is that mind wandering persists without the support of WM but is nonetheless decreased during any demanding task because good task performance requires that attention be restricted from task-unrelated thought (TUT). The present study tested these two competing theories by investigating whether individuals with greater WM resources mind-wander more during an undemanding task, as would be predicted only by the theory that WM supports TUT. We found that individuals with higher WM capacity reported more TUT in undemanding tasks, which suggests that WM enables the maintenance of mind wandering.     

Coming to Terms, Depression, and Relationship Satisfaction for Native Americans in Intimate Relationships

This study examined the relationships between childhood family of origin (FOO) adversities, coming to terms with them, and adult intimate relationship satisfaction for Native American individuals. The sample consisted of 186 self-identified Native American individuals in committed relationships. The data for this study was collected from the RELATE assessment (see www.relate-institute.org). Results from structural equation modeling indicated that coming to terms buffered the negative effects of childhood family of origin adversities on depression and relationship quality. Results also suggest that coming to terms may help Native American individuals deal with FOO adversity and improve intimate relationship quality. Coming to terms with childhood FOO adversity should be considered in the treatment of Native American individuals in intimate relationships. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Candidate characteristics driving initial impressions during rapport building: Implications for employment interview validity

We examine the antecedents impacting interviewers’ initial impressions of candidates formed during the rapport‐building stage of the interview and subsequent evaluations of answers to highly structured interview questions. Ratings for 130 mock interview candidates reveal a strong relationship between interviewers’ initial impression of the candidate and their evaluations of candidate responses to structured questions. These initial impressions correspond with candidate extraversion and verbal skill, controlling for job qualifications. Interviewers’ initial impressions mediate the effect of candidate characteristics, relevant for some jobs more so than others, on later evaluations. Thus, initial impressions formed during rapport building appear to influence subsequent evaluations whether they are clearly job‐relevant or not. These findings have important implications for the validity of structured interviews.     

The control of working memory resources in intentional forgetting: evidence from incidental probe word recognition

We combined an item-method directed forgetting paradigm with a secondary task requiring a response to discriminate the color of probe words presented 1400 ms, 1800 ms or 2600 ms following each study phase memory instruction. The speed to make the color discrimination was used to assess the cognitive demands associated with instantiating Remember (R) and Forget (F) instructions; incidental memory for probe words was used to assess whether instantiating an F instruction also affects items presented in close temporal proximity. Discrimination responses were slower following F than R instructions at the two longest intervals. Critically, at the 1800 ms interval, incidental probe word recognition was worse following F than R instructions, particularly when the study word was successfully forgotten (as opposed to unintentionally remembered). We suggest that intentional forgetting is an active cognitive process associated with establishing control over the contents of working memory.