Absorbed in Thought: The Effect of Mind Wandering on the Processing of Relevant and Irrelevant Events

Evelyn Barron, Leigh Riby, Joanna Greer, Jonathan Smallwood

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

211 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study used event-related potentials to explore whether mind wandering (task-unrelated thought, or TUT) emerges through general problems in distraction, deficits of task-relevant processing (the executive-function view), or a general reduction in attention to external events regardless of their relevance (the decoupling hypothesis). Twenty-five participants performed a visual oddball task, in which they were required to differentiate between a rare target stimulus (to measure task-relevant processes), a rare novel stimulus (to measure distractor processing), and a frequent nontarget stimulus. TUT was measured immediately following task performance using a validated retrospective measure. High levels of TUT were associated with a reduction in cortical processing of task-relevant events and distractor stimuli. These data contradict the suggestion that mind wandering is associated with distraction problems or specific deficits in task-relevant processes. Instead, the data are consistent with the decoupling hypothesis: that TUT dampens the processing of sensory information irrespective of that information’s task relevance.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)596-601
JournalPsychological Science
Volume22
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Keywords

  • cognitive
  • event-related potential
  • attention
  • memory
  • mind wandering
  • P3a
  • P3b
  • P300
  • task-unrelated thought

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