Mind wandering (MW) is a pervasive phenomenon that occurs very frequently, regardless of the task. A content-based definition of MW holds that it occurs when the content of thought switches from an ongoing task and/or an external stimulus-driven event to self-generated or inner thoughts. A recent account suggests that the transition between these different states of attention occurs via an off-focus state. Following this suggestion, previous work relating MW to pupil size might have lumped attentional states that are critically different from each (i.e., off-focus and MW states). In the present study, both behavior and pupil size were measured during a sustained-attention-to-response task, to disentangle the content of thought (on task or MW) from an off-focus state of mind. The off-focus state was operationalized by probing the intensity with which participants were on task or mind-wandering. The results of two experiments showed that the behavioral and phasic pupillary responses were sensitive to changes related to the content of thought. The behavioral responses were furthermore related to the intensity of the thought. However, no clear relation between the different attentional states and tonic pupillary diameter was found, suggesting that it is an unreliable proxy for MW. Keywords Attention. Mind wandering. Off-focus state. SART. Pupil size According to recent research, we spend about 20% to 50% of our time awake with our thoughts away from what we are currently doing (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010; Seli et al., 2018). This phenomenon, generally labeled mind wandering (MW), is usually investigated with experience sampling that requires participants to report on their subjective ongoing experience while completing a task. An often-used experiencesampling method is the probe-caught method (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006), in which a probe is presented at random points in time that asks participants about their experience just prior to the probe. An example of such a thought probe is the following, "Prior to this question, were your thoughts on the task or on something else?," which examines the metacognitive process of attention and has already revealed many interesting insights into MW (for reviews, see Christoff,
Mind wandering (MW) is a pervasive phenomenon that occurs very frequently regardless of the task. A content-based definition of MW holds that MW occurs when the content of thought switches from an on-going task and/or external stimulus-driven event to self-generated or inner thoughts. A recent account suggests that the transition between these different states of attention occurs via an off-focus state. Following this suggestion, previous work relating MW to pupil size might have lumped attentional states that are critically different from each (i.e., an off-focus and a MW state). In the current study, both behavior and pupil size were measured during a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) to disentangle the content of thought (on-task or MW) from an off-focus state of mind. The off-focus state was operationalized by probing the intensity with which participants were on-task or MW. Results of two experiments showed that the behavioral and phasic pupillary responses were sensitive to changes related to the content of thought. Behavioral responses were furthermore related to the intensity of the thought. However, no clear relation between the different attentional states and the tonic pupillary diameter was found suggesting it is an unreliable proxy for MW.
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