Controlling the stream of thought: Working memory capacity predicts adjustment of mind-wandering to situational demands

Abstract

Although engaging in task-unrelated thoughts can be enjoyable and functional under certain circumstances, allowing one's mind to wander off-task will come at a cost to performance in many situations. Given that task-unrelated thoughts need to be blocked out when the current task requires full attention, it has been argued that cognitive control is necessary to prevent mind-wandering from becoming maladaptive. Extending this idea, we exposed participants to tasks of different demands and assessed mind-wandering via thought probes. Employing a latent-change model, we found mind-wandering to be adjusted to current task demands. As hypothesized, the degree of adjustment was predicted by working memory capacity, indicating that participants with higher working memory capacity were more flexible in their coordination of on- and off-task thoughts. Notably, the better the adjustment, the smaller performance decrements due to increased task demands were. On the basis of these findings, we argue that cognitive control does not simply allow blocking out task-unrelated thoughts but, rather, allows one to flexibly adjust mind-wandering to situational demands.

Spontaneous Thought and Goal Pursuit: From Functions such as Planning to Dysfunctions such as Rumination

“…The ability to shift back and forth appears positively related to the individual's working memory capacity (Rummel & Boywitt, 2014). Additionally, trait measures of mind-wandering appear inversely related to the size of attentional blinks (Thomson et al, 2015).…”

Individual differences in the executive control of attention, memory, and thought, and their associations with schizotypy.

“…Mind wandering isn’t always unintentional or problematic, however, and so executive processes cannot completely account for individual differences in TUTs (e.g., Seli, Cheyne, Xu, Purdon, & Smilek, 2015). Indeed, a theoretical consensus is emerging that executive control does not simply prevent mind wandering by actively maintaining task-oriented cognition: Executive processes may also support mind wandering by maintaining internally focused cognition when situations allow it (Christoff, Gordon, Smallwood, Smith & Schooler, 2009; Smallwood, 2013; Smallwood & Andrews-Hanna, 2013; see also Thomson, Besner, & Smilek, 2015); they may also dynamically shift focus between on- and off-task thought based on task demands (Rummel & Boywitt, 2014). …”

“…Lower WMC subjects reported more TUTs than did higher WMC subjects only during activities they rated as requiring more concentration and as more challenging and effortful. In lab tasks that assess attention restraint (McVay & Kane, 2009, 2012a), memory updating (Rummel & Boywitt, 2014), or reading (McVay & Kane, 2012b; Unsworth & McMillan, 2013), WMC also negatively predicts TUTs. But in relatively easy but tedious tasks, such as vigilance or “pop-out” visual search (Levinson, Smallwood, & Davidson, 2012; McVay & Kane, 2012a), WMC is uncorrelated with TUTs; indeed, trivially demanding tasks may even elicit more mind wandering in higher than in lower WMC subjects (Levinson et al, 2012; Rummel & Boywitt, 2014).…”

What does (and should) "mind wandering" mean?

“…Indeed, as noted earlier, across numerous studies, unguided thought has frequently been implied in researchers' conceptualizations of mind wandering (e.g., Blanchard et al, 2014;Carciofo et al, 2014;Christoff et al, 2016;Qu et al, 2015;Irving, 2016;Rummel & Boywitt, 2014; for more examples, see Seli, Risko, & Smilek, 2016a, Supplemental Materials), and such a conceptualization appears to be a sensible one.…”

“…Indeed, intentionally occurring thoughts might seem to best reflect states wherein people actively guide their attention toward a task, which appear to be antithetical to our general conceptualization of mind wandering. It is presumably the case that, for this reason, some researchers have explicitly defined mind wandering in terms of unintentional thought (e.g., Blanchard et al, 2014;Carciofo et al, 2014;Qu et al, 2015;Rummel & Boywitt, 2014; for more examples, see Seli, Risko, & Smilek, 2016a, Supplemental Materials). One problem, however, with such a strict definition of mind wandering is that it excludes as cases of mind wandering situations in which people are at ease, sitting dreamily, allowing their thoughts to wander, or cases in which an individual deliberately neglects the task at hand in the service of entertaining TUT.…”