Dimensions of Experience: Exploring the Heterogeneity of the Wandering Mind

Wang, Hao-Ting; Poerio, Giulia L.; Murphy, Charlotte; Bzdok, Danilo; Jefferies, Elizabeth; Smallwood, Jonathan

doi:10.1177/0956797617728727

Cited by 137 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Mind wandering (MW) is a complex and multifaceted construct (Seli et al, 2018;Wang, Poerio, et al, 2018) that encompasses selfgenerated thoughts and various cognitive states related to an "inner life." MW has solicited immense research interest, particularly in the area of attention, due to its potential to explain attentional lapses in daily activities (Thomson, Besner, & Smilek, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic brain network configurations during rest and an attention task with frequent occurrence of mind wandering

Denkova

Nomi

Uddin

et al. 2019

Human Brain Mapping

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Mind wandering (MW) has become a prominent topic of neuroscientific investigation due to the importance of understanding attentional processes in our day‐to‐day experiences. Emerging evidence suggests a critical role for three large‐scale brain networks in MW: the default network (DN), the central executive network (CEN), and the salience network (SN). Advances in analytical methods for neuroimaging data (i.e., dynamic functional connectivity, DFC) demonstrate that the interactions between these networks are not static but dynamically fluctuate over time (Chang & Glover, 2010, NeuroImage, 50(1), 81–98). While the bulk of the evidence comes from studies involving resting‐state functional MRI, a few studies have investigated DFC during a task. Direct comparison of DFC during rest and task with frequent MW is scarce. The present study applies the DFC method to neuroimaging data collected from 30 participants who completed a resting‐state run followed by two runs of sustained attention to response task (SART) with embedded probes indicating a high prevalence of MW. The analysis identified five DFC states. Differences between rest and task were noted in the frequency of three DFC states. One DFC state characterized by negative DN–CEN/SN connectivity along with positive CEN–SN connectivity was more frequently observed during task vs. rest. Two DFC states, one of which was characterized by weaker connectivity between networks, were more frequently observed during rest than task. These findings suggest that the dynamic relationships between brain networks may vary as a function of whether ongoing cognitive activity unfolds in an “unconstrained” manner during rest or is “constrained” by task demands.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic brain network configurations during rest and an attention task with frequent occurrence of mind wandering

Denkova

Nomi

Uddin

et al. 2019

Human Brain Mapping

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“…The workflow for the data collection and analysis techniques utilized in this study is presented in Figure 1 with further details provided in the Methods and Supplementary Information. Parts of this dataset have been previously employed in our prior investigations [27,32,34,41].…”

Section: Dimensions Of Variation In Ongoing Thought Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, there is now emerging evidence that link patterns of neural activity to trait variance in specific patterns of thoughts. These investigations highlight that patterns of ongoing thought have complex and often heterogeneous neural correlates [29,30], which depend on the functional interaction of multiple neural and cognitive components [31][32][33]. For example, Wang and colleagues identified distinct patterns of ongoing thoughts that were linked to reductions in both within and between network connectivity for neural systems important for external attention (ventral, dorsal and fronto parietal systems), which was in turn related to reduced performance in tasks of cognitive aptitude [34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinct patterns of thought mediate the link between brain functional connectome and psychological well-being

Vatansever

Karapanagiotidis

Margulies

et al. 2019

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Ongoing thought patterns constitute important aspects of both healthy and abnormal human cognition. However, the neural mechanisms behind these daily experiences and their contribution to well-being remain a matter of debate. Here, using resting state fMRI and retrospective thought sampling in a large neurotypical cohort (n = 211) we identified two distinct patterns of thought, broadly describing the participants current concerns and future plans, that significantly explained variability in the individual functional connectomes. Consistent with the view that ongoing thoughts are an emergent property of multiple neural systems, network-based analysis highlighted the central importance of both unimodal and transmodal cortices in the generation of these experiences. Importantly, while state-dependent current concerns predicted better psychological health, mediating the effect of functional connectomes; trait-level future plans were related to better social health, yet with no mediatory influence. Collectively, we show that ongoing thoughts can influence the link between brain physiology and well-being.

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“…Questions 0 We performed a sparse canonical correlation analysis (SCCA) 27,28 on the functional connectomes and the cognitive tasks, to yield latent components that reflect multivariate patterns across neural organisation and cognition (For a similar application for experience sampling, see 29 ). SCCA maximised the linear correlation between the low-rank projections of two sets of multivariate data sets with a sparse model to regularise the decomposition solutions a process that helps maximise the interpretability of the results.…”

Section: Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our prior studies 26,29 used SCCA to infer hidden patterns in resting-state data that are linked to individual variation in the patterns of thoughts themselves. In the current study, we focus on whether composite neurocognitive features that describe variation in different types of cognitive process (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurocognitive patterns dissociating semantic processing from executive control are linked to more detailed off-task mental time travel

Wang

Bzdok

et al. 2019

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Features of ongoing experience are common across individuals and cultures. However, certain people express specific patterns to a greater extent than others. The current psychological theory assumes that individual differences in thought patterns occur because different types of experience depend on differences in associated neurocognitive mechanisms. Consequently, individual variation in the underlying neurocognitive architecture is hypothesised to determine the ease with which certain thought patterns are generated or maintained. Our study (N=178) tested this hypothesis using multivariate pattern analysis to infer shared variance among measures of cognitive function and neural organisation and examined whether these hidden structures explain reports of the patterns of on-going thoughts people experienced in the lab. We found that relatively better performance on tasks requiring primarily semantic knowledge, rather than executive control, was linked to a neural functional organisation that was associated, via meta-analysis, with task labels related to semantic associations (sentence processing, reading and verbal semantics). Variability of this functional mode predicted significant individual variation in the types of thoughts that individuals experienced in the laboratory: Neurocognitive patterns linked to better performance at tasks that required guidance from semantic representation, rather than those dependent on executive control, were associated with patterns of thought characterised by greater subjective detail and a focus on time periods other than the here and now. These relationships were consistent across different days and did not vary with task condition, indicating they are relatively stable features of an individual's cognitive profile.Together these data confirm that individual variation in aspects of ongoing experience can be inferred from hidden neurocognitive architecture and demonstrate that performance trade-offs between executive control and long term semantic knowledge are linked to a person's tendency to imagine situations that transcend the here and now.

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Dimensions of Experience: Exploring the Heterogeneity of the Wandering Mind

Cited by 137 publications

References 47 publications

Dynamic brain network configurations during rest and an attention task with frequent occurrence of mind wandering

Dynamic brain network configurations during rest and an attention task with frequent occurrence of mind wandering

Distinct patterns of thought mediate the link between brain functional connectome and psychological well-being

Neurocognitive patterns dissociating semantic processing from executive control are linked to more detailed off-task mental time travel

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