Task unrelated thought whilst encoding information

Smallwood, Jonathan; Baracaia, Simona F.; Lowe, Michelle; Obonsawin, Marc C.

doi:10.1016/s1053-8100(03)00018-7

Cited by 233 publications

(215 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This is consistent with the hypothesis that memory failures are, in part, a consequence of original attention failures and cognitive errors arising from attention failures. The idea that attention failures lead to memory failures is consistent with numerous studies showing that dividing attention decreases memory performance and allows retrieval to be dominated by automatic processes (e.g., familiarity) rather than conscious recollection (see Jennings & Jacoby, 1993;Smallwood et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…Future studies on individual differences in proneness to attention lapses and subsequent cognitive errors will profit from an examination of the qualitative and quantitative features of the phenomenology of the lapses using awareness probes (e.g., Smallwood, Baracaia, Lowe, & Obonsawin, 2003. For example, do individuals with higher rates differ from those with lower rates in task-unrelated or task-relevant thoughts (cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Absent-mindedness: Lapses of conscious awareness and everyday cognitive failures

Cheyne

Carriere

Smilek

2006

Consciousness and Cognition

368

303

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A brief self-report scale was developed to assess everyday performance failures arising directly or primarily from brief failures of sustained attention (attention-related cognitive errors-ARCES). The ARCES was found to be associated with a more direct measure of propensity to attention lapses (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale-MAAS) and to errors on an existing behavioral measure of sustained attention (Sustained Attention to Response Task-SART). Although the ARCES and MAAS were highly correlated, structural modelling revealed the ARCES was more directly related to SART errors and the MAAS to SART RTs, which have been hypothesized to directly reflect the lapses of attention that lead to SART errors. Thus, the MAAS and SART RTs appear to directly reflect attention lapses, whereas the ARCES and SART errors reflect the mistakes these lapses are thought to cause. Boredom proneness was also assessed by the BPS, as a separate consequence of a propensity to attention lapses. Although the ARCES was significantly associated with the BPS, this association was entirely accounted for by the MAAS, suggesting that performance errors and boredom are separate consequences of lapses in attention. A tendency to even extraordinarily brief attention lapses on the order of milliseconds may have far-reaching consequences not only for safe and efficient task performance but also for sustaining the motivation to persist in and enjoy these tasks.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absent-mindedness: Lapses of conscious awareness and everyday cognitive failures

Cheyne

Carriere

Smilek

2006

Consciousness and Cognition

368

303

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Also, the finding of default network recruitment in association with 2 independent measures, one relying on subjective experience sampling and the other on behavioral performance, helps to validate the use of first-person introspective reports in the study of mind wandering (14,24,70). In general, experimental investigations in cognitive neuroscience try to minimize their reliance on subjective reports, and instead, aim to establish a task-based control over subjects' mental processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the SART, 1 digit (0 -9) was presented every 2 s. Targets, consisting of the number 3, appeared in 5% of trials. This relatively low target frequency was chosen as it helps establish an automaticity of response and promotes relatively high incidence of mind wandering (70).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering

Christoff

Gordon

Smallwood

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

1,533

1,424

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Although mind wandering occupies a large proportion of our waking life, its neural basis and relation to ongoing behavior remain controversial. We report an fMRI study that used experience sampling to provide an online measure of mind wandering during a concurrent task. Analyses focused on the interval of time immediately preceding experience sampling probes demonstrate activation of default network regions during mind wandering, a finding consistent with theoretical accounts of default network functions. Activation in medial prefrontal default network regions was observed both in association with subjective self-reports of mind wandering and an independent behavioral measure (performance errors on the concurrent task). In addition to default network activation, mind wandering was associated with executive network recruitment, a finding predicted by behavioral theories of off-task thought and its relation to executive resources. Finally, neural recruitment in both default and executive network regions was strongest when subjects were unaware of their own mind wandering, suggesting that mind wandering is most pronounced when it lacks meta-awareness. The observed parallel recruitment of executive and default network regions-two brain systems that so far have been assumed to work in oppositionsuggests that mind wandering may evoke a unique mental state that may allow otherwise opposing networks to work in cooperation. The ability of this study to reveal a number of crucial aspects of the neural recruitment associated with mind wandering underscores the value of combining subjective self-reports with online measures of brain function for advancing our understanding of the neurophenomenology of subjective experience.

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“…The natural flux in attention that occurs when the mind wanders leads to a state of decoupled attention (Smallwood, Baracaia, Lowe, & Obonsawin, 2003;Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). Figure 1 illustrates the contrast between the normal coupling of attention, when learning proceeds successfully, and the state of decoupled attention, when the mind wanders.…”

Section: Why Mind Wandering Is Relevant To Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Counting the cost of an absent mind: Mind wandering as an underrecognized influence on educational performance

Smallwood

Fishman

Schooler

2007

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

315

271

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Task unrelated thought whilst encoding information

Cited by 233 publications

References 39 publications

Absent-mindedness: Lapses of conscious awareness and everyday cognitive failures

Absent-mindedness: Lapses of conscious awareness and everyday cognitive failures

Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering

Counting the cost of an absent mind: Mind wandering as an underrecognized influence on educational performance

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