Threatened to distraction: Mind-wandering as a consequence of stereotype threat

When the mind wanders: Age-related differences between young and older adults

“…It is also worth noting that this result is consistent with some studies on younger adults that highlighted the role of mood (e.g., Smallwood, McSpadden, et al, 2007;Smallwood, O'Connor, et al, 2007), personal goals (e.g. Stawarczyk et al, 2011), and beliefs about personal ability (Mrazek et al, 2011) in MW.…”

“…We chose to standardize the RTs, dividing the mean RTs by the standard deviation of the RTs for each individual, to take agerelated differences in RT latency into account (older adults' RTs were slower than younger adults, due to the age-related decline in processing speed). To compute the variability of the RT latency, we used the response time coefficient of variability -RT CV (i.e., the mean RT divided by the standard deviation of the RT) (see Mrazek et al, 2011). Borella et al, 2008) This task is similar to the classic working memory tasks, the only difference being that it involves processing lists of words rather than sentences to limit the influence of semantic processing.…”

The role of mind-wandering in measurements of general aptitude.

“…Accordingly, measuring mind-wandering using a 1-5 scale may capture variance that is missed when using a dichotomous measure of on-task versus off-task (Christoff, Gordon, Smallwood, Smith, & Schooler, 2009;Franklin, Smallwood, & Schooler, 2011;Mrazek et al, 2011). Yet, given the common practice of using dichotomous measures of mind-wandering, we also examined whether our findings would persist after transforming our continuous measurement of mind- Note.…”

The benefits of simply observing: Mindful attention modulates the link between motivation and behavior.

“…Conversely, we also suggest that mindfully remaining aware that one's experiences are simply mental events may support the successful training and regulation of attention. Becoming distracted from focused attention typically happens when mind wandering occurs, namely, when people have thoughts about task-irrelevant stimuli (e.g., Mrazek et al, 2011;Schooler et al, 2011;Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). Such distractions include, for example, thoughts about an upcoming event (e.g., the dinner party on Saturday), alternatives to a present event (e.g., having chocolate cake rather than working), or cravings for some appetitive object (e.g., a sweet snack; Sayette, Schooler, & Reichle, 2010).…”