It is well known that music can influence our emotions. Research on mind-wandering has revealed that our emotional state can influence the valence of thought content and the prevalence of mind-wandering. Recent behavioural studies have suggested that music can modulate mind-wandering. However, the neural mechanisms to support the claims are unknown. This thesis aim was to explore how music can modulate mind-wandering by reviewing functional neuroimaging studies on the topic. The findings suggest that music induces mind-wandering as it engages the default mode network in a similar fashion that resting does. Music-induced activity from the orbitofrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex seems to be a good neural indicator for mind-wandering content that has a negative valence.

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Att dagdrömma är ett fenomen som ofta ansetts distraherande då det kan ses som orelaterat till en primär uppgift. Under senare år har dock dess fördelar och användningsområden börjat uppmärksammas mer. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka konstnärligt kreativa människors upplevelser av dagdrömmande i relation till deras skapandeprocess. Intervjuer genomfördes med sex konstnärligt kreativa individer som uppfyllde särskilda krav för kreativitet. Intervjumaterialet analyserades sedan genom en form av tematisk analys. Analysen resulterade i fem teman: Hjärnan får paus, Dagdrömmandets hinder, Sammanflätade ämnen, Idéers ursprung och Metakognition. Resultaten visade att deltagarna upplevde att det fanns flera typer av idéer och att dessa uppstod på olika sätt. Dagdrömmar upplevdes främst som något positivt och användbart för idéuppkomst under skapandeprocessen. Även i de fall då dagdrömmar inte genererade idéer sågs de positiva då de ändå ansågs kunna fylla vissa syften för dem. / To daydream is a phenomenon that often has been considered as distracting as it can be seen as unrelated to a primary task. However, during recent years it’s advantages and areas of use have begun to receive more attention. The aim of this study was to examine artistically creative people’s experiences of daydreaming in relation to their process of creating. Interviews were conducted with six artistically creative individuals who met specific criteria for creativity. The interview material was then analyzed by a form of thematic analysis. The analysis resulted in five themes: A break for the mind, Obstacles for daydreaming, Intertwined subjects, Origins of ideas and Metacognition. In summary the results showed that the participants experienced that there were several types of ideas and that they emerged in different ways. Daydreaming was mainly experienced as something positive and useful for idea generation during the process of creating. Even in cases where daydreams did not generate ideas, they were viewed positively as they were still considered to be able to fulfill purposes for the participants.

The unique linguistic experience of bilingualism purportedly produces cognitive control advantages. Although there is a significant body of evidence supporting this view, there are also several recently published research studies that failed to replicate bilingual advantages. Furthermore, there is some evidence of a publication bias that favors findings supporting a bilingual advantage. The purpose of this study was to address this discrepancy in the literature by examining performance of bilinguals and monolinguals on a variety of cognitive control tasks. A second purpose was to determine how bilinguals are able to achieve better performance if they do indeed have an advantage. Specifically, we were interested in whether there were differences in the tendency for bilinguals and monolinguals to mind wander, a phenomenon associated with poorer cognitive control performance. We hypothesized that bilinguals would demonstrate better performance than monolinguals on Operation Span, Numerical Stroop, SART, Color- Shape, and Letter Memory tasks, which are measures of working memory, proactive inhibition, reactive inhibition, shifting, and updating, respectively. We further hypothesized that if bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on these tasks, this would be associated with less mind wandering for bilinguals. Participants completed all measures of cognitive control and were probed periodically throughout the tasks for mind wandering. Accuracy and reaction times where appropriate were recorded for each task, and data from 52 monolinguals and 52 bilinguals were analyzed. The results did not reveal any bilingual advantages. For all tasks, performance of the two groups was equivalent with the exception that monolinguals had faster reaction times for Numerical Stroop, SART, and Color-Shape tasks. There were also no differences between language groups in mind wandering tendencies. Secondary analyses examining age of acquisition (i.e., early versus late) and similarity of languages (i.e., same-script versus differentscript) did not change the overall pattern of no bilingual advantages. The lack of a bilingual advantage supports recent calls to temper bilingual advantage claims and shows a need for future research to address which underlying factors of bilingualism may or may not have an effect on cognitive control.

Shame is a complex emotion and often discussed with reluctance; these feelings are usually incapacitating and unbearable. In this thesis, four studies explored aspects of shame vulnerability and shame management. First, a cross-sectional study (n = 240) was carried out to assess factors contributing to the experience of shame. This study demonstrated that negative self-judgment and submissive coping strategies accounted for a significant variance in shame above and beyond the effects of recall of adverse childhood experiences, and that negative self-judgment fully mediated the relationship between recall of childhood experiences and shame. The second study (n = 140 and n = 415) examined the underlying factor structure of a new measure: the Acceptance of Shame and Embarrassment Scale (ASES). Factor analysis in both samples revealed that the ASES had good internal consistency and construct validity. Thirdly, a cross sectional study (n = 159) considered self-compassion and mindfulness as methods of shame management and demonstrated that mindful and self-compassionate were significantly and negatively correlated with the experience of shame. In addition, this study showed that self-compassion fully mediated the mindfulness-shame relationship. The final experimental study (n = 120) assessed the effect of shame on mind wandering. Participants were assigned to shame, pride, or control conditions, and mind wandering during a subsequent reading task was measured using retrospective and behavioural methods. Inducing feelings of shame did not have a significant effect on mind wandering. Overall, these studies suggested that (a) adverse childhood experiences were significantly associated with negative self-judgment and shame, (b) adopting submissive coping strategies is likely to increase the chance of shame vulnerability, (c) the Acceptance of Shame and Embarrassment Scale had promising psychometric properties for assessing acceptance of shame and embarrassment experiences, (d) self-compassion mediated the relationship between mindfulness and shame, and (e) inducing feelings of shame did not have a significant effect on mind wandering.

There is no consensus on the relationship between working memory resources and mind wandering. The purpose of the current study is to investigate whether mind wandering requires working memory resources to be sustained. The resource-demanding view is that mind wandering requires working memory resources to sustain an internal train of thought (Smallwood, 2010). The resource-free view is that mind wandering is a result of executive control failures and this internal train of thought proceeds in a resource-free manner (McVay & Kane, 2010). Participants were presented with thought probes while they performed a Simon task in single and dual task conditions. From the resource-demanding view, individuals with high WMC should experience more Task unrelated thought (TUT) in single and dual task conditions compared to those with low WMC. From the resource-free view, individuals with high WMC should experience fewer TUT compared to low WMC individuals. Results indicated that, WML eliminated the Simon effect for high WMC and reduced it for low WMC group. Mind wandering was decreased in dual task conditions however there was no effect of working memory capacity on mind wandering. Also, mind wandering correlated with task performance measures for the low WMC but not high WMC group. The results of the current study do not provide strong support for either a resource-demanding or resource-free view and are discussed in terms of a context dependent relationship between WMC and mind wandering

Previous research on mind wandering has used subjective verbal reports as a means to acquire the frequency and rate of its occurrence. I proposed the use of eye movements as an objective measure of mind wandering while participants attempted a reading task. Participants were placed in a self-classified probe-caught mind wandering paradigm while their eye movements were recorded. They were randomly probed every 2-3 minutes and were required to indicate whether their mind had been wandering before they were allowed to continue reading. The overall pattern showed that eye movement behaviour was slower and less frequent when participants reported mind wandering episodes, with duration and frequency of within-word regressions reaching levels of statistical significance. It may be that the cognitive processes that normally guide eye movements during reading exert less control during mind wandering episodes. Other implications and limitations are discussed.

Previous research on mind wandering has used subjective verbal reports as a means to acquire the frequency and rate of its occurrence. I proposed the use of eye movements as an objective measure of mind wandering while participants attempted a reading task. Participants were placed in a self-classified probe-caught mind wandering paradigm while their eye movements were recorded. They were randomly probed every 2-3 minutes and were required to indicate whether their mind had been wandering before they were allowed to continue reading. The overall pattern showed that eye movement behaviour was slower and less frequent when participants reported mind wandering episodes, with duration and frequency of within-word regressions reaching levels of statistical significance. It may be that the cognitive processes that normally guide eye movements during reading exert less control during mind wandering episodes. Other implications and limitations are discussed.

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<p> Individuals often display preferences for the morning or evening; this preference is referred to as a chronotype and is supported by distinct diurnal physiological and behavioural fluctuations. Whereas prior work suggests an increase in individuals executive control throughout the day, the current study assesses the diurnal time course of executive control and the tendency to mind wander as a function of chronotype. Results suggest that executive control processes are modulated by time of day, with chronotype match conditions associated with increased executive control, akin to the 'Synchrony Effect' of chronotypes (Hasher et al., 2002). Results suggest that variations in the level of semantic processing in a task influences time of day effects on non-automatic (executive control) functioning. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)