Time perception is a fundamental aspect of consciousness related to mental health. One cognitive state related to time perception is mind wandering (MW), defined as having thoughts unrelated to the current task. Little research has directly assessed the relationship between these two constructs, despite the overlap in clinical significance and the shared importance of attention for healthy functioning. In the present study, I addressed this by having a sample of 40 adults in the United States complete an online sustained attention to response task remotely while answering thought probes related to thought type and time perception. Multilevel modeling results indicated that cognitive factors were related to the judgements of passage of time (JOPOTs; the feeling that time is passing quickly or slowly) while they had little relation to the estimated duration or the accuracy of those estimations. Specifically, JOPOTs were related to attention to task and emotional valence, and the addition of MW, intentionality, and fixed/dynamic thoughts to the models explained additional variance. Duration estimations and JOPOTs were unrelated to each other, suggesting JOPOTs and duration estimations have different relationships to cognitive factors and should be studied as separate constructs. Additionally, results suggested that the heavy use of dichotomization in the MW literature should be shifted in favor of conceptualizing attention to task as a continuous variable. The difference in effects of MW on estimation durations and JOPOTs specifically is novel finding. This is the first study to evaluate the relationship between MW and both duration estimations and JOPOTs, thus it may advance mechanistic and phenomenological understanding of MW which could in turn inform clinical theories of time perception in disorders including ADHD and depression.

abstract: Previous literature was reviewed in an effort to further investigate the link between notification levels of a cell phone and their effects on driver distraction. Mind-wandering has been suggested as an explanation for distraction and has been previously operationalized with oculomotor movement. Mind-wandering’s definition is debated, but in this research it was defined as off task thoughts that occur due to the task not requiring full cognitive capacity. Drivers were asked to operate a driving simulator and follow audio turn by turn directions while experiencing each of three cell phone notification levels: Control (no texts), Airplane (texts with no notifications), and Ringer (audio notifications). Measures of Brake Reaction Time, Headway Variability, and Average Speed were used to operationalize driver distraction. Drivers experienced higher Brake Reaction Time and Headway Variability with a lower Average Speed in both experimental conditions when compared to the Control Condition. This is consistent with previous research in the field of implying a distracted state. Oculomotor movement was measured as the percent time the participant was looking at the road. There was no significant difference between the conditions in this measure. The results of this research indicate that not, while not interacting with a cell phone, no audio notification is required to induce a state of distraction. This phenomenon was unable to be linked to mind-wandering. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Human Systems Engineering 2019

The relationship between life stress and working memory capacity (WMC) has been documented in college students and older adults. It has been proposed that intrusive thoughts about life stress are the mechanism responsible for the impairments seen in WMC. To examine the mechanism responsible for these impairments the current study attempted to induce intrusive thoughts about personal events. The current study allowed for a test of predictions made by two theories of mind wandering regarding the impact of these intrusive thoughts on WMC task performance. One hundred fifty undergraduates were assigned to a control group, positive event group, or negative event group. Participants in the positive and negative event groups completed a short emotional disclosure about an imagined future positive or negative event, respectively, to induce positive or negative intrusive thoughts. WMC measures were completed prior to and following the emotional writing. Results indicated a significant relationship between WMC and mind wandering, however the writing manipulation did not result in any consistent changes in intrusive thoughts or WMC. The results suggest a causal relationship between WMC and mind wandering. The emotional valence of the intrusive thought altered the impact on WMC. No relationship was seen between the measures of stress and WMC. The results of the current study suggest that negative intrusive thoughts result in impaired WMC task performance but other types of off-task thoughts may not result in similar impairments.

The current thesis intersects cognition and education to study the mental experience of mind wandering and its consequences. This research examines attention and memory using materials, methodologies, and research questions drawn from authentic classroom environments. The overarching question driving this thesis centres on when and why students mind wander during lectures, and how we can reduce its negative impact on learning. The hypothesis underpinning all the presented research proposes that stronger motivation reduces mind wandering, thus improving learning outcomes. The current thesis examines how three different motivational manipulations affect reports of intentional mind wandering—when participants deliberately choose to redirect their attention away from the lecture—and unintentional mind wandering—when participants find their attention to be off-task despite their best efforts to stay focused. Quizzing, monetary rewards, and time-based rewards affected mind wandering reports, particularly reports of intentional mind wandering. Although, throughout this thesis, there was no direct impact on learning, there was consistent evidence of a negative correlation between mind wandering reports and learning. Based on these findings, this thesis discusses implications for the enterprise of mind wandering research, principles of motivation to leverage in education, and pedagogies to improve the classroom learning experience. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Our minds wander multiple times a day—during work, school, leisure time, meals, and countless other activities. When mind wandering occurs during lectures, it negatively impacts our ability to learn information. If we are motivated, we are likely to learn more, and some researchers have suggested that this happens because we are better able to pay attention while learning. The research presented in this thesis used three reward types in an attempt to reduce two types of mind wandering (intentional vs. spontaneous) and, therefore, produce better learning. This thesis demonstrated that outside rewards can increase motivation, and that these changes in motivation appear to affect intentional mind wandering more than spontaneous mind wandering. Reducing mind wandering by properly motivating our students should promote better learning; as educators, effective lectures must play that role for students.

Människor tenderar att driva iväg i tankarna en stor del av den vakna tiden oavsett vad de företar sig. Vidare uppvisar befolkningen otillräcklig sömn vilket är avgörande för kognitiva förmågan och individers hälsa. Studiens syfte var att undersöka sömn som prediktor för uppmärksamhet i form av mind wandering, samt specifikt kategorierna spontaneous och deliberate mind wandering. Ett andra syfte var att undersöka kön, ålder, studerande och arbetande som prediktorer för mind wandering, samt specifikt spontaneous och deliberate mind wandering. Den första hypotesen var att sömnstörningar predicerar mind wandering. Den andra hypotesen var att sömnstörningar predicerar spontaneous mind wandering. Den tredje hypotesen var att kön predicerar a) mind wandering, b) spontaneous mind wandering och c) deliberate mind wandering. Den fjärde hypotesen var att ålder predicerar spontaneous mind wandering. Studien använde kvantitativ metod med ett bekvämlighetsurval och snöbollseffekt. Datainsamlingen skedde med en digital självskattningsenkät och bestod av 201 deltagare. Enkäten innehöll instrumenten The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Sleep Disturbance (PROMIS), mind wandering questionnaire (MWQ), Mind Wandering Spontaneous (MW-S) och Mind Wandering Deliberate (MW-D). Data analyserades med deskriptiv statistik och multipel regression. Resultatet gav stöd för den första, andra och tre hypotesen, dock förkastades den fjärde hypotesen. Sömnstörningar och kön predicerar mind wandering och spontaneous mind wandering. Studerande och kön predicerar deliberate mind wandering. Däremot predicerade ålder inte mind wandering. Sammantaget visade studien att sömnstörningar har samband med mind wandering, men endast avseende spontaneous mind wandering vilket kan associeras till bristande exekutiv kontroll. Negativa implikationer är associerade med spontaneous mind wandering då det kan leda till att individen inte kan fullfölja sin uppgift och bli mer benägen att känna sig olycklig. / People tend to drift away in their thoughts for a large part of their waking hours regardless of what they are doing. Furthermore, the population exhibits insufficient sleep, which is crucial for cognitive ability and the health of individuals. The purpose of the study was to investigate sleep as a predictor of mind wandering, as well as special categories of spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering. Another aim was to investigate gender, age, studies and work as predictors of mind wandering, spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering. The first hypothesis was that sleep disturbances predict mind wandering. The second hypothesis was that sleep disturbances predict spontaneous mind wandering. The third hypothesis was that gender predicts a) mind wandering, b) spontaneous mind wandering and c) deliberate mind wandering. The fourth hypothesis was that age predicts spontaneous mind wandering. The study used quantitative methods with a convenience sample and snowball effect. The data collection took place with a digital self-assessment questionnaire and consisted of 201 participants. The survey contained the instruments The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Sleep Disturbance (PROMIS), mind wandering questionnaire (MWQ), Mind Wandering Spontaneous (MW-S) and Mind Wandering Deliberate (MW-D). The data was analyzed with descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The result provided support for the first, second and third hypothesis, however the fourth hypothesis was rejected. Sleep disturbances and gender predict mind wandering and spontaneous mind wandering. Studies and gender predict deliberate mind wandering. In contrast, age did not predict mind wandering. Overall, the study showed that sleep disorders are related to mind wandering, but only with regard to spontaneous mind wandering. Negative implications are associated with spontaneous mind wandering as it can lead to the individual feeling unhappy.

<p>Social media and mobile technology now provide consumers with the opportunity to continuously document or reflect on their moment-to-moment internal and external experiences. For instance, "tweets" are often written while one is consuming some experience, just as other forms of social media may be used in their respective ways for documentation or reflection while an experience is unfolding. But what effect does verbal documentation or reflection have on consumers' enjoyment of their time? The authors propose that when consumers can verbally document or reflect about topics other than the current experience, increased mind wandering can occur, which can help lead to reduced enjoyment. Testing the theoretical model through five experiments, the authors show that verbal documentation or reflection during an experience can reduce enjoyment, regardless of whether that experience is generally enjoyable or generally unenjoyable. However, the same effect does not occur when consumers are specifically asked to verbally document or reflect only about the experience they are taking part in. Verbal documentation or reflection right after an experience ends, which does not increase mind wandering during the experience, can lead to increased enjoyment when consumers are specifically asked to verbally document or reflect only about the experience they just took part in. Implications for the use of social media for verbal documentation and reflection by consumers and marketing managers are discussed.</p> / Dissertation

Depression is a highly debilitating illness for which there is currently sub-optimal treatment outcomes. Anhedonia (a loss of interest and pleasure) is a core symptom of depression that predicts poorer illness course and is currently not well repaired in psychological treatments. Acute and relapse prevention outcomes may be improved by clarifying which psychological mechanisms cause and maintain anhedonia, so that mechanisms can be systematically targeted in therapy. Mind wandering (a shift in contents of thoughts away from an ongoing task and/or events in the external environment to self-generated thoughts and feelings) has previously been linked to lower levels of happiness in the general population (e.g., Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). However, it has yet to be established if mind wandering relates to reduced positive affect in the context of depression. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to further explore the role of mind wandering in driving anhedonic symptoms. This thesis employed different research designs in order to establish if mind wandering is a causal mechanism driving anhedonia. Studies used a triangulation of measures to first establish correlational support (e.g. using self-report questionnaire measures, laboratory and real life positive mood inductions). Following this, studies aimed to examine if a causal relationship between mind wandering and positive affect exists by manipulating levels of mind wandering in the laboratory, real-world settings and using an empirically tested clinical intervention (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy; MBCT). Using self-report measures of mindfulness and anhedonic symptoms, studies 1a and 1b found that the acting with awareness facet of mindfulness (a measure of trait mind wandering) was uniquely related to anhedonic depression symptoms in both a large community (n=440) and treatment-seeking previously depressed sample (n=409). These unique relationships remained significant when controlling for other facets of mindfulness and general depression symptoms. Study 2 (n=70) examined the relationship between mind wandering and reduced positive affect in both controlled laboratory and real world environments. Levels of mind wandering were found to be unrelated to emotional reactivity to positive laboratory mood induction tasks, but greater levels of mind wandering were significantly correlated with reduced happiness and increased sadness change to real world positive events. Next, two experimental studies were conducted on unselected samples which attempted to manipulate levels of mind wandering to observe the effect on emotional reactivity. In study 3 (n=90), a brief mindfulness manipulation of mind wandering proved unsuccessful, so it was not possible to determine how altering mind wandering impacted on positive reactivity. Analysis during the pre-manipulation mood induction revealed a significant correlation between greater spontaneous levels of mind wandering and lower self-reported happiness reactivity. In study 4 (n=95), participants followed audio prompts delivered via a smartphone application to manipulate mind wandering whilst completing everyday positive activities. This manipulation was successful but results revealed no significant condition differences in positive or negative emotional reactivity. Analysis during the pre-manipulation positive activity revealed greater mind wandering was trend correlated with reduced change in positive affect. A final empirical study (study 5; n=102) was designed to investigate the mediating role of mind wandering on the effect of MBCT on change in positive emotional experience. Recovered depressed participants undertaking MBCT were compared to recovered depressed participants in a no-intervention control group. Correlational analysis pre-intervention revealed no support for an association between mind wandering and positive reactivity to the mood induction tasks but mind wandering measured during everyday life (using experience sampling methodology; ESM) did relate to lower positive affect and higher negative affect. Participants in the MBCT group demonstrated a reduction in trait and ESM mind wandering, relative to participants in the control group. Furthermore, participants in the MBCT group demonstrated a significant decrease in anhedonic symptoms and increase in daily levels of positive affect. Change in trait mind wandering was found to mediate changes in self-reported anhedonic symptoms when controlling for change in other mindfulness facets, however change in ESM mind wandering did not mediate change in daily positive affect. MBCT also had no impact on emotional reactivity to positive mood induction tasks. Overall the findings from this thesis provide correlational support for the link between mind wandering and reduced positive affect in different testing environments. However, evidence of a causal relationship is currently limited. Consequently, a key recommendation from this thesis is to redirect attention to other driving mechanisms as targeting mind wandering in the treatment of anhedonic clients is unlikely to lead to large improvements. The theoretical, methodological and clinical implications of these findings are discussed along with suggestions for future research.

The present set of experiments investigated three potential means of regulating mind-wandering and sustained attention: goals, feedback, and incentives. The experiments drew up goal-setting theory from industrial/organizational psychology, theories of vigilance and sustained attention, and recent experimental work examining mind-wandering and sustained attention. Experiment 1 investigated the role of goal-difficulty and goal-specificity. Providing a difficult goal for participants only improved sustained attention compared to a condition with no specific goal. Experiment 2 investigated the role of feedback in isolation and in combination with goals. Feedback improved sustained attention and reduced mind-wandering, but it did so regardless of whether or not the feedback was tied to a specific goal. Experiment 3 investigated how two different incentives – money and early release from the experiment – affected sustained attention and mind-wandering. The incentives had no effect on task performance, but participants in the early release condition reported being more motivated, more alert, and mind-wandered less throughout the task. I discuss the results of the experiments in light of predictions made by goal-setting theory as well as theories of vigilance and sustained attention.

Background: There is increasing theoretical interest in the idea that a greater tendency for the mind to wander may reduce positive emotion experience, with specific interest in clinical conditions such as depression that are characterised by reduced pleasure experience (anhedonia). However, it is unclear to what degree these claims are empirically supported. Objective: A systematic review was conducted to examine the evidence regarding the association between mind wandering and positive emotion experience. Method: The Cochrane library, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Knowledge databases were searched. A narrative discussion considered both the pattern of findings and the methodological approaches utilised in this literature. Results: 879 studies were identified and 21 relevant papers were fully reviewed, consisting of cross-sectional, prospective and manipulation studies. Conclusions: Fourteen out of 15 cross-sectional studies supported the claim that increased mind wandering was related to decreased pleasure experience. One prospective study indicated that mind wandering generally preceded but was not subsequent to reductions in positive mood. There were six studies that manipulated mind wandering experimentally, four of which found that inducing greater mind wandering led to reduced positive affect and two of which found null results. Overall, this literature supports the claim that greater mind wandering is related to reduced positive affect. However, very few studies examined this relationship in the context of depression and therefore it remains to be established if these findings generalise to clinical populations. Empiricial Paper: Previous research has established that greater levels of mind wandering are associated with reduced positive affect (PA) in the general population. The present study aims to examine whether this mechanism may mediate the relationship between depression and reduced PA (anhedonia). A community sample (N = 69) with differing levels of depression severity took part. Using experience sampling methodology, we measured mind wandering and PA during everyday life and when completing a few scheduled positive activities. To examine if mind wandering specifically influenced PA or emotion experience more generally, we additionally measured levels of negative affect (NA). Across both contexts, both greater mind wandering and greater depression severity were independently associated with reduced PA and increased NA. Greater depression severity was associated with increasing levels of mind wandering in everyday life, but not during scheduled positive activities. Mind wandering did not mediate the link between depression and reduced PA/increased NA. Exploratory analyses did however reveal that a greater tendency for the mind wander to negative rather than positive themes did mediate the link between depression and reduced PA in everyday life. We replicated previous findings that increased mind wandering is related to reduced PA and increased NA but there was no evidence that this mediated the relationship between depression and altered affective experience. However, the greater tendency for the mind to wander to negative themes may mediate the link between depression and affect. If depression treatment approaches are to target mind wandering this suggests they should therefore focus on mind wandering valence in addition to extent.

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.