Mind Wandering

Our mind-wandering research can be roughly divided into five categories.

Related Questions

Differences between the occurrence and noticing of mind-wandering.

Often when individuals mind-wander they temporarily fail to notice that they have done so (see related page on meta-awareness). We have developed several paradigms for demonstrating the difference between aware and unaware mind wandering. In one paradigm, we ask people to report every time they notice their minds wandering. Such self-catches provide an index of mind-wandering that has reached meta-awareness. In addition we probe people periodically and ask them if just then they were mind-wandering. This provides an index of mind-wandering episodes that they have failed to notice themselves. Using this procedure we have found a number of interesting dissociations between aware and unaware mind-wandering. For example, both alcohol (Sayette, Reichle, & Schooler, 2009) and craving (Sayette, Schooler, & Reichle, 2010) increase the occurrence of mind-wandering while simultaneously reducing its likelihood of being noticed.

The behavioral and neurocognitive markers of mind-wandering.

Another research strand focuses on the neurocognitive and behavioral signature of mind-wandering. In general when individuals are mind-wandering they evidence attenuated attention to external sources. This process of “perceptual decoupling” is associated with a variety of signature effects of mind-wandering including: attenuated P1 and N1 evoked response potential (Kam et al, 2010), and reduced entrainment of pupil dilation to external stimuli (Smallwood et al, 2011). In addition to advancing our theoretical understanding of mind-wandering (see Schooler et al., 2011) these studies suggest that it may be possible to use behavioral and neurocognitive measures to detect when individuals are mind-wandering and use such information to alert participants to their lapses. Towards this end, we are currently developing an on line mind-wandering tutor (see below).

Mind-wandering and Reading.

One of the most striking contexts in which mind wandering takes place is reading. Our lab has shown that mind-wandering significantly impairs reading comprehension. When people mind wander during reading they are less sensitive to the semantic properties of words as evidenced by both eye movements (Reichle, Sayette, & Schooler, 2010) and word by word advancing (Franklin, Smallwood, & Schooler, 2011),. We recently received a major grant from the Office of Education to examine alternative methods for ameliorating the negative impact of mind-wandering on reading performance. These include developing an on line tutor that uses behavioral markers of mind-wandering to provide individuals with feedback training, and examinations of the impact of mindfulness/meditation training (see below).

The benefits of mind-wandering.

Although much of the lab’s research has been dedicated to showing detriments in primary task performance associated with mind-wandering, we have also begun to examine the positive aspects of mind-wandering. Recently we (Baird, Smallwood, and Schooler, 2012) published the first study to document a functional use of mind-wandering: autobiographical planning. In this study, we demonstrated that the content of mind-wandering is predominantly future-focused, and that individuals with high working memory capacity are more likely to engage in prospective mind-wandering. Together this evidence suggests that mind-wandering can enable prospective cognitive operations that are likely to be useful as individuals navigate through their daily lives.

The relationship between mind-wandering and creativity.

In one study (Baird, Smallwood, Mrazek, Franklin, & Schooler, 2012), participants attempted to come up with alternative uses for common objects (a standard measure of creativity) and then, following various intervening tasks, attempted to generate yet more uses. We found that an activity that encourages mind-wandering, (i.e. a non-demanding task) led to more creative solutions on the second attempt than situations that did not allow for mind-wandering (i.e. no incubation interval or engaging in a demanding task). Strikingly, engaging in a non-demanding task was even better than doing nothing at all with respect to the benefit of the incubation period. Collectively these findings suggest that mind-wandering during non-demanding tasks may be a particularly fertile source of creative inspiration. In a more recent study, we examined the mind wandering of writers relative to matched controls, and found that creative individuals tend to engage in more curious mind wandering, especially on days in which they are creative (Schooler, Gross, Zedelius, & Seli, 2024). This leads us to speculate that “mind wondering” may be an especially productive type of mind wandering.

News

Selected Publications

Researchers

Jonathan Schooler

My lab’s research takes a “big picture” perspective in attempting to understand the nature of mental life, and in particular consciousness. Combining empirical, philosophical, and contemplative traditions, we address broad questions that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.

James Elliott

James Elliott, Ph.D, is a cognitive neuroscientist with a background in behavioral, EEG, and fMRI methodologies. He has a keen interest in exploring how traditional meditation techniques can be used to help inform a scientific understanding of consciousness.

Madeleine Gross

Madeleine studies the psychological basis of creative idea generation and insight. Using eye tracking technology, she also investigates how inter-individual differences in eye movement behavior may relate to dopamine-related cognition and personality traits, such as curiosity, schizotypy, and creativity.

Michael Mrazek

Michael Mrazek, Ph.D. is the director of research at the University of California's Center for Mindfulness & Human Potential. His research identifies innovative ways to increase the effectiveness of mindfulness training, particularly in high schools. He also tests the limits of how much a person can improve through intensive evidence-based training programs that target health, mindfulness, and self-control.

Alissa Mrazek

Alissa Mrazek is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at UT Austin as well as a long-time collaborator with the META Lab. Alissa conducted a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential with Dr. Jonathan Schooler from 2016-2020. Before working at UCSB, Alissa completed her Ph.D. in 2016 at Northwestern University where she began appreciating the synergistic benefits of integrative interventions—particularly when combining mindset training with strategy training.

Claire Zedelius

One line of Claire's research focuses on the role meta-awareness plays in the dynamic changes between states of mind wandering and focused attention. Another line examines the relationship between different types of mind wandering, creativity and curiosity.

Anusha Garg

Anusha studies the mechanisms and content of mind wandering. In the past, she's worked on assessing the content of the spontaneous stream of consciousness. She's currently investigating the differences between the quality of thoughts obtained during think aloud and silent mind wandering protocols.

Dharma Lewis

Dharma is a first-generation scholar born in Mexico City and raised in Los Angeles, who is passionate about empowering learners of all experiences and backgrounds. She is interested in harnessing the power of meta-cognition and mindfulness in pedagogical interventions. Outside of the lab, you can find her on the beach making playlists or doing aerial yoga wherever she can find some silks.

Shivang Shelat

Shivang's interests lie in interactions between mind-wandering, memory, and attentional capture. He also uses principles in attention neuroscience to better understand human-computer interactions. He is co-advised by Barry Giesbrecht.

Jinny Kim

My name is Jinny Kim, and I am a 3rd year Biopsychology major and Applied Psychology minor. I am assisting James Elliott regarding fluctuations of experience and EEG during meditation. My specific interests are dream analysis and psychotherapy for criminals.