Abstract
Artists and scientists have often linked our tenacious tendency to mind-wander or daydream (i.e., think about something other than the here and now) to our ability to generate creative ideas and artistic works. But not all daydreams lead to creative ideas. So what is the relationship between mind wandering and creativity? To answer this question, we start by examining what happens when our mind is disengaged from a problem: A number of studies suggest that stepping away from a problem and letting the mind wander freely facilitates unconscious memory processes that support the generation of new ideas and creative insights. We discuss the circumstances under which such “incubation” effects are likely to occur and why. Then, we turn our attention to the question of what a mind that is disengaged from the here and now is in fact engaged in: Research has shed a light on various different qualities of spontaneous thoughts. Moreover, people also differ in the contents that habitually occupy their spontaneous thoughts. We review how these different qualities and contents of mind wandering relate to creativity.
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