Abstract
The present study investigated whether the frequency of probe-caught mind wandering varied by condition and had any impact on performance in both an item-by-item reading aloud task and a blocked version of the classic Stroop task. Across both experiments, mind wandering rates were found to be quite high and were negatively associated with vocal onset latencies and error rates across conditions. Despite this however, we observed poor correspondence between the effects of task demands on mind wandering rates and the effects of mind wandering on primary task performance. We discuss these findings in relation to attentional resource accounts of mind wandering and suggest that individuals can adjust the relative distribution of executive/attentional resources between internal and external goals in a way that maximizes off-task thought while preserving primary task performance.
Highlights
The present study investigated whether the frequency of probe-caught mind wandering varied by condition and had any impact on performance in both an item-by-item reading aloud task and a blocked version of the classic Stroop task
It was expected that if mind wandering rates varied by condition mind wandering-related deficits in performance should have occurred, since the former result suggests that mind wandering and reading aloud require the same type of attention
We suggest that participants may modulate the degree of mind wandering they engage in, in-line with the primary task demands, so that the executive/attentional resources devoted to mind wandering do not impinge on those required for primary task performance
Summary
The present study investigated whether the frequency of probe-caught mind wandering varied by condition and had any impact on performance in both an item-by-item reading aloud task and a blocked version of the classic Stroop task. The present work examines the prevalence and consequences of mind wandering in two well-studied laboratory tasks: reading aloud single words and non-words, and color naming in the context of congruent and incongruent color words (Stroop, 1935) These tasks have been heavily utilized by researchers for decades, and have been used to measure and make inferences about fundamental cognitive processes related to single word reading (as well as other processes such as attention, perception, and memory). We show how the different theoretical accounts would predict (1) the presence or absence of differences in frequencies of mind wandering across different reading conditions that require different amounts of attention (e.g., while reading words vs non-words or while color naming on congruent vs incongruent trials) and (2) the extent to which bouts of mind wandering would influence performance (reaction time and accuracy) in reading aloud and the Stroop task. We discuss the possibility that mind wandering and reading aloud might require the same attentional resources
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