Mind wandering and executive dysfunction predict children’s performance in the metronome response task

Abstract

Mind wandering is a ubiquitous experience during adulthood and has received significant scholarly attention in recent years. Relatively few studies, however, have examined the phenomenon in children. Building on recent work, the current study examined the frequency and validity of children’s reports of mind wandering while completing a minimalistic task previously unused in past child research—the Metronome Response Task (MRT) [Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance (2013), Vol. 39, pp. 1–5]. Furthermore, the current study examined how parent reports of executive dysfunction in daily life relate to children’s reports of mind wandering and behavioral performance in the MRT. A total of 81 children aged 7–9 years completed the MRT, the demands of which simply involved pressing a key on a computer keyboard in concert with the unwavering tones of a metronome. Sporadic experience-sampling probes gauged whether children were on-task or mind wandering. Parents also reported on their children’s day-to-day difficulties with executive functioning across several domains. A series of multilevel models revealed that children reported being on-task more frequently then mind wandering and that children were more variable and less synchronous in their keypresses preceding reports of mind wandering than preceding reports of being on task. In addition, parent-reported difficulties with behavioral regulation predicted higher rates of mind wandering, whereas both behavioral dysregulation and metacognitive difficulties predicted lower MRT performance. These findings suggest that children are able to reliably report on their experiences of mind wandering in boredom-inducing contexts and advance our understanding of the factors underlying children’s experience of mind wandering under real-world conditions.