Abstract
Mind wandering (MW) has recently been associated with both adaptive (e.g., creativity enhancement) and maladaptive (e.g., mood worsening) consequences. This study aimed at investigating whether proneness to MW was prospectively associated with negative health outcomes. At time 0, 21 women, 19 men; mean age = 24.5 (4.9) underwent a 5-min baseline electrocardiogram (ECG), a 20-min laboratory tracking task with thought probes, and personality questionnaires. At time 1 (1 year follow-up), the same participants underwent a 24-h Ecological Momentary Assessment characterized by ambulatory ECG recording and electronic diaries. First, we examined if the likelihood of being a “mind wanderer” was associated with specific personality dispositions. Then, we tested if the occurrence of episodes of MW in the lab would be correlated with frequency of MW in daily life. Finally, multiple regression models were used to test if MW longitudinally acted as a risk factor for health, accounting for the effects of biobehavioral variables. Among dispositional traits, the frequency of MW episodes in daily life was inversely associated with the capacity of being mindful (i.e., aware of the present moment and non-judging). There was a positive correlation between frequency of MW in the lab and in daily life, suggesting that it is a stable disposition of the individual. When differentiated from perseverative cognition (i.e., rumination and worry), MW did not predict the presence of health risk factors 1 year later, however, a higher occurrence of episodes of MW was associated with short-term adverse consequences, such as increased 24-h heart rate (HR) on the same day and difficulty falling asleep the subsequent night. Present findings suggest that MW may be associated with short term “side effects” but argue against a long term dysfunctional view of this cognitive process.
Highlights
Mind wandering (MW) has been defined as the default mode of operation of our brain (Mason et al, 2007), and it has been associated with maladaptive consequences for health
A growing number of studies (e.g., Baird et al, 2011; Levinson et al, 2012) indicate that the capacity to mentally escape from the constraints of the present permits the management of personal goals (e.g., Smallwood and Schooler, 2006; Baumeister and Masicampo, 2010). Consistent with this view, Smallwood et al (2013) demonstrated that MW is associated with reduced delay discounting, suggesting that MW allows cognition to be devoted to the consideration of personal objectives that extend beyond the current moment, becoming relevant for making choices that are beneficial over the long term
The PROMIS Sleep DisturbanceShort form is an 8-item scale that has been shown to be useful for grading the global severity of insomnia (Yu et al, 2011); the present study focused on scores of the item “I had difficulties falling asleep.”
Summary
Mind wandering (MW) has been defined as the default mode of operation of our brain (Mason et al, 2007), and it has been associated with maladaptive consequences for health (reviewed in Mooneyham and Schooler, 2013). A growing number of studies (e.g., Baird et al, 2011; Levinson et al, 2012) indicate that the capacity to mentally escape from the constraints of the present permits the management of personal goals (e.g., Smallwood and Schooler, 2006; Baumeister and Masicampo, 2010) Consistent with this view, Smallwood et al (2013) demonstrated that MW is associated with reduced delay discounting, suggesting that MW allows cognition to be devoted to the consideration of personal objectives that extend beyond the current moment, becoming relevant for making choices that are beneficial over the long term. Gruberger et al (2011) hypothesized that MW may serve as a learning and consolidation mechanism by augmenting the associative abilities of the brain, in a similar way to what happens when we sleep
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