Abstract
Mind wandering (MW) is a phenomenon in which attention drifts away from task-related thoughts toward task-unrelated thoughts. Recent studies have demonstrated that MW occurs during tasks in which participants are unmotivated. However, motivation ranges on a continuum from trait to state. We examined the association between trait-state motivation and trait-state MW. Participants (176 undergraduate students 18-24 years old; 68 male) completed three questionnaires for our trait level investigation. State level indices were measured using the experience sampling method with 104 students completing a sustained attention to response task. Through correlation analyses, we demonstrated an association between motivation and MW within the same dimension (trait and state, respectively) but found no association across dimensions in which the correlation coefficient was nearly zero. We show the significant association between motivation and MW whose novelty is especially evident in the trait level. Although the relationship between motivation and MW is substantial, trait-state dimensionality would be important for them. The state MW is a phasic phenomenon driven by a range of factors, one being state motivation. The causality and confounding factors remain to be further studied.
Highlights
Experiencing our minds drift away from tasks, especially undemanding, trivial ones, toward unrelated inner thoughts, fantasies, and other musings is a common occurrence for as much as 50% of our waking hours [1]. This is known as mind wandering (MW), which can be experienced in various situations and are often unintended and occurring beyond awareness [2,3,4]
When we controlled for DDFS in the relationship between Inv-apathy scale (AS) and mind wandering questionnaire (MWQ), we found a significant partial correlation (r partial = −0.17, p = 0.024)
We found a significant correlation between the trait and state level of motivation indices (i.e., AS and intrinsic motivation inventory (IMI)), r = 0.31, p = 0.001
Summary
Experiencing our minds drift away from tasks, especially undemanding, trivial ones, toward unrelated inner thoughts, fantasies, and other musings is a common occurrence for as much as 50% of our waking hours [1]. This is known as mind wandering (MW), which can be experienced in various situations and are often unintended and occurring beyond awareness [2,3,4]. MW is the umbrella term for the psychological phenomenon to which we refer, including task-unrelated thought, stimulus-independent thought, self-generative thought, and zoning/tuning out. While MW can have some positive impacts (e.g., autobiographical planning, creative thinking, and attention cycling), it can cause disruption of performance at various levels of the tasks at hand [3].
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