Reduced Mind Wandering Research Articles

استخدام استراتیجیة عباءة الخبیر فی تدریس الهندسة بأسلوب تکاملی على التحصیل وخفض درجة التجول العقلی والحد من أسبابه لدى تلامیذ المرحلة الابتدائیة

هدف البحث الحالي إلى معرفة فاعلية استخدام استراتيجية عباءة الخبير في تدريس بأسلوب تکاملي مع بعض المقررات على التحصيل وخفض درجة التجول العقلي والحد من أسباب التجول العقلي لدى تلاميذ المرحلة الابتدائية، ولتحقيق هذا الهدف قام الباحث بإعداد دليل للمعلم وکراسة أنشطة التلميذ، کما تم إعداد اختبار لقياس تحصيل التلاميذ في وحدة الهندسة والقياس، ومقياس لتحديد درجة التجول العقلي، ومقياس تحديد أسباب التجول العقلي واستخدم البحث المنهج التجريبي حيث تکونت مجموعة البحث من (80) تلميذا وتلميذة من تلاميذ الصف السادس الابتدائي تم تقسيمهم إلى مجموعتين: تجريبية تکونت من (40) تلميذا وتلميذة، وضابطة تکونت من (40) تلميذا وتلميذة، وتم تطبيق أدوات البحث قبليا وبعديا على مجموعة البحث، وتوصلت نتائج البحث إلى وجود فرق دال إحصائيا عند مستوى (0.01) بين متوسطي درجات تلاميذ المجموعة التجريبية، ودرجات تلاميذ المجموعة الضابطة في التطبيق البعدي للاختبار التحصيلي، لصالح المجموعة التجريبية، وکذلک وجود فرق دال إحصائيا عند مستوى (0.01) بين متوسطي درجات تلاميذ المجموعة التجريبية، ودرجات تلاميذ المجموعة الضابطة في التطبيق البعدي لمقياسي تحديد درجة التجول العقلي وتحديد أسباب التجول العقلي، لصالح المجموعة الضابطة. Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate using “Mantle of Expert” Strategy in integral teaching of engineering and some other courses, and its effect on students’ achievement and reducing mind wandering as well as its causes in primary school students. To achieve these objectives, the researcher prepared a teacher guide and a student activity notebook. In addition, an achievement test was prepared to measure the achievement of students in “engineering and measurement” unit. Also, two measurements were prepared: one to measure mind wandering level and another to identify mind wandering reasons. The experimental design consisted of a sample of (80) students classified to experimental and control groups (40 students each) with pre- and post-application of research tools. Results of the research showed a statistically significant difference between the average scores of the experimental and control group students, in the post-application of the achievement test (p< 0.01), in favor of the experimental group. Moreover, there was a statistically significant difference between the average grades of the experimental and control groups, in the post-application of mind wandering level (p< 0.01), in favor of the experimental group.

Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Based on Slow-Paced Breathing With Immersive Virtual Reality Nature Scenery.

This study investigated the benefits of using a virtual nature environment to administer immersive heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) based on slow-paced breathing. We compared the virtual reality (VR)-based HRV-BF with a standard implementation in a randomized controlled experiment with 60 healthy employees. After a cognitive stress induction, the participants performed a single-session of HRV-BF before repeating the cognitive stressor task. VR-based versus standard HRV-BF was comparable in terms of biofeedback performance (cardiac coherence and cardiac vagal tone). However, the VR-based implementation buffered perceived stress in the subsequent stressor task, increased relaxation self-efficacy more, reduced mind wandering, helped participants focus on the present moment, and helped preserve attentional resources. Potential long-term effects and generalizability need to be assessed in future research.

Do students understand the detrimental effects of mind wandering during online learning?

Do students understand the potentially detrimental effects of mind wandering as they are watching a lecture online? To answer this question, we combined methods used to assess mind wandering and metacognitive methods used to assess student's judgments of learning. In two studies, college students watched a video lecture from an online course, and while watching it, responded to standard mind wandering prompts. They then judged how well they would perform on a quiz over the material they had just viewed. Analyses focused on answering two specific questions. Would students' judgments be higher when they reported being on-task than when they reported having task-unrelated thoughts? And, would their judgments be higher when they reported being on-task than when they reported having thoughts about whether they understand the material or reported elaborating on it (which we refer to as task-related thoughts)? Across two studies, students' judgments of learning were higher when they reported being on-task than when they reported having task-unrelated thoughts. Judgment magnitude was also greater when students reported task-related thoughts (e.g., assessing their understanding) than task-unrelated thoughts, even though performance did not differ after these two kinds of report. Relevant to instructional applications, students understand that mind wandering may be potentially detrimental to quiz performance, which suggests they may be open to interventions aimed at reducing mind wandering.

Hippocampal atrophy and intrinsic brain network dysfunction relate to alterations in mind wandering in neurodegeneration

Mind wandering represents the human capacity for internally focused thought and relies upon the brain's default network and its interactions with attentional networks. Studies have characterized mind wandering in healthy people, yet there is limited understanding of how this capacity is affected in clinical populations. This paper used a validated thought-sampling task to probe mind wandering capacity in two neurodegenerative disorders: behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia [(bvFTD); n = 35] and Alzheimer's disease [(AD); n = 24], compared with older controls (n = 37). These patient groups were selected due to canonical structural and functional changes across sites of the default and frontoparietal networks and well-defined impairments in cognitive processes that support mind wandering. Relative to the controls, bvFTD patients displayed significantly reduced mind wandering capacity, offset by a significant increase in stimulus-bound thought. In contrast, AD patients demonstrated comparable levels of mind wandering to controls, in the context of a relatively subtle shift toward stimulus-/task-related forms of thought. In the patient groups, mind wandering was associated with gray matter integrity in the hippocampus/parahippocampus, striatum, insula, and orbitofrontal cortex. Resting-state functional connectivity revealed associations between mind wandering capacity and connectivity within and between regions of the frontoparietal and default networks with distinct patterns evident in patients vs. controls. These findings support a relationship between altered mind wandering capacity in neurodegenerative disorders and structural and functional integrity of the default and frontoparietal networks. This paper highlights a dimension of cognitive dysfunction not well documented in neurodegenerative disorders and validates current models of mind wandering in a clinical population.

Abstract #11: tDCS-Enhanced Meditation (E-Meditation) Reduces Mind Wandering and Stress State: An Open-Label Pilot Trial

Introduction: The positive health benefits of meditation have become widely accepted as mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) grow in popularity. Unfortunately, many individuals quit their meditation practice due to the dozens of hours of practice and the steep learning curve required to experience health benefits. Recently, it has been suggested that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can be used to accelerate and enhance meditative practice in a paradigm known as E-Meditation. We investigated whether E-Meditation, administered in a large group setting, could reduce mind wandering, decrease perceived stress and restless, and improve mood state. Feasibility, safety, and tolerability of self-applied tDCS was also monitored.

Challenge to Unity: Relationship Between Hemispheric Asymmetry of the Default Mode Network and Mind Wandering.

The default mode network (DMN) is considered a unified core brain function for generating subjective mental experiences, such as mind wandering. We propose a novel cognitive framework for understanding the unity of the DMN from the perspective of hemispheric asymmetry. Using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), effective connectivity estimation, and machine learning, we show that the bilateral angular gyri (AG), which are core regions of the DMN, exhibit heterogeneity in both inherent network organization and mind wandering regulation. Inherent heterogeneities are present between the right and left AG regarding not only effective connectivity, but also mind wandering regulation; the right AG is related to mind-wandering reduction, whereas the left AG is related to mind-wandering generation. Further supporting this observation, we found that only anodal tDCS of the right AG induced machine learning-detectable changes in effective connectivity and regional amplitude, which could possibly be linked to reduced mind wandering. Our findings highlight the importance of hemispheric asymmetry to further understand the function of the DMN and contribute to the emerging neural model of mind wandering, which is necessary to understand the nature of the human mind.

“A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture”: Correction to Kane et al. (2017).

Reports an error in "A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture" by Michael J. Kane, Bridget A. Smeekens, Claudia C. von Bastian, John H. Lurquin, Nicholas P. Carruth and Akira Miyake (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2017[Nov], Vol 146[11], 1649-1674). In the article, the legends for Figure 2 and Figure 4 were erroneous. The correct figures are included in the errata. The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2017-48585-001.) A combined experimental-correlational study with a diverse sample (N = 182) from 2 research sites tested a set of 5 a priori hypotheses about mind wandering and learning, using a realistic video lecture on introductory statistics. Specifically, the study examined whether students' vulnerability to mind wandering during the lecture would predict learning from, and situational interest in, the video and also whether longhand note-taking would help reduce mind wandering, at least for some students. One half of the participants took notes during the video, and all were subsequently tested on lecture content without notes. Regression and mediation analyses indicated that (a) several individual-differences variables (e.g., pretest score, prior math interest, classroom media multitasking habits) uniquely predicted in-lecture mind wandering frequency; (b) although the note-taking manipulation did not reduce mind wandering at the group level, note-taking still reduced mind wandering for some individuals (i.e., those with lower prior knowledge and those who took notes of high quality and quantity); (c) mind wandering uniquely predicted both learning (posttest) and situational interest outcomes above and beyond all other individual-differences variables; (d) moreover, mind wandering significantly mediated the effects of several individual differences; and, finally, (e) not all types of mind wandering were problematic-in fact, off-task reflections about lecture-related topics positively predicted learning. These results, which were generally robust across the 2 sites, suggest that educationally focused cognitive research may benefit from considering attentional processes during learning as well as cognitive and noncognitive individual differences that affect attention and learning. (PsycINFO Database Record

A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture.

A combined experimental-correlational study with a diverse sample (N = 182) from 2 research sites tested a set of 5 a priori hypotheses about mind wandering and learning, using a realistic video lecture on introductory statistics. Specifically, the study examined whether students' vulnerability to mind wandering during the lecture would predict learning from, and situational interest in, the video and also whether longhand note-taking would help reduce mind wandering, at least for some students. One half of the participants took notes during the video, and all were subsequently tested on lecture content without notes. Regression and mediation analyses indicated that (a) several individual-differences variables (e.g., pretest score, prior math interest, classroom media multitasking habits) uniquely predicted in-lecture mind wandering frequency; (b) although the note-taking manipulation did not reduce mind wandering at the group level, note-taking still reduced mind wandering for some individuals (i.e., those with lower prior knowledge and those who took notes of high quality and quantity); (c) mind wandering uniquely predicted both learning (posttest) and situational interest outcomes above and beyond all other individual-differences variables; (d) moreover, mind wandering significantly mediated the effects of several individual differences; and, finally, (e) not all types of mind wandering were problematic-in fact, off-task reflections about lecture-related topics positively predicted learning. These results, which were generally robust across the 2 sites, suggest that educationally focused cognitive research may benefit from considering attentional processes during learning as well as cognitive and noncognitive individual differences that affect attention and learning. (PsycINFO Database Record

Increasing participant motivation reduces rates of intentional and unintentional mind wandering.

We explored the possibility that increasing participants' motivation to perform well on a focal task can reduce mind wandering. Participants completed a sustained-attention task either with standard instructions (normal motivation), or with instructions informing them that they could be excused from the experiment early if they achieved a certain level of performance (higher motivation). Throughout the task, we assessed rates of mind wandering (both intentional and unintentional types) via thought probes. Results showed that the motivation manipulation led to significant reductions in both intentional and unintentional mind wandering as well as improvements in task performance. Most critically, we found that our simple motivation manipulation led to a dramatic reduction in probe-caught mind-wandering rates (49%) compared to a control condition (67%), which suggests the utility of motivation-based methods to reduce people's propensity to mind-wander.

Reduced mind wandering in patients with Parkinson's disease

BackgroundMind Wandering (MW) refers to the process of disengaging from the immediate external environment and participating in internally driven mentation. This process has been suggested to be supported by a distributed set of brain regions, collectively referred to as the Default Mode Network (DMN). Recently, reduced recruitment and connectivity of the DMN has been described in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients compared to healthy controls. We thus aimed to explore whether PD patients with normal cognitive test scores show differential MW capabilities compared to healthy controls. MethodsThirty PD patients and thirty age-matched controls, all with a Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) score of 26 or above, performed a novel yet validated thought-sampling paradigm used to assess the frequency and extent of MW irrespective of cognitive load in which participants were asked to observe a series of geometric shapes and describe their thoughts after watching them. Shapes were presented one at a time for varying durations across nine trials. ResultsPD patients showed significantly less MW compared to the control. ANCOVA revealed a significant interaction indicating that the difference in MW scores was driven by trials with short stimulus presentation times. ConclusionsThese findings provide evidence for decreased MW in PD patients. We propose that this is due to difficulties in performing MW within short time frames.

Online-based Mindfulness Training Reduces Behavioral Markers of Mind Wandering

It is estimated that people spend almost half their waking hours lost in stimulus-independent thought, or mind wandering, which in turn has been shown to negatively impact well-being. This has sparked a rise in the number of cognitive training platforms that aim to boost executive functioning, yet it is unclear whether mind wandering can be reduced through online training. The current study aimed to investigate whether behavioral markers of mind wandering can be reduced through two short-term online-based interventions: mindfulness meditation and brain training. Using a randomized controlled design, we assigned one group of participants to 30 days of mindfulness training (n = 54) and another to 30 days of brain training (n = 41). Mind wandering and dispositional mindfulness were assessed pre- and post-intervention via the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) and the Mindful Attention to Awareness Scale (MAAS), respectively. We found significant reductions in mind wandering and significant increases in dispositional mindfulness in the mindfulness training group but not the brain training group. A lack of any significant change in the brain training group may be driven by methodological limitations such as self-report bias. These results indicate that short online mindfulness-based interventions may be effective in reducing mind wandering.

Brief mindfulness meditation training reduces mind wandering: The critical role of acceptance.

Mindfulness meditation programs, which train individuals to monitor their present-moment experience in an open or accepting way, have been shown to reduce mind wandering on standardized tasks in several studies. Here we test 2 competing accounts for how mindfulness training reduces mind wandering, evaluating whether the attention-monitoring component of mindfulness training alone reduces mind wandering or whether the acceptance training component is necessary for reducing mind wandering. Healthy young adults (N = 147) were randomized to either a 3-day brief mindfulness training condition incorporating instruction in both attention monitoring and acceptance, a mindfulness training condition incorporating attention monitoring instruction only, a relaxation training condition, or an active reading-control condition. Participants completed measures of dispositional mindfulness and treatment expectancies before the training session on Day 1 and then completed a 6-min Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) measuring mind wandering after the training session on Day 3. Acceptance training was important for reducing mind wandering, such that the attention-monitoring plus acceptance mindfulness training condition had the lowest mind wandering relative to the other conditions, including significantly lower mind wandering than the attention-monitoring only mindfulness training condition. In one of the first experimental mindfulness training dismantling studies to-date, we show that training in acceptance is a critical driver of mindfulness-training reductions in mind wandering. This effect suggests that acceptance skills may facilitate emotion regulation on boring and frustrating sustained attention tasks that foster mind wandering, such as the SART. (PsycINFO Database Record

Reduced mind wandering in experienced meditators and associated EEG correlates.

One outstanding question in the contemplative science literature relates to the direct impact of meditation experience on the monitoring of internal states and its respective correspondence with neural activity. In particular, to what extent does meditation influence the awareness, duration and frequency of the tendency of the mind to wander. To assess the relation between mind wandering and meditation, we tested 2 groups of meditators, one with a moderate level of experience (non-expert) and those who are well advanced in their practice (expert). We designed a novel paradigm using self-reports of internal mental states based on an experiential sampling probe paradigm presented during ~1h of seated concentration meditation to gain insight into the dynamic measures of electroencephalography (EEG) during absorption in meditation as compared to reported mind wandering episodes. Our results show that expert meditation practitioners report a greater depth and frequency of sustained meditation, whereas non-expert practitioners report a greater depth and frequency of mind wandering episodes. This is one of the first direct behavioral indices of meditation expertise and its associated impact on the reduced frequency of mind wandering, with corresponding EEG activations showing increased frontal midline theta and somatosensory alpha rhythms during meditation as compared to mind wandering in expert practitioners. Frontal midline theta and somatosensory alpha rhythms are often observed during executive functioning, cognitive control and the active monitoring of sensory information. Our study thus provides additional new evidence to support the hypothesis that the maintenance of both internal and external orientations of attention may be maintained by similar neural mechanisms and that these mechanisms may be modulated by meditation training.

Causal relationship between effective connectivity within the default mode network and mind-wandering regulation and facilitation

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can modulate mind wandering, which is a shift in the contents of thought away from an ongoing task and/or from events in the external environment to self-generated thoughts and feelings. Although modulation of the mind-wandering propensity is thought to be associated with neural alterations of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and regions in the default mode network (DMN), the precise neural mechanisms remain unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the causal relationships among tDCS (one electrode placed over the right IPL, which is a core region of the DMN, and another placed over the left LPFC), stimulation-induced directed connection alterations within the DMN, and modulation of the mind-wandering propensity. At the behavioral level, anodal tDCS on the right IPL (with cathodal tDCS on the left LPFC) reduced mind wandering compared to the reversed stimulation. At the neural level, the anodal tDCS on the right IPL decreased the afferent connections of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) from the right IPL and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that the changes in the connections from the right IPL and mPFC correlated with the facilitation and inhibition of mind wandering, respectively. These effects are the result of the heterogeneous function of effective connectivity: the connection from the right IPL to the PCC inhibits mind wandering, whereas the connection from the mPFC to the PCC facilitates mind wandering. The present study is the first to demonstrate the neural mechanisms underlying tDCS modulation of mind-wandering propensity.

Studying in the region of proximal learning reduces mind wandering.

Insofar as mind wandering has been linked to poor learning, finding ways to reduce the propensity to mind wander should have implications for improving learning. We investigated the possibility that studying materials at an appropriate level of difficulty with respect to the individual's capabilities-that is, studying in the region of proximal learning (RPL)-might reduce mind wandering. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were probed for their attentional state while they studied blocks of English-Spanish word pairs that were (a) easy, (b) in the RPL, or (c) difficult. We found that studying materials in the RPL was associated with reduced mind wandering. Test performance on items studied while mind wandering was also poorer. In Experiment 3, we investigated the relation between differences in participants' mastery and mind wandering. We found that high performers mind wandered more when studying the easier word pairs, whereas low performers mind wandered more when studying the difficult items. These results indicate that the RPL is specific to the individual's level of mastery and that mind wandering occurs when people are outside that region.

Better control with less effort: The advantage of using focused-breathing strategy over focused-distraction strategy on thought suppression.

It has been suggested that unwanted thoughts usually intrude during mind wandering due to a shortage of mental resources. However, strategies for suppressing such thoughts have never been examined from a mind wandering perspective. Here, we compare the effectiveness of two types of attention distraction strategies that either redirect users' attention to their own breathing (focused-breathing strategy, FBS) or to a mental image (focused-distraction strategy, FDS) as related to working memory capacities. Eighty-two undergraduates were randomly assigned into a FBS or FDS group. They completed a concentration task and a thought suppression task, in which mind wandering and thought intrusions were each measured. Our results support the hypothesis that mind wandering is positively correlated to thought intrusions and shows that FBS is more effective than FDS in reducing mind wandering and thought intrusions. Moreover, in contrast to FDS, the effect of FBS is independent of users' mental resources.

Enhancing attention and memory during video-recorded lectures.

Lectures have long been a staple of various kinds of instruction, and constitute a component of most online learning platforms. Systematic research has begun to examine how to enhance lecture learning in traditional classroom settings and in online education. This article provides a conceptual framework for thinking about attention and memory during video-recorded lectures, particularly as related to online learning, that builds on 3 key claims: (a) online learning can be conceived as a type of self-regulated learning, (b) mind wandering reflects a failure of executive control that can impair learning from lectures, and (c) providing intermittent tests or quizzes can benefit attention and learning. We then summarize recent studies based on this framework that examine the effects of interpolating brief quizzes in a video-recorded lecture. These studies reveal that interpolated quizzing during a video-recorded lecture reduces mind wandering, increases taskrelevant behaviors such as note taking, boosts learning, and also improves calibration between predicted and actual performance. We conclude by discussing recommendations, open questions, and future research directions.

Taming a wandering attention: short-form mindfulness training in student cohorts

Mindfulness training (MT) is a form of mental training in which individuals engage in exercises to cultivate an attentive, present centered, and non-reactive mental mode. The present study examines the putative benefits of MT in University students for whom mind wandering can interfere with learning and academic success. We tested the hypothesis that short-form MT (7 h over 7 weeks) contextualized for the challenges and concerns of University students may reduce mind wandering and improve working memory. Performance on the sustained attention to response task (SART) and two working memory tasks (operation span, delayed-recognition with distracters) was indexed in participants assigned to a waitlist control group or the MT course. Results demonstrated MT-related benefits in SART performance. Relative to the control group, MT participants had higher task accuracy and self-reported being more “on-task” after the 7-week training period. MT did not significantly benefit the operation span task or accuracy on the delayed-recognition task. Together these results suggest that while short-form MT did not bolster working memory task performance, it may help curb mind wandering and should, therefore, be further investigated for its use in academic contexts.

Interpolated memory tests reduce mind wandering and improve learning of online lectures

The recent emergence and popularity of online educational resources brings with it challenges for educators to optimize the dissemination of online content. Here we provide evidence that points toward a solution for the difficulty that students frequently report in sustaining attention to online lectures over extended periods. In two experiments, we demonstrate that the simple act of interpolating online lectures with memory tests can help students sustain attention to lecture content in a manner that discourages task-irrelevant mind wandering activities, encourages task-relevant note-taking activities, and improves learning. Importantly, frequent testing was associated with reduced anxiety toward a final cumulative test and also with reductions in subjective estimates of cognitive demand. Our findings suggest a potentially key role for interpolated testing in the development and dissemination of online educational content.

Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering

Given that the ability to attend to a task without distraction underlies performance in a wide variety of contexts, training one’s ability to stay on task should result in a similarly broad enhancement of performance. In a randomized controlled investigation, we examined whether a 2-week mindfulness-training course would decrease mind wandering and improve cognitive performance. Mindfulness training improved both GRE reading-comprehension scores and working memory capacity while simultaneously reducing the occurrence of distracting thoughts during completion of the GRE and the measure of working memory. Improvements in performance following mindfulness training were mediated by reduced mind wandering among participants who were prone to distraction at pretesting. Our results suggest that cultivating mindfulness is an effective and efficient technique for improving cognitive function, with wide-reaching consequences.