An introduction to the scientific problem of the “mind wandering” phenomenon

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 284-297
Author(s):  
M.V. Ivanov ◽  
K.A. Bagrationi
Keyword(s):  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Psychological Characteristics ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Scientific Problem ◽  
Laboratory Conditions ◽  
Interdisciplinary Perspective ◽  
Creative Insight ◽  
The Mind

The problem of the “wandering mind” phenomenon is considered in an interdisciplinary perspective. We provide evidence that the “wandering mind” is the cause of attention errors when performing cognitive tasks, both in laboratory conditions and in professional and daily activities. We show the role of “wandering mind” in the modeling of personal psychological future. According D. Kahneman’s conceptual views on the thinking nature, the “wandering mind” is a prerequisite of appearance of creative ways to solve ambiguous problems (“creative insight”) in the process of thinking. Based on the B.F. Lomov’s methodological conception, we reveal the need for considering the problem of “wandering mind” along with socio-psychological characteristics of a group (such as, for example, incorporativity), which includes subjects that are in the described condition.

scholarly journals The Mediating Role of Affects between Mind-Wandering and Happiness

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5139
Author(s):  
Carlos Salavera ◽  
Pablo Usán
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Positive And Negative Affect ◽  
Subjective Happiness ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Subjective Happiness Scale ◽  
Average Happiness ◽  
The Mind

The aim of this study was to assess the mediating role of affects between mind-wandering and happiness. The study was conducted with a sample comprising 270 university students—133 men (49.26%) and 137 women (50.74%)—who filled out the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ), the Positive and Negative Affect Questionnaire (PANAS), and the SHS subjective happiness scale. Mind-wandering was found to be negatively correlated with happiness and positive effects. Higher mind-wandering-related scores went hand in hand with scores related to both lower happiness and positive affects. Approximately half the participants yielded low mind-wandering and negative affect scores and above-average happiness and positive affects scores. In addition, one in four scored above average in terms of mind-wandering and low in terms of happiness and positive effects. Finally, the mediating role played by affects was examined. It can be concluded that although in principle mind-wandering has no direct effect on happiness, some influence can be attested when affects, both positive and negative, are taken into consideration.

Thinking Through Secrets: Rethinking the Role of Thought Suppression in Secrecy

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 1411-1427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Slepian ◽  
Katharine H. Greenaway ◽  
E. J. Masicampo
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Common View ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Temporal Focus ◽  
Ironic Process ◽  
The Relationship

Having secrets on the mind is associated with lower well-being, and a common view of secrets is that people work to suppress and avoid them—but might people actually want to think about their secrets? Four studies examining more than 11,000 real-world secrets found that the answer depends on the importance of the secret: People generally seek to engage with thoughts of significant secrets and seek to suppress thoughts of trivial secrets. Inconsistent with an ironic process account, adopting the strategy to suppress thoughts of a secret was not related to a tendency to think about the secret. Instead, adopting the strategy to engage with thoughts of a secret was related the tendency to think about the secret. Moreover, the temporal focus of one’s thoughts moderated the relationship between mind-wandering to the secret and well-being, with a focus on the past exacerbating a harmful link. These results suggest that people do not universally seek to suppress their secrets; they also seek to engage with them, although not always effectively.

scholarly journals Neuromodulation of the mind-wandering brain state: the interaction between neuromodulatory tone, sharp wave-ripples and spontaneous thought

2020 ◽  
Vol 376 (1817) ◽  
pp. 20190699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire O'Callaghan ◽  
Ishan C. Walpola ◽  
James M. Shine
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Brain State ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
External Stimulation ◽  
Sharp Wave ◽  
Brain States ◽  
Spontaneous Thought ◽  
The Mind

Mind-wandering has become a captivating topic for cognitive neuroscientists. By now, it is reasonably well described in terms of its phenomenology and the large-scale neural networks that support it. However, we know very little about what neurobiological mechanisms trigger a mind-wandering episode and sustain the mind-wandering brain state. Here, we focus on the role of ascending neuromodulatory systems (i.e. acetylcholine, noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine) in shaping mind-wandering. We advance the hypothesis that the hippocampal sharp wave-ripple (SWR) is a compelling candidate for a brain state that can trigger mind-wandering episodes. This hippocampal rhythm, which occurs spontaneously in quiescent behavioural states, is capable of propagating widespread activity in the default network and is functionally associated with recollective, associative, imagination and simulation processes. The occurrence of the SWR is heavily dependent on hippocampal neuromodulatory tone. We describe how the interplay of neuromodulators may promote the hippocampal SWR and trigger mind-wandering episodes. We then identify the global neuromodulatory signatures that shape the evolution of the mind-wandering brain state. Under our proposed framework, mind-wandering emerges due to the interplay between neuromodulatory systems that influence the transitions between brain states, which either facilitate, or impede, a wandering mind. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation'.

For Whom the Mind Wanders, and When

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 614-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Kane ◽  
Leslie H. Brown ◽  
Jennifer C. McVay ◽  
Paul J. Silvia ◽  
Inez Myin-Germeys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Memory Span ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Personal Digital Assistants ◽  
Executive Attention ◽  
Physical Context ◽  
Span Tasks ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Control

An experience-sampling study of 124 undergraduates, pretested on complex memory-span tasks, examined the relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and the experience of mind wandering in daily life. Over 7 days, personal digital assistants signaled subjects eight times daily to report immediately whether their thoughts had wandered from their current activity, and to describe their psychological and physical context. WMC moderated the relation between mind wandering and activities' cognitive demand. During challenging activities requiring concentration and effort, higher-WMC subjects maintained on-task thoughts better, and mind-wandered less, than did lower-WMC subjects. The results were therefore consistent with theories of WMC emphasizing the role of executive attention and control processes in determining individual differences and their cognitive consequences.

scholarly journals Long-term dynamics of mind wandering: ultradian rhythms in thought generation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chie Nakatani ◽  
Benjamin Ganschow ◽  
Cees van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Sampling Time ◽  
Ultradian Rhythms ◽  
Control Strength ◽  
Generation Cycle ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Relative Coordination

Using the method of experience sampling, we studied the fluctuations in thought generation and cognitive control strength during the wakeful hours of the day, centered around episodes of mind wandering. Thought generation, measured in terms of the number of thoughts that concurrently occupy the mind at sampling time, goes through regular 4-6 hour cycles, suggesting the mind operates with an alternation of focused and multitasking modes. Cognitive control strength rises and falls in relative coordination with thought generation, implying that both are occasionally misaligned. This happens, in particular, when cognitive control suddenly drops after having been keeping up with a cycle of thought generation. When this drop occurs while the thought generation cycle is still up, mind wandering appears. As cognitive control quickly resumes before returning to intermediate values, the thought generation cycle begins to fall again, and the mind wandering episode comes to an end. Implications regarding the role of long-term regulation in mind wandering processes are discussed.

The Modern Aristotle: Michael Polanyi’s Search for Truth against Nihilism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Hoinski ◽  
Ronald Polansky
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Michael Polanyi ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
The Face ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Theoretical Science

David Hoinski and Ronald Polansky’s “The Modern Aristotle: Michael Polanyi’s Search for Truth against Nihilism” shows how the general tendencies of contemporary philosophy of science disclose a return to the Aristotelian emphasis on both the formation of dispositions to know and the role of the mind in theoretical science. Focusing on a comparison of Michael Polanyi and Aristotle, Hoinski and Polansky investigate to what degree Aristotelian thought retains its purchase on reality in the face of the changes wrought by modern science. Polanyi’s approach relies on several Aristotelian assumptions, including the naturalness of the human desire to know, the institutional and personal basis for the accumulation of knowledge, and the endorsement of realism against objectivism. Hoinski and Polansky emphasize the promise of Polanyi’s neo-Aristotelian framework, which argues that science is won through reflection on reality.

Cartesian Fingerprints in Beckett's Imagination Dead Imagine

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-243
Author(s):  
Irit Degani-Raz
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Limiting Case

The idea that Beckett investigates in his works the limits of the media he uses has been widely discussed. In this article I examine the fiction Imagination Dead Imagine as a limiting case in Beckett's exploration of limits at large and the limits of the media he uses in particular. Imagination Dead Imagine is shown to be the self-reflexive act of an artist who imaginatively explores the limits of that ultimate medium – the artist's imagination itself. My central aim is to show that various types of structural homologies (at several levels of abstraction) can be discerned between this poetic exploration of the limits of imagination and Cartesian thought. The homologies indicated here transcend what might be termed as ‘Cartesian typical topics’ (such as the mind-body dualism, the cogito, rationalism versus empiricism, etc.). The most important homologies that are indicated here are those existing between the role of imagination in Descartes' thought - an issue that until only a few decades ago was quite neglected, even by Cartesian scholars - and Beckett's perception of imagination. I suggest the use of these homologies as a tool for tracing possible sources of inspiration for Beckett's Imagination Dead Imagine.

Do conhecimento objetivo ao problema corpo - mente

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-113
Author(s):  
Nathalia Gleyce dos Santos Salazar
Keyword(s):  
Third World ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Karl Popper ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Third ◽  
Belo Horizonte ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Mind

Resumo:  Apresenta-se uma discussão sobre o conhecimento e a tese dos três mundos no qual a interação entre estes nos aproxima da verdade do problema corpo-mente, tendo em vista, uma nova proposta de solução. O terceiro mundo é uma peça importante neste trabalho; sendo assim, analisaremos o que Popper designa como Mundo 3, em que ele consiste e o papel da linguagem como diferencial do ser humano. Apresentamos as críticas popperianas às correntes monistas e dualistas, ousando fazer uma crítica a Teoria do Conhecimento tradicional. Desta forma, a proposta apresentada por este filósofo da ciência diferencia-se de tudo que estava sendo feito até então, por isso, o interesse de apresentar essa abordagem pouco trabalhada de Popper. Palavras-chave: Conhecimento. Corpo-Mente. Mundo 3.Abstract: In this work, we present a discussion about knowledge and the theory of the three worlds in which the interaction between them approaches to the truth of the mind-body problem, in view of a proposed solution. The third world is an important piece in this work. Therefore, we will analyze what Popper describes as World 3, what it is and the role of language as a differential of human beings. We present Popper’s criticisms to the monistic and dualistic currents, daring to criticize the theory of traditional knowledge. Thus, the proposal of science presented by this philosopher differs from everything that was being done until then. This explains the interest in presenting this unusual approach to Popper.Keywords: Knowledge. Body-Mind.  World 3. REFERÊNCIASLEAL-TOLEDO, Gustavo . Popper e seu Cérebro. Revista da Faculdade de Letras. Série Filosofia, v. XXIII, p. 59-68, 2007.POPPER, Karl Raimund. A Lógica da Pesquisa Científica. Tradução de Leonidas Hegenberg e Octanny Silveira de Mota.  São Paulo: editora Cultrix. 2007.POPPER, Karl Raimund. Conhecimento Objetivo: uma abordagem evolucionária. Tradução de Milton Amado.  Belo Horizonte, Ed. Itatiaia Ilimitada. São Paulo, Ed. Da Universidade São Paulo, 1975._______.  O Conhecimento e o Problema Corpo –Mente. Tradução Joaquim Alberto Ferreira Gomes. Lisboa, Ed. 70. 1996.   _______. Conjecturas e Refutações: o desenvolvimento do conhecimento científico. Trad. Benedita Bettencourt. Ed. Livraria Almedina, 2006._______.  O Eu e Seu Cérebro. Karl Popper, Jonh C. Eccles;Tradução Silvio Meneses Garcia, Helena Cristina F. Arantes e Aurélio Osmar C. de Oliveira. – Campinas, SP: Papirus; Brasília, DF: Editora Universidade de Brasília. 1991.   _______. O Racionalismo Crítico na Política. Tradução de Maria da Conceição Côrte – Real. Brasília, Editora Universidade de Brasília, 2ª edição, 1994, 74p.SEARLE, John R. La construcción de la realidad social. Trad. Antoni Domènech. Barcelona: Paidós Ibérico, 1995.  

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