scholarly journals Individual differences in task-unrelated thought in university classrooms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Kane ◽  
Nicholas P. Carruth ◽  
John H. Lurquin ◽  
Paul J. Silvia ◽  
Bridget A. Smeekens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Situational Interest ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Media Multitasking ◽  
Final Grade ◽  
Multiple Group ◽  
Course Grades ◽  
Thought Probes ◽  
Course Outcomes

AbstractThis study investigated what academic traits, attitudes, and habits predict individual differences in task-unrelated thought (TUT) during lectures, and whether this TUT propensity mediates associations between academic individual differences and course outcomes (final grade and situational interest evoked by material). Undergraduates (N = 851) from ten psychology classes at two US universities responded to thought probes presented during two early-course lectures; they also indicated sitting in the front, middle, or back of the classroom. At each probe, students categorized their thought content, such as indicating on-task thought or TUT. Students also completed online, academic-self-report questionnaires at the beginning of the course and a situational interest questionnaire at the end. Average TUT rate was 24% but individuals’ rates varied widely (SD = 18%). TUT rates also increased substantially from the front to back of the classroom, and modestly from the first to second half of class periods. Multiple-group analyses (with ten classroom groups) indicated that: (a) classroom media-multitasking habits, initial interest in the course topic, and everyday propensity for mind-wandering and boredom accounted for unique variance in TUT rate (beyond other predictors); (b) TUT rate accounted for unique (modest) variance in course grades and situational interest; and (c) classroom media multitasking and propensity for mind-wandering and boredom had indirect associations with course grades via TUT rate, and these predictor variables, along with initial interest, had indirect associations with end-of-term situational interest via TUT rate. Some academic traits and behaviors predict course outcomes in part because they predict off-task thought during class.

scholarly journals Individual Differences in Task-Unrelated Thought in University Classrooms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Kane ◽  
Nicholas Carruth ◽  
John Lurquin ◽  
Paul Silvia ◽  
Bridget Anne Smeekens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Situational Interest ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Media Multitasking ◽  
Final Grade ◽  
Multiple Group ◽  
Course Grades ◽  
Thought Probes ◽  
Course Outcomes

This study investigated what academic traits, attitudes, and habits predict individual differences in task-unrelated thought (TUT) during lectures, and whether this TUT propensity mediates associations between academic individual differences and course outcomes (final grade and situational interest evoked by material). Undergraduates (N=851) from 10 psychology classes at two U.S. universities responded to thought probes presented during two early-course lectures; they also indicated sitting in the front, middle, or back of the classroom. At each probe, students categorized their thought content, such as indicating on-task thought or TUT. Students also completed online, academic-self-report questionnaires at the beginning of the course and a situational interest questionnaire at the end. Average TUT rate was 24% but individuals’ rates varied widely (SD=18%). TUT rates also increased substantially from the front to back of the classroom, and modestly from the first to second half of class periods. Multiple-group analyses (with 10 classroom groups) indicated that: (a) classroom media-multitasking habits, initial interest in the course topic, and everyday propensity for mind-wandering and boredom accounted for unique variance in TUT rate (beyond other predictors); (b) TUT rate accounted for unique (modest) variance in course grades and situational interest; and (c) classroom media multitasking and propensity for mind-wandering and boredom had indirect associations with course grades via TUT rate, and these predictor variables, along with initial interest, had indirect associations with end-of-term situational interest via TUT rate. Some academic traits and behaviors predict course outcomes in part because they predict off-task thought during class.

scholarly journals Daydream believer: Rumination, self-reflection and the temporal focus of mind wandering content

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 794-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy Shrimpton ◽  
Deborah McGann ◽  
Leigh M. Riby
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Temporal Focus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Dispositional Differences

Current research into mind-wandering is beginning to acknowledge that this process is one of heterogeneity. Following on from previous findings highlighting the role of self-focus during mind wandering, the present study aimed to examine individual differences in rumination and self-reflection and the impact such styles of self-focus may have on mind-wandering experiences. Thirty-three participants were required to complete the Sustained Attention Response Task (SART), aimed at inducing mind-wandering episodes, whilst also probing the content of thought in terms of temporal focus. Self-report questionnaires were also administered after the SART to measure dispositional differences in style and beliefs regarding mind-wandering and assessments of individual differences in rumination and self-reflection. Those individuals with reflective self-focus showed a strong positive association with positive and constructive thoughts. Critically, ruminative self-focus was positively associated with a tendency for the mind to wander towards anguished fantasies, failures and aggression, but it was also positively associated with positive and constructive thoughts. Furthermore, while dispositional differences in self-focus showed no relationship with the temporal perspective of thoughts when probed during a cognitive task, performance on the task itself was related to whether participants were thinking about the past, present or future during that activity. Such findings are discussed in line with previous research, and provide a further step towards accounting for the heterogeneous nature of mind-wandering.

Individual differences related to present and future mental orientation predict the sense of time

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Wittmann ◽  
Henrike Fiedler ◽  
Wilhelm Gros ◽  
Julia Mossbridge ◽  
Cintia Retz Lucci
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Time Perspective ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Waiting Period ◽  
Frequency Scale ◽  
Temporal Intervals ◽  
Sense Of Time

With this cross-sectional study we investigated how individual differences regarding present- and future-oriented mental processes are related to the experience of time in the seconds and minutes range. A sample of students (N = 100) filled out self-report measures of time perspective (ZTPI), mindfulness (FMI), impulsiveness (BIS), and the daydreaming frequency scale (DDFS). Furthermore they were asked to (a) retrospectively judge the duration of a waiting period of five minutes, and (b) to prospectively perform an visual duration reproduction task with intervals of 3, 6, and 9 seconds. Regression models show that (a) being more present fatalistic (ZTPI) and more impulsive are related to longer duration estimates of the waiting period, and (b) having a stronger propensity to daydream leads to a stronger under-reproduction of temporal intervals. These findings show how personality traits related to present orientation are associated with the state-like perception of duration.

Individual differences in white and grey matter structure associated with verbal habits of thought

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin C. Hayes ◽  
Katherine L Alfred ◽  
Rachel Pizzie ◽  
Joshua S. Cetron ◽  
David J. M. Kraemer
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Self Report ◽  
White Matter Tracts

Modality specific encoding habits account for a significant portion of individual differences reflected in functional activation during cognitive processing. Yet, little is known about how these habits of thought influence long-term structural changes in the brain. Traditionally, habits of thought have been assessed using self-report questionnaires such as the visualizer-verbalizer questionnaire. Here, rather than relying on subjective reports, we measured habits of thought using a novel behavioral task assessing attentional biases toward picture and word stimuli. Hypothesizing that verbal habits of thought are reflected in the structural integrity of white matter tracts and cortical regions of interest, we used diffusion tensor imaging and volumetric analyses to assess this prediction. Using a whole-brain approach, we show that word bias is associated with increased volume in several bilateral language regions, in both white and grey matter parcels. Additionally, connectivity within white matter tracts within an a priori speech production network increased as a function of word bias. These results demonstrate long-term structural and morphological differences associated with verbal habits of thought.

scholarly journals A meta-analysis on individual differences in primary emotional systems and Big Five personality traits

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Marengo ◽  
Kenneth L. Davis ◽  
Gökçe Özkarar Gradwohl ◽  
Christian Montag
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Big Five Personality Traits ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Affective Neuroscience ◽  
Emotional Systems

AbstractThe Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) were constructed as a self-report assessment to measure individual differences in Jaak Panksepp’s cross-species primary emotional systems: SEEKING, PLAY, CARE (positive emotions) and FEAR, SADNESS, ANGER (negative emotions). Beginning with the first published work on the ANPS in 2003, individual differences on the ANPS measures of these six primary emotional systems have been consistently linked to Big Five personality traits. From a theoretical perspective, these primary emotional systems arising from subcortical regions, shed light on the nature of the Big Five personality traits from an evolutionary perspective, because each of these primary emotional systems represent a tool for survival endowing mammalian species with inherited behavioral programs to react appropriately to complex environments. The present work revisited 21 available samples where both ANPS and Big Five measures have been administered. Our meta-analytical analysis provides solid evidence that high SEEKING relates to high Openness to Experience, high PLAY to high Extraversion, high CARE/low ANGER to high Agreeableness and high FEAR/SADNESS/ANGER to high Neuroticism. This seems to be true regardless of the ANPS inventory chosen, although much more work is needed in this area. Associations between primary emotional systems and Conscientiousness were in the lower effect size area across all six primary emotions, thereby supporting the idea that Conscientiousness rather seems to be less directly related with the subcortical primary emotions and likely is the most cognitive/cortical personality construct out of the Big Five. In sum, the present work underlines the idea that individual differences in primary emotional systems represent evolutionarily ancient foundations of human personality, given their a) meaningful links to the prominent Big Five model and b) their origins lying in subcortical areas of the human brain.

scholarly journals Mind-wandering Is Accompanied by Both Local Sleep and Enhanced Processes of Spatial Attention Allocation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Wienke ◽  
Mandy V Bartsch ◽  
Lena Vogelgesang ◽  
Christoph Reichert ◽  
Hermann Hinrichs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Search Task ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Cortical Processing ◽  
High Frequency Activity ◽  
External Stimuli ◽  
Local Sleep

Abstract Mind-wandering (MW) is a subjective, cognitive phenomenon, in which thoughts move away from the task toward an internal train of thoughts, possibly during phases of neuronal sleep-like activity (local sleep, LS). MW decreases cortical processing of external stimuli and is assumed to decouple attention from the external world. Here, we directly tested how indicators of LS, cortical processing, and attentional selection change in a pop-out visual search task during phases of MW. Participants’ brain activity was recorded using magnetoencephalography, MW was assessed via self-report using randomly interspersed probes. As expected, the performance decreased under MW. Consistent with the occurrence of LS, MW was accompanied by a decrease in high-frequency activity (HFA, 80–150 Hz) and an increase in slow wave activity (SWA, 1–6 Hz). In contrast, visual attentional selection as indexed by the N2pc component was enhanced during MW with the N2pc amplitude being directly linked to participants’ performance. This observation clearly contradicts accounts of attentional decoupling that would predict a decrease in attention-related responses to external stimuli during MW. Together, our results suggest that MW occurs during phases of LS with processes of attentional target selection being upregulated, potentially to compensate for the mental distraction during MW.

EXPRESS: Bored, distracted and forgetful – The impact of mind wandering and boredom on memory encoding

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110263
Author(s):  
Philippe Blondé ◽  
Marco Sperduti ◽  
Dominique Makowski ◽  
Pascale Piolino
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Memory Encoding ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Thought Probes ◽  
The Impact

Mind wandering, defined as focusing attention toward task unrelated thoughts, is a common mental state known to impair memory encoding. This phenomenon is closely linked to boredom. Very few studies, however, have tested the potential impact of boredom on memory encoding. Thus, the present study aimed at manipulating mind wandering and boredom during an incidental memory encoding task, to test their differential impact on memory encoding. Thirty-two participants performed a variant of the n-back task in which they had to indicate if the current on-screen object was the same as the previous one (1-back; low working memory load) or the one presented three trials before (3-back; high working memory load). Moreover, thought probes assessing either mind wandering or boredom were randomly presented. Afterward, a surprise recognition task was delivered. Results showed that mind wandering and boredom were highly correlated, and both decreased in the high working memory load condition, while memory performance increased. Although both boredom and mind wandering predicted memory performance taken separately, we found that mind wandering was the only reliable predictor of memory performance when controlling for boredom and working memory load. Model comparisons also revealed that a model with boredom only was outperformed by a model with mind wandering only and a model with both mind wandering and boredom, suggesting that the predictive contribution of boredom in the complete model is minimal. The present results confirm the high correlation between mind wandering and boredom and suggest that the hindering effect of boredom on memory is subordinate to the effect of mind wandering.

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