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The Knowns and Unknowns of Boredom: a Review of the Literature

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The Knowns and Unknowns of Boredom: a Review of the Literature Exp Brain Res DOI 10.1007/s00221-017-4922-7 RESEARCH ARTICLE The knowns and unknowns of boredom: a review of the literature Quentin Raffaelli1 · Caitlin Mills1 · Kalina Christoff1,2 Received: 6 April 2016 / Accepted: 16 February 2017 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 Abstract Despite the ubiquitous nature of boredom, validated taxonomy of different types of boredom, could the definition, function, and correlates of boredom are serve to overcome the current roadblocks to facilitate fur- still poorly understood. In this review, we summarize the ther progress in our scientific understanding of boredom. “known” (consistent evidence) and “unknown” (inconsist- ent evidence) correlates of boredom. We show that bore- Keywords Boredom · Arousal · Task-unrelated thought · dom is consistently related to negative affect, task-unrelated Default network · Hippocampus · Anterior insula thought, over-estimation of elapsed time, reduced agency, as well as to over- and under-stimulation. Activation of the default mode network was consistent across the few availa- Introduction: what is boredom? ble fMRI studies, while the recruitment of other brain areas such as the hippocampus and anterior insular cortex, was a Boredom is known by many names: “anguish, ennui, notable but less consistent correlate of boredom. Other less tedium, the doldrums, humdrum, the blahs, apathy, listless- consistent correlates of boredom are also reviewed, such ness, stolidity, lethargy, [and] languor” (Brodsky 1989), as the level of arousal and the mental attributions given to name a few. While boredom is a commonly understood to fluctuations of attention. Finally, we identify two criti- term in the colloquial sense, it is much more difficult to cal factors that may contribute to current inconsistencies operationally define, and even harder to measure for empir- in the literature and may hamper further progress in the ical purposes. Part of this difficulty may stem from the fact field. First, there is relatively little consistency in the way that its connections to other important psychological phe- in which boredom has been operationalized across studies nomena are poorly understood: How is boredom related to to date, with operationalizations of boredom ranging from arousal? Does mind-wandering lead to boredom, or does it negative affect paired with under-stimulation, over-stimula- help us escape from it? And how does boredom relate to tion, to negative affect paired with a lack of goal-directed time perception, mood, and fatigue? actions. Second, preliminary evidence suggests the exist- Over the last few decades, researchers have advanced ence of distinct types of boredom (e.g., searching vs. apa- answers to some of these questions through correlational thetic) that may have different and sometimes even oppos- work, and in some cases by experimentally inducing bore- ing correlates. Adopting a more precise and consistent way dom. However, there is still an active debate about what of operationalizing boredom, and arriving at an empirically boredom actually is, and what its signature markers are. To this end, the current paper presents a comprehensive review on the neural, cognitive, and behavioral correlates of bore- * Kalina Christoff dom across multiple domains including, psychology, neu- [email protected] roscience, and education. Our main goal is to provide a 1 Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, roadmap for researchers who wish to better understand 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada boredom and further investigate boredom and its various 2 Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, correlates. 2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 2B5, Canada Vol.:(0123456789)1 3 Exp Brain Res Table 1 Overview of consistent and inconsistent correlates of boredom Proposed correlate Consistent/ inconsistent Direction (increased boredom is associated with) Attention Stimulation/task difficulty Consistent Over- and under-stimulation Task-unrelated thoughts Consistent More task-unrelated thoughts Attributions of attention Inconsistent Task-unrelated thoughts appraised as boredom vs. boredom arises after boredom ensues Time perception Consistent Over-estimated time perception Agency Consistent Reduced agency Affect Valence Consistent Negative affect Arousal Inconsistent High vs. low arousal Brain regions Default mode network Consistent/probable Activation in MTL and vmPFC Hippocampus Inconsistent Activated in 1/3 studies vs. deactivated in 1/3 studies Anterior insula Inconsistent Activated in 1/3 studies vs. deactivated in 1/3 studies Fatigue Probable More fatigue/sleepiness Mood Probable Negative mood Definitions and functions of boredom et al. 2012, p. 482): “an aversive state of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity”. Many definitions of boredom exist, arising from differ- Using this definition by Eastwood et al. (2012), boredom ent schools of thought (for a review, see Eastwood et al. has been proposed to have a unique function as an adap- 2012). While there are many similarities across defini- tive emotion (Bench and Lench 2013). That is, boredom is tions, the differences center around various contextual an emotional cue that one needs to pursue a goal different and explanatory factors (Malkovsky et al. 2012). Psy- from what one is currently pursuing. Once a person reaches chodynamic psychologists, such as Lipps (1904, cited in the aversive state of being unable to engage in a satisfying Lewinsky 1943), originally considered boredom to be the activity, boredom signals the need to look for something unpleasant feeling resulting from an unfulfilled need for different. More specifically, Bench and Lench (2013) pro- psychic stimulation. This unfulfillment can occur due to pose that boredom might arise during times when goals are either a lack of stimulation or a state of mind prevent- blocked or when strong emotions (e.g., happiness or sad- ing the bored individual from selecting and engaging in a ness) fade. In this sense, boredom can be viewed as a func- stimulating activity (Fenichel 1953). Existentialist theo- tionally adaptive emotion that helps us continuously reori- ries suggested that boredom results from the emptiness ent our goals. following feelings of meaninglessness (Frankl 1992). The While the current definitions and functional accounts of resulting absence of will causes inaction, which is expe- boredom have fostered the study of antecedents and con- rienced as unpleasant and devoid of all emotions except sequences of boredom, the “gold standard” markers of for the feeling of boredom. Arousal theorists view bore- boredom remain unclear. Beyond the signature negative dom as the outcome of a mismatch between the need for valence of boredom, there is much less consistency with arousal and the level of arousal provided by the envi- respect to other potential correlates. The aim of this review ronment (O’Hanlon 1981), while cognitivists consider is therefore to synthesize the existing literature to identify boredom to be an interaction between a non-stimulating those correlates of boredom that are “known” (that is, have environment and an individual’s impaired ability to con- been consistently observed) and those that are as of yet centrate (Fisher 1993). “unknown” (that is, are inconsistently observed). The first attempt to provide a common definition was In what follows, we discuss the state of the literature in made by Mikulas and Vodanovich (1993). They proposed each of five domains of work, each representing proposed that boredom can be defined as “a state of relatively low markers or correlates of boredom: attention, time percep- arousal and dissatisfaction, which is attributed to an inad- tion, agency, dimensions of affect, neural correlates, mood, equately stimulating situation”. The most commonly and fatigue. For each domain, we discuss whether the cur- employed definition of boredom at this point, however, is rent literature reflects a picture of relatively consistent the one formulated by Eastwood and colleagues (Eastwood or inconsistent correlates of boredom (see Table 1 for a 1 3 Exp Brain Res summary). Finally, consistent with the definitions of bore- require simple connections in kindergarten (e.g., describing dom discussed so far, this review encompasses the corre- the physical world in geometric shapes), challenge is built lates of boredom as a transient state, rather than boredom up incrementally as mastery is acquired over time (e.g., as a trait. learning trigonometry in high school). Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development captures this idea perfectly. From a developmental perspective, a child’s level of cog- Boredom as an attentional failure nitive development should adequately match the difficulty of a task, providing an optimal level of challenge, or else Attentional failures are generally related to boredom (East- it would be judged “too boring” (Englert et al. 1994). For wood et al. 2012; Gerritsen et al. 2014). In this section, example, boredom was strongly correlated with being we discuss evidence supporting the mismatch hypothesis, both under-challenged and over-challenged in a math class which proposes an account of how task requirements and (Daschmann et al. 2011). Similar tendencies might be man- attentional capacity are related to boredom. We also discuss ifested in the fast renewal rate of toys for younger children, how attributions of attentional failures may influence the or the highly specific age that is recommended for various subjective experience
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