DOCSLIB.ORG

Challenges and Potential Benefits of Mind Wandering in Education

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Challenges and Potential Benefits of Mind Wandering in Education Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology © 2016 American Psychological Association 2016, Vol. 2, No. 2, 134–146 2332-2101/16/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/stl0000060 TEACHER-READY THEORY REVIEW The Mind That Wanders: Challenges and Potential Benefits of Mind Wandering in Education Amy A. Pachai, Anita Acai, Andrew B. LoGiudice, and Joseph A. Kim McMaster University Our minds naturally wander for much of our daily lives. Here we review how mind wandering, or task-unrelated thought, impacts comprehension during lectures and reading, and how it relates to general academic success. In some situations, mind wandering may not hinder performance, and may even aid in creativity, future plan- ning, problem solving, and relief from boredom. We distill research on the negative and potentially positive effects of mind wandering to suggest ways that teachers can reduce and redirect mind wandering in the classroom. To conclude we suggest that, rather than attempt to eliminate mind wandering entirely, we should attempt to alleviate mind wandering at the most strategic times, using research to suggest what techniques should be applied, and when. Keywords: mind wandering, learning, focused attention, education It is unreasonable to expect students to gelhardt, & Kingstone, 2012; Smallwood, continuously pay attention while listening to a Obonsawin, & Reid, 2002; Szpunar, Khan, & lecture, reading a textbook, or studying for a Schacter, 2013), making lengthy lectures or test. The mind naturally wanders, shifting at- study sessions even more problematic. A re- tention from the primary learning task at hand cent surge in mind wandering research has to internal, personally relevant thoughts produced findings relevant to educators. In (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). Indeed, the what follows, we summarize the theory and prevalence of mind wandering makes it a methods in this field of research, then review critical topic for educators—estimates for how mind wandering is related to lecture off-task thought range from 30%–50% of the comprehension, reading, general academic time during our daily lives (Giambra, 1995; ability, problem solving, and future planning. Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010) and 20%– To conclude, we outline practical tips for 40% of the time during educationally relevant educators to manage student attention in the tasks such as reading (Schooler, Reichle, & classroom. Halpern, 2004). Mind wandering also seems to occur more frequently as time spent on a Theories of Mind Wandering task increases (Risko, Anderson, Sarwal, En- With mind wandering research still in its early stages, the theoretical underpinnings are This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. not widely agreed upon and experimental This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. methods are still developing. Nevertheless, Amy A. Pachai, Department of Psychology, Neurosci- some key principles have begun to emerge. ence and Behaviour, McMaster University; Anita Acai, Theoretical models of mind wandering often Program for Educational Research and Development, Mc- Master University; Andrew B. LoGiudice and Joseph A. implicate an executive control system, Kim, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behav- thought to manage a number of higher-level iour, McMaster University. cognitive processes related to the onset and Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- maintenance of task-unrelated thought, in- dressed to Amy A. Pachai, Department of Psychcology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 cluding the direction of attention and creating Main Street West Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1. E-mail: new responses or solutions (Unsworth, [email protected] Redick, Lakey, & Young, 2010). Of the the- 134 MIND WANDERING IN EDUCATION 135 oretical models that exist, we outline four where personally relevant concerns draw atten- hypotheses that capture the varied perspec- tion away from external stimuli due to a failure tives on mind wandering, many of which rely of the executive control system to maintain ex- on the executive control system. ternal attention (Smallwood, 2013). Perceptual Decoupling Resource Control Account The perceptual decoupling hypothesis as- The more recent resource control account sumes that certain mental processes are com- uniquely suggests that mind wandering is a de- mon to both mind wandering and task-related fault state of our cognitive system (Thomson, thought (Antrobus, Singer, Goldstein, & Fort- Besner, & Smilek, 2015). This account argues gang, 1970). These mental processes cannot be that both mind wandering and attention to ex- optimally devoted to both task-related and task- ternal tasks draw on a limited pool of resources. unrelated thought simultaneously. When mind Like the executive failure hypothesis, the re- wandering occurs, the executive control system source control account implicates an executive presumably allows these mental processes to control system in mind wandering. However, decouple from the external environment, reduc- under this hypothesis, the executive control sys- ing attention to the external environment and tem allots the limited resources to both mind thereby allowing an internal train of thought to wandering and the current task in an attempt to be maintained without disruption (Kane & promote optimal performance. As time pro- Engle, 2002). Critically, this hypothesis does gresses, the executive control system depletes not explain why mind wandering occurs, but and is less able to keep the default state from describes what processes ensure the continuity intruding, thus leading to mind wandering and of a bout of mind wandering (Smallwood, poorer task performance. This hypothesis 2013). uniquely suggests that mind wandering is not necessarily a failure of our cognitive system, Executive Failure Hypothesis but inherent to it. These theories conclude that mind wandering The executive failure hypothesis similarly is a result of limited cognitive resources and can implicates the executive control system in mind explain why it interferes with task performance. wandering, but expands the role of this system We cannot selectively attend to all important beyond perceptual decoupling; specifically, it is stimuli, so our cognitive system must have thought to reduce external and internal distrac- some mechanism for optimally allocating re- tions to sustain attention to the primary task sources—a posited function of the executive (McVay & Kane, 2009; Smallwood, 2013). Ac- control system. At the extreme, mind wandering cording to this account, mind wandering occurs is so prevalent that it may be inherent to the when the executive control system fails to in- system, as the resource control account sug- hibit distracting internal thoughts. In other gests. words, this hypothesis classifies mind wander- ing as an unintentional failure of our cognitive system. Measuring Mind Wandering It is useful to briefly review how researchers This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. Current Concerns Hypothesis measure mind wandering. The most common This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Contrary to the mechanistic perspective of method, known as experience sampling, in- the two previously discussed hypotheses, the volves periodically presenting participants with current concerns hypothesis focuses on why a thought probe in the form of a visual or mind wandering occurs on a broader scale. It auditory cue (e.g., a prompt appearing on a posits that an individual’s goals and desires screen or the sound of a bell) and asking them to trigger mind wandering by drawing attention self-report their current state of mind wandering away from the current external environment (Szpunar et al., 2013). The questions range from (Klinger, Gregoire, & Barta, 1973). This line of very direct (e.g., “Were you mind wandering thinking may work in conjunction with the just before the probe?” or “Was your attention more mechanistic hypotheses discussed above, focused on or off task just before the probe?”) to 136 PACHAI, ACAI, LOGIUDICE, AND KIM less direct (e.g., “What were you thinking about on the relation between default network activa- just before the probe?”). These more general tion and mind wandering is needed to determine questions allow researchers to assess whether whether it can be used to predict the presence of the contents of a bout of mind wandering are mind wandering specifically, as opposed to consistent with the current concerns hypothesis. merely the absence of task-related activity. Participants may also subjectively rate the qual- Eye tracking has recently gained traction as ity of their attention—for example, whether it another objective approach for detecting mind was superficial and accompanied by frequent wandering. Researchers have been able to show distractions, or whether it was active and inten- that participants blink significantly more often tional (Szpunar et al., 2013). Probe results from when mind wandering than when on-task classroom settings can also be correlated with (Smilek, Carriere, & Cheyne, 2010). This find- the instructor’s behavior and/or level of engage- ing supports an association between mind wan- ment (Szpunar et al., 2013). In sum, these direct dering and perceptual decoupling, which means probes of inattention can be used to understand
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Personality and Empathy in Counseling Students a Dissertation
    Personality and Empathy in Counseling Students A dissertation presented to the faculty of The Patton College of Education of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Kathleen A. Kutsko May, 2019 © 2019 Kathleen A. Kutsko. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled The Relationship Between Personality and Empathy in Counseling Students by KATHLEEN A. KUTSKO has been approved for the Department of Counseling and Higher Education and The Patton College of Education by Yegan Pillay Associate Professor of Counseling and Higher Education Renée A. Middleton Dean, The Patton College of Education 3 Abstract KUTSKO, KATHLEEN A., Ph.D. May 2019, Counselor Education The Relationship Between Personality and Empathy in Counseling Students Director of Dissertation: Yegan Pillay Reports of increased incidences of violence, hate crimes, and discrimination in communities around the globe may be linked to a lack of empathy. Empathy is especially important to cultivate for counselors, as research indicates that empathy is an essential ingredient for developing successful counseling relationships, leading to positive change for clients. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between personality and empathy in a sample of counseling students using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® as the personality measure and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index as the empathy measure. A series of MANOVAs were conducted with results reporting significant differences in empathy based on personality type. Specifically, the type preferences of Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Perceiving had significantly higher empathy scores than their opposite preferences of Introversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judging, respectively. These findings provide a starting point for future investigations in the areas of personality and empathy in counselor education and supervision programs.
    [Show full text]
  • Examining the Therapist's Internal Experience When a Patient Dissociates in Session
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Doctorate in Social Work (DSW) Dissertations School of Social Policy and Practice Spring 5-13-2013 Do You Know What I Know? Examining the Therapist's Internal Experience when a Patient Dissociates in Session Jacqueline R. Strait University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations_sp2 Part of the Psychology Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Strait, Jacqueline R., "Do You Know What I Know? Examining the Therapist's Internal Experience when a Patient Dissociates in Session" (2013). Doctorate in Social Work (DSW) Dissertations. 36. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations_sp2/36 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations_sp2/36 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Do You Know What I Know? Examining the Therapist's Internal Experience when a Patient Dissociates in Session Abstract There is rich theoretical literature that cites the importance of the therapist’s use of self as a way of knowing, especially in cases where a patient has been severely traumatized in early life. There is limited empirical research that explores the in-session experience of therapists working with traumatized patients in order to support these claims. This study employed a qualitative design to explore a therapist’s internal experience when a patient dissociates in session. The aim of this study was to further develop the theoretical construct of dissociative attunement to explain the way that therapist and patient engage in a nonverbal process of synchronicity that has the potential to communicate dissociated images, affect or somatosensory experiences by way of the therapist’s internal experience.
    [Show full text]
  • Love Is the Triumph of the Imagination: Daydreams About Significant Others Are Associated with Increased Happiness, Love and Connection ⇑ Giulia L
    Consciousness and Cognition 33 (2015) 135–144 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Consciousness and Cognition journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/concog Love is the triumph of the imagination: Daydreams about significant others are associated with increased happiness, love and connection ⇑ Giulia L. Poerio a, , Peter Totterdell a, Lisa-Marie Emerson a, Eleanor Miles b a Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, UK b School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK article info abstract Article history: Social relationships and interactions contribute to daily emotional well-being. The emo- Received 28 August 2014 tional benefits that come from engaging with others are known to arise from real events, but do they also come from the imagination during daydreaming activity? Using experi- ence sampling methodology with 101 participants, we obtained 371 reports of naturally Keywords: occurring daydreams with social and non-social content and self-reported feelings before Daydreaming and after daydreaming. Social, but not non-social, daydreams were associated with Mind wandering increased happiness, love and connection and this effect was not solely attributable to Emotion regulation the emotional content of the daydreams. These effects were only present when participants Close relationships Experience sampling were lacking in these feelings before daydreaming and when the daydream involved imag- ining others with whom the daydreamer had a high quality relationship. Findings are con- sistent with the idea that social daydreams may function to regulate emotion: imagining close others may serve the current emotional needs of daydreamers by increasing positive feelings towards themselves and others. Ó 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • This Article Appeared in a Journal Published by Elsevier. the Attached
    This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Consciousness and Cognition 21 (2012) 401–407 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Consciousness and Cognition journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/concog Short Communication How daydreaming relates to life satisfaction, loneliness, and social support: The importance of gender and daydream content ⇑ Raymond A. Mar a, , Malia F. Mason b, Aubrey Litvack a a Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada b Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA article info abstract Article history: Daydreaming appears to have a complex relationship with life satisfaction and happiness. Received 22 March 2011 Here we demonstrate that the facets of daydreaming that predict life satisfaction differ Available online 26 October 2011 between men and women (Study 1; N = 421), that the content of daydreams tends to be social others (Study 2; N = 17,556), and that who we daydream about influences the rela- Keywords: tion between daydreaming and happiness variables like life satisfaction, loneliness, and Daydreaming perceived social support (Study 3; N = 361).
    [Show full text]
  • A Creative Representation of Maladaptive Daydreaming
    DAYDREAMED: A CREATIVE REPRESENTATION OF MALADAPTIVE DAYDREAMING An Undergraduate Research Scholars Thesis by KATHRYN DOROTHY PATTISON Submitted to the Undergraduate Research Scholars program at Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation as an UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SCHOLAR Approved by Research Advisor: Dr. Jason Harris May 2020 Major: English TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... 1 DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................ 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... 4 KEY WORDS ............................................................................................................................. 5 SECTION I. RESEARCH QUESTION/MOTIVATION/ARTIFACT ............................................ 6 II. HISTORY/INTERSECTIONS ................................................................................. 10 History ............................................................................................................... 10 Intersections ....................................................................................................... 15 III. EXPLANATION OF EXHIBIT/VENUE ................................................................. 17 IV. REFLECTION ........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Daydream Archive
    CHAPTER 5 Daydream Archive Felicity Callard Abstract Felicity Callard’s interest in the long history of research into daydreaming, fantasy and reverie, and the ways in which this subterranean tradition might productively complicate contemporary cognitive scientific investigations of mind wandering, has been a significant focus of her work for Hubbub. In this chapter, she conjures up an imaginary archive of the daydream, as yet dispersed across disciplinary fields and points in time and space, alludes to some of its heterogeneous contents, and asks what the power of such an archive-to-come might be. Keywords Digression · Fantasy · History of psychology · History of the human sciences · Mind wandering ‘People would rather be electrically shocked than left alone with their thoughts.’ Such was the title that Science used to report on a study in which college students, left in a room with only their own company, seemed to prefer ‘doing mundane external activities’ and even to ‘administer electric shocks to themselves’ rather than be left with their own thoughts. The F. Callard (*) Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2016 35 F. Callard et al. (eds.), The Restless Compendium, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-45264-7_5 36 F. CALLARD researchers ended their article with the strong – and disputable – claim: ‘The untutored mind does not like to be alone with itself’.1 Their study is one of many recent scientific contributions to a bulky and heterogeneous body of work (which extends across many centuries,i and involves many kinds of practitioners) that both investigates and makes strong interpre- tations about the shape, qualities and content of humans’ inner worlds when they are not predominantly attending to the world outside.
    [Show full text]
  • Sozialpsychologie 21 1
    UM STICHWORTE ERWEITERTE INHALTSÜBERSICHT I. TEIL: GESCHICHTE DER SOZIALPSYCHOLOGIE 21 1. Kapitel: Sozialpsychologie als Psychologie der Gesellschaft 27 1.1 Bewußtseinsanaloge Psychologie der Gesellschaft 28 1.1.1 Herbarts Grundlegung der Sozialpsychologie 28 Herbarts Individualpsychologie: Erfahrung - Metaphysik - Allgemeine Metaphysik: Reale, Zusammen, mögliche Störung und Selbsterhaltungsreaktionen, objektive Scheinwelten, mechanische Universalstruktur. Spezielle Metaphysik - Mathematik. Herbarts Psychologie der Gesellschaft. Herbarts Wurzelgedanken zusammengefaßt. 1.1.2 Lindners "Grundzüge der Socialpsychologie" 39 Prozeß der Zivilisation - Sozialpsychologie: Gegenstand und Aufgabe - mechanomorphe Sprache - Analogisierung - deduktiv-analogisierende Methode - Politische Psychologie - Rezeptions Herbarts. 1.1.3 Schäffles "Grundriß der Socialpsychologie" 46 Anschluß an Herbart - biomorphe Sprache - Drei-Welten-Lehre - Vergeistigung und Individuation - Aufgaben der Individual- und der Sozialpsychologie - konstitutive Bedeutung der Strukturanalogie - Beispiele strukturanaloger Verhältnisse: Innere und äußere Psychophysik, psychophysische Gesamtkraft, Schwelle. 1.2 Handlungsanaloge Psychologie der Gesellschaft 54 Ch. A. Ellwood - "functional psychology" - analogisierende Übertragung - Eigenständigkeit der Gruppe und wider den sozialen Individualismus - Sozialpsychologie - konkrete Analogien: Anpassung an die Umwelt, soziale Gewohnheiten, soziales Umlernen - Sozialpsychologie oder psychologische Soziologie. 1.3 Reflexanaloge Psychologie der
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Relationship Between Media Use and Maladaptive Daydreaming
    UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEDIA USE AND MALADAPTIVE DAYDREAMING A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication, Culture, and Technology By Handan Uslu, B.S. Washington, DC April 28, 2015 Copyright 2015 by Handan Uslu All Rights Reserved ii UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEDIA USE AND MALADAPTIVE DAYDREAMING Handan Uslu, B.S. Thesis Advisor: D. Linda Garcia, Ph.D. Thesis Reader: Leticia Bode, Ph. D. ABSTRACT Previous research about maladaptive daydreaming revealed media consumption’s role as a trigger and accompaniment of maladaptive daydreaming. This thesis builds on the previous literature, and explores how media consumption goes in tandem with maladaptive daydreaming by focusing on the behavioral dimensions of media use and daydreaming. For this purpose, literature from psychology, neuroscience, cultural studies, and media studies are synthesized. Daydreaming and media use are conceptualized as cultural practices that can be potentially addictive due to the rewarding experiences they provide. Subsequently, the relationship between maladaptive daydreaming and media use are analyzed in the context of the current interactive online media architecture. Specifically, maladaptive daydreaming patterns are analyzed in regard to three levels of media use: media use as a trigger for daydreaming, media use as an accompaniment of daydreaming, and online media use patterns as they relate to maladaptive daydreaming. To address these relationships, quantitative research is conducted. Postings were made to online platforms about maladaptive daydreaming, and an online survey is administered to 141 people who self-identify as maladaptive daydreamers.
    [Show full text]
  • Focused Daydreaming and Mind-Wandering
    Rev.Phil.Psych. DOI 10.1007/s13164-014-0221-4 Focused Daydreaming and Mind-Wandering Fabian Dorsch # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 Abstract In this paper, I describe and discuss two mental phenomena which are somewhat neglected in the philosophy of mind: focused daydreaming and mind- wandering. My aim is to show that their natures are rather distinct, despite the fact that we tend to classify both as instances of daydreaming. The first difference between the two, I argue, is that, while focused daydreaming is an instance of imaginative mental agency (i.e. mental agency with the purpose to voluntarily produce certain mental representations), mind-wandering is not—though this does not mean that mind- wandering cannot involve mental agency at all. This personal-level difference in agency and purposiveness has, furthermore, the consequence that instances of mind- wandering do not constitute unified and self-contained segments of the stream of consciousness—in stark contrast to focused daydreams. Besides, the two kinds of mental phenomena differ in whether they possess a narrative structure, and in how we may make sense of the succession of mental episodes involved. There are at least two distinct mental phenomena that we sometimes categorize as instances of ‘daydreaming’. On the one hand, there are what are typically called instances of mind-wandering.1 When we sit in a boring lecture or look out through the window of a moving train, we often stop attending to what is before our senses and give our mind relatively free reign. That is, we substantially lessen our control over the flow of mental episodes that constitutes our stream of consciousness and instead let ourselves be surprised and entertained by experiences and thoughts that follow each other more or less spontaneously, and which are typically concerned with frequently 1Discussions of mind-wandering—sometimes under the label of ‘daydreaming’—can be found in, for example, Singer and McCraven (1961), Smallwood and Schooler (2006), Zangwill (2006), Sutton (2010), and Metzinger (2013).
    [Show full text]
  • Development and Validation of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS) ⇑ Eli Somer A, , Jonathan Lehrfeld B, Jayne Bigelsen C, Daniela S
    Consciousness and Cognition 39 (2016) 77–91 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Consciousness and Cognition journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/concog Development and validation of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS) ⇑ Eli Somer a, , Jonathan Lehrfeld b, Jayne Bigelsen c, Daniela S. Jopp d,1 a School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Israel b Fordham University, New York, NY, USA c Anti-Human Trafficking Initiatives, Covenant House International, New York, NY, USA d University of Lausanne, Switzerland article info abstract Article history: This study describes the development of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS), a 14- Received 31 July 2015 item self-report instrument designed to gauge abnormal fantasizing. Our sample consisted Accepted 4 December 2015 of 447 English-speaking individuals from 45 different countries. A 3-correlated-factors model best presented the underlying dimensions Yearning, Kinesthesia and Impairment, capturing related rewarding experiences as well as psychological impairment of maladap- Keywords: tive daydreaming. MDS scores were associated with obsessive–compulsive behavior and Maladaptive daydreaming thoughts, dissociative absorption, attention deficit, and high sense of presence during day- Fantasy proneness dreaming, but less with psychotic symptoms. The MDS and its subscale demonstrated good Mind-wandering validity, sound internal consistency and temporal stability and discriminated well between self-identified individuals with and without maladaptive daydreaming. Considering the instrument’s high sensitivity and specificity levels, it seems an excellent measure for future investigation of MD that will, hopefully, shed light on the etiology and psycho-biological mechanisms involved in this mental condition, as well as on the development of effective MD treatment methods. Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Rumination, Self-Reflection and the Temporal Focus of Mind Wandering Content
    Europe's Journal of Psychology ejop.psychopen.eu | 1841-0413 Research Reports Daydream Believer: Rumination, Self-Reflection and the Temporal Focus of Mind Wandering Content Daisy Shrimpton a, Deborah McGann a, Leigh M. Riby* a [a] Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Abstract 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Tracking Potentiating States of Dissociation: an Intensive Clinical Case Study of Sleep, Daydreaming, Mood, and Depersonalization/Derealization
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Frontiers - Publisher Connector ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 17 August 2016 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01231 Tracking Potentiating States of Dissociation: An Intensive Clinical Case Study of Sleep, Daydreaming, Mood, and Depersonalization/Derealization Giulia L. Poerio 1, 2*, Stephen Kellett 3 and Peter Totterdell 2 1 Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK, 2 Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, 3 Centre for Psychological Services Research, University of Sheffield and Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK This study examined in real time the role of sleep and daydreaming as potentiating states for subsequent dissociation in depersonalization/derealization disorder (DDD). Research and theory suggests that dissociation may be exacerbated and maintained by a labile sleep-wake cycle in which “dream-like” mentation intrudes into waking life and fuels dissociative symptoms. We explore and extend this idea by examining the state of daydreaming in dissociation. Daydreaming is a state of consciousness between Edited by: dreaming and waking cognition that involves stimulus-independent and task-unrelated Dalena Van Heugten-Van Der Kloet, Oxford Brookes University, UK mentation. We report the results of a unique intensive N = 1 study with an individual Reviewed by: meeting diagnostic criteria for DDD. Using experience-sampling methodology, the Mark Blagrove, participant rated (six times daily for 40 days) current daydreaming, mood, and dissociative Swansea University, UK Caroline L. Horton, symptoms. At the start of each day sleep quality and duration was also rated. Bishop Grosseteste University, UK Daydreaming was reported on 45% of occasions and significantly predicted greater *Correspondence: dissociation, in particular when daydreams were repetitive and negative (but not fanciful) Giulia L.
    [Show full text]