ERIC Number: EJ1376103
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Oct
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: EISSN-1939-1285
How Consistent Is Mind Wandering across Situations and Tasks? A Latent State-Trait Analysis
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v48 n10 p1385-1399 Oct 2022
Mind wandering is often defined as the phenomenon of one's attention drifting away from the current activity toward inner thoughts and feelings. In the laboratory, mind wandering is most frequently assessed with thought reports that are collected while people perform some ongoing activity. It is not clear, however, inasmuch the resulting mind-wandering reports are reflective of person-consistent mind-wandering tendencies and/or situation-driven fluctuations in mind-wandering behavior. To shed light on this question, we tested how consistent mind-wandering reports are across different measurement occasions and tasks to investigate to which extent they indicate individual differences in mind wandering. Results from a latent state-trait analysis showed that mind-wandering reports are occasion-consistent to some extent and also somewhat task-specific. Theoretical implications of these findings are that mind wandering in the laboratory is less affected by situational factors than often assumed, but that individual differences in mind wandering partly depend on the currently ongoing task. Future research should investigate the origins of task-specificity effects on mind wandering and researchers should further incorporate the idea of task-specificity in future theory building.
Descriptors: Attention, Influences, Activities, Reliability, Attention Control, Cognitive Processes, Evaluation, Measurement, Individual Differences, College Students
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A