TY - JOUR
T1 - Mind wandering and the attention network system
AU - Gonçalves, Óscar F.
AU - Rêgo, Gabriel
AU - Oliveira-Silva, Patrícia
AU - Leite, Jorge
AU - Carvalho, Sandra
AU - Fregni, Felipe
AU - Amaro, Edson
AU - Boggio, Paulo S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Óscar F. Gonçalves was funded by the Brazilian National Counsel for Scientific and Technological Development ( CNPq ) as a Special Visiting Researcher of the Science Without Borders program (grant number: 401143/2014-7 ). This study was partially conducted at the Neuropsychophysiology Lab from the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). Paulo S Boggio is a CNPq researcher fellow (311641/2015-6) Gabriel Gaudencio Rego was supported by a PhD grant from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP - 2015/18713-9). This work was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology ( FCT ) and European Union (FSE-POPH) with two individual grants ( SFRH/BPD/86041/2012 and SFRH/BPD/86027/2012 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Attention and mind wandering are often seen as anticorrelated. However, both attention and mind wandering are multi-component processes, and their relationship may be more complex than previously thought. In this study, we tested the interference of different types of thoughts as measured by a Thought Identification Task - TIT (on task thoughts, task related interference thoughts, external distractions, stimulus independent and task unrelated thoughts) on different components of the attention network system - ANT (alerting, orienting, executive). Results show that, during the ANT, individuals were predominantly involved in task related interference thoughts which, along with external distractors, significantly impaired their performance accuracy. However, mind wandering (i.e., stimulus independent and task unrelated thoughts) did not significantly interfere with accuracy in the ANT. No significant relationship was found between type of thoughts and alerting, orienting, or executive effects in the ANT. While task related interference thoughts and external distractions seemed to impair performance on the attention task, mind wandering was still compatible with satisfactory performance in the ANT. The present results confirmed the importance of differentiating type of “out of task” thoughts in studying the relationship between though distractors and attention.
AB - Attention and mind wandering are often seen as anticorrelated. However, both attention and mind wandering are multi-component processes, and their relationship may be more complex than previously thought. In this study, we tested the interference of different types of thoughts as measured by a Thought Identification Task - TIT (on task thoughts, task related interference thoughts, external distractions, stimulus independent and task unrelated thoughts) on different components of the attention network system - ANT (alerting, orienting, executive). Results show that, during the ANT, individuals were predominantly involved in task related interference thoughts which, along with external distractors, significantly impaired their performance accuracy. However, mind wandering (i.e., stimulus independent and task unrelated thoughts) did not significantly interfere with accuracy in the ANT. No significant relationship was found between type of thoughts and alerting, orienting, or executive effects in the ANT. While task related interference thoughts and external distractions seemed to impair performance on the attention task, mind wandering was still compatible with satisfactory performance in the ANT. The present results confirmed the importance of differentiating type of “out of task” thoughts in studying the relationship between though distractors and attention.
KW - Alerting
KW - Attention
KW - Conflict
KW - Executive control
KW - Mind wandering
KW - Orienting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84997169437&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2016.11.008
DO - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2016.11.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 27886519
AN - SCOPUS:84997169437
SN - 0001-6918
VL - 172
SP - 49
EP - 54
JO - Acta Psychologica
JF - Acta Psychologica
ER -