Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Alfonso Morillas-Romero, Alejandro De la Torre-Luque, Florence D. Mowlem, Philip Asherson
Summary: This study aimed to re-examine the factor structure of the Mind Excessively Wandering Scale (MEWS), validate the Spanish version of the MEWS, and conduct a cross-cultural validation of the MEWS in Spanish and UK samples. Results showed that the revised MEWS-v2.0 is a valid instrument to assess mind wandering, with two interrelated dimensions (uncontrolled thoughts and mental overactivity). The MEWS-v2.0 captured the same construct in both UK and Spanish samples.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Victor Martinez-Perez, Almudena Andreu, Alejandro Sandoval-Lentisco, Miriam Tortajada, Lucia B. Palmero, Alejandro Castillo, Guillermo Campoy, Luis J. J. Fuentes
Summary: This study investigates whether the processes leading to vigilance decrement and mind-wandering propensity can be differentiated or if they share a common mechanism. The results show that task demands exclusively affect vigilance decrement, while anodal tDCS exclusively affects the rate of mind-wandering. Moreover, resting state alpha-band activity predicts the effects of tDCS on mind-wandering propensity.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Leila Chaieb, Sofie Krakau, Thomas P. Reber, Juergen Fell
Summary: Mind wandering is a state where attention shifts from the task at hand to thoughts, feelings, and imaginations. Patients with major depression exhibit more mind wandering. A study found that mind wandering was reduced during auditory beat stimulation.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Aaron Kucyi, Michael Esterman, James Capella, Allison Green, Mai Uchida, Joseph Biederman, John D. E. Gabrieli, Eve M. Valera, Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli
Summary: This study developed a functional brain network-based marker for predicting mind wandering, specifically stimulus-independent, task-unrelated thought (SITUT), and demonstrated its generalizability and clinical relevance. The results showed that SITUT is represented by a common pattern of brain network interactions across different time scales and contexts. Using fMRI, the study revealed that occurrence of stimulus-independent thoughts can be predicted from coordinated activity between distinct brain regions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Matthew S. Welhaf, Jonathan B. Banks, Julie M. Bugg
Summary: Older adults report fewer negatively and neutrally valenced mind wandering compared to younger adults, but there is no age difference in reports of positively valenced mind wandering. Overall mind wandering rates predict poorer task performance for both age groups, but this is not influenced by emotional valence. Both older adults and younger adults show similar performance deficits during mind wandering, with increased errors and faster reaction times, suggesting mindless responding.
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Leila Chaieb, Christian Hoppe, Juergen Fell
Summary: This study reviews and discusses the role of mind wandering (MW) in depression, with a focus on its relation to rumination. While there is limited information available on MW in depression, the existing studies provide some insights into this topic. However, further research is needed to compare patients with depression to healthy controls, measure both MW and rumination, and explore biases in the assessment of MW.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Esperanza Jubera-Garcia, Wim Gevers, Filip Van Opstal
Summary: Mind wandering is a common phenomenon, with factors such as sleep quality, time of task performance, individual chronotype, and task duration all suggesting a relation to sleep pressure. This may be due to the local build-up of homeostatic sleep pressure during task performance in brain areas related to the task, serving both biological and functional purposes.
BIOCHEMICAL PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Christine A. Godwin, Derek M. Smith, Eric H. Schumacher
Summary: To investigate attention lapses, the study used a metronome response task and experience sampling with fMRI data. Results revealed increased activation in the default mode network during off-task thought and in certain brain regions during inattention. Functional connectivity changes were also observed between specific brain regions for spontaneous and constrained thoughts. Overall, the study found a monotonic increase in performance variability from on-task to inattention, but noted consistent differences between self-reported attention state and performance.
CONSCIOUSNESS AND COGNITION
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Philippe Blonde, Jean-Charles Girardeau, Marco Sperduti, Pascale Piolino
Summary: In the field of cognitive neuroscience, mind wandering has gained increasing interest in the past two decades. However, its effect on episodic memory encoding has only recently been studied and there is currently no systematic synthesis on this topic. This systematic review examined the literature on mind wandering and episodic memory, finding that stimulus-independent mind wandering negatively affects the encoding of both words and audio-visual stimuli. However, some studies suggest a potential positive effect of stimulus-dependent mind wandering on episodic memory encoding. Theoretical explanations, limitations of existing research, and possible future research directions are discussed.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Cybernetics
Myoungju Shin, Dimitar Taseski, Karen Murphy
Summary: Previous findings on the relationship between media multitasking, sustained attention, and inhibitory control have been inconsistent. This study utilized a three-state attentional disengagement model to examine these relationships and found that heavier media multitasking was associated with poorer sustained attention and inhibitory control. The findings also revealed that heavier media multitaskers were more likely to mind wander and make automatic responses during a task. Additionally, higher media use scores were related to higher levels of attentional impulsivity and boredom proneness.
BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Rebecca Kahmann, Yesim Ozuer, Claire M. Zedelius, Erik Bijleveld
Summary: The relationship between text difficulty and mind wandering during reading is linear, contrary to the expected U-shaped pattern. Text interest moderates the effect of text difficulty on mind wandering. Furthermore, mind wandering is associated with poorer performance on comprehension tests.
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH-PSYCHOLOGISCHE FORSCHUNG
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Lena Steindorf, Jan Rummel, C. Dennis Boywitt
Summary: This study examined the Unconscious Thought Theory through analyzing data from multiple experiments. The findings suggested that less problem deliberation is associated with better performance in certain situations. Additionally, the study found that explicit thought awareness diminishes the Unconscious Thought Effect, which is an interesting discovery.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neuroimaging
Natali Bozhilova, Jonna Kuntsi, Katya Rubia, Giorgia Michelini, Philip Asherson
Summary: The study found that individuals with ADHD exhibit deficits in early sensory processing and attention allocation during tasks with high cognitive demands, and these differences were not significant after controlling for MW frequency. Adults with ADHD show attenuated early sensory processing during task focus compared to controls, but not during mind wandering episodes.
NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Agnieszka Zuberer, Aaron Kucyi, Ayumu Yamashita, Charley M. Wu, Martin Walter, Eve M. Valera, Michael Esterman
Summary: Sustained attention is a fundamental cognitive process associated with mind wandering and task-unrelated thoughts. Using fMRI, it was found that optimal sustained attention involves enhanced segregation and reduced integration of information processing across large-scale brain networks, while mind wandering is linked to suboptimal information processing in specific subsystems of the attention network model.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Nash Unsworth, Ashley L. Miller, Shadee Aghel
Summary: Effort mobilization can enhance sustained attention and reduce lapses of attention. Participants who received Try Hard instructions demonstrated faster performance, shorter reaction times, and fewer off-task thoughts compared to those in the control condition. Additionally, they showed greater pupillary responses, supporting the idea that the locus coeruleus norepinephrine system is associated with effort mobilization.
COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neuroimaging
Tal Geffen, Jonathan Smallwood, Carsten Finke, Sebastian Olbrich, Zsuzsika Sjoerds, Florian Schlagenhauf
Summary: Altered brain network connectivity can be a potential biomarker for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Previous studies have found changes in functional connectivity within and between the default mode network, the salience network, and the frontoparietal network in OCD patients. Our study replicated these findings and also identified changes in connectivity between the visual network and these networks. These results suggest that abnormal connectivity between cortex regions associated with abstract functions and cortex regions associated with constrained neural processing may be important in OCD.
NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Yezhou Wang, Jessica Royer, Bo-Yong Park, Reinder Vos de Wael, Sara Lariviere, Shahin Tavakol, Raul Rodriguez-Cruces, Casey Paquola, Seok-Jun Hong, Daniel S. Margulies, Jonathan Smallwood, Sofie L. Valk, Alan C. Evans, Boris C. Bernhardt
Summary: This study used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate long-range cortical connectivity and its relationship with cortical microstructure and microcircuitry. The results revealed that long-range connections reflected different cognitive functions and were associated with similar microarchitecture in spatially remote regions. This work provides valuable insights into the structure-function relations in the human neocortex.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Ximing Shao, Bronte Mckeown, Theodoros Karapanagiotidis, Reinder Vos de Wael, Daniel S. Margulies, Boris Bernhardt, Jonathan Smallwood, Katya Krieger-Redwood, Elizabeth Jefferies
Summary: Semantic cognition is related to specific components of connectivity within the semantic network, as shown in a study using resting-state functional MRI. The strength of two key connectivity gradients, capturing the separation between unimodal and heteromodal cortex and the distinction between motor and visual cortex, was associated with individual differences in semantic cognition tasks.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sofie L. Valk, Ting Xu, Casey Paquola, Bo-yong Park, Richard A. Bethlehem, Reinder Vos de Wael, Jessica Royer, Shahrzad Kharabian Masouleh, Seyma Bayrak, Peter Kochunov, B. T. Thomas Yeo, Daniel Margulies, Jonathan Smallwood, Simon B. Eickhoff, Boris C. Bernhardt
Summary: This study investigates the macroscopic organization of cortical structure-function coupling and uncoupling in different transmodal systems, and finds that genetic and evolutionary uncoupling between structure and function may support the emergence of complex forms of cognition.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Meichao Zhang, Boris C. Bernhardt, Xiuyi Wang, Dominika Varga, Katya Krieger-Redwood, Jessica Royer, Raul Rodriguez-Cruces, Reinder Vos de Wael, Daniel S. Margulies, Jonathan Smallwood, Elizabeth Jefferies
Summary: During reading, our minds can wander to unrelated autobiographical information, leading to a loss of narrative comprehension. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional connectivity analysis to investigate the neural mechanisms behind this wandering state. The results revealed that memory retrieval activated the medial regions of the default mode network (DMN), while reading comprehension recruited left temporal and lateral prefrontal regions of the DMN as well as ventral visual cortex. Additionally, individuals with more self-generated mental content and poorer comprehension showed greater decoupling between visually connected DMN sites and primary visual cortex. These findings suggest that mind-wandering occurs because the generation of autobiographical mental content relies on DMN regions that are functionally decoupled from the ventral visual regions involved in reading.
Article
Neurosciences
Anne Maj van der Velden, Jacqueline Scholl, Else-Marie Elmholdt, Lone O. Fjorback, Catherine J. Harmer, Sara W. Lazar, Mia S. O'Toole, Jonathan Smallwood, Andreas Roepstorff, Willem Kuyken
Summary: Depression is a rising global disability, and one of its most debilitating aspects is depressive rumination. Mindfulness meditation has been found to be beneficial for individuals experiencing negative rumination. A study using functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy led to decreased connectivity in the salience network during rumination, and this change in connectivity was associated with improvements in attention to body sensations.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Manesh Girn, Leor Roseman, Boris Bernhardt, Jonathan Smallwood, Robin Carhart-Harris, R. Nathan Spreng
Summary: LSD and psilocybin, two serotonergic psychedelic compounds, have potential therapeutic applications for mental health disorders. Neuroimaging studies have shown that these compounds can alter whole-brain functional organization and dynamics. A recent study proposed a model suggesting reduced hierarchical organization as a key mechanism underlying the psychedelic state, and our analysis supported this hypothesis. We found that the principal gradient of cortical connectivity, representing a hierarchy from unimodal to transmodal cortex, was flattened under both drugs. This was driven by a reduction of functional differentiation at both hierarchical extremes and an increase in unimodal-transmodal crosstalk.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bo-Yong Park, Casey Paquola, Richard A. Bethlehem, Oualid Benkarim, Bratislav Misic, Jonathan Smallwood, Edward T. Bullmore, Boris C. Bernhardt
Summary: This study analyzed the development of structural and functional brain networks in adolescents and found that multiple corticocortical structural networks continue to differentiate in youth. Regions with more similar structural wiring were more likely to be functionally coupled. Additionally, increased structural differentiation was associated with reduced functional interactions, illustrating the interaction between brain structure and function in adolescent development.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Casey Paquola, Katrin Amunts, Alan Evans, Jonathan Smallwood, Boris Bernhardt
Summary: Cognitive neuroscience aims to provide biological explanations for cognition. Recent research on the default mode network and multiple demand network has shown their crucial roles in various cognitive states. Analyzing the microarchitecture of the brain can help us understand how these networks contribute to cognition.
TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jessica Dafflon, Pedro F. Da Costa, Frantisek Vasa, Ricardo Pio Monti, Danilo Bzdok, Peter J. Hellyer, Federico Turkheimer, Jonathan Smallwood, Emily Jones, Robert Leech
Summary: The authors present a framework that maps the space of analysis by creating a low-dimensional space and using Bayesian optimization to navigate it.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Xiuyi Wang, Katya Krieger-Redwood, Meichao Zhang, Zaixu Cui, Xiaokang Wang, Theodoros Karapanagiotidis, Yi Du, Robert Leech, Boris C. Bernhardt, Daniel S. Margulies, Jonathan Smallwood, Elizabeth Jefferies
Summary: Cortical regions involved in auditory language comprehension show different levels of activation depending on their distance from sensory-motor landmarks, supporting either auditory and motor features or word meaning.
Article
Neurosciences
Katya Krieger-Redwood, Anna Steward, Zhiyao Gao, Xiuyi Wang, Ajay Halai, Jonathan Smallwood, Elizabeth Jefferies
Summary: This study explores the neurocognitive processes underlying creativity by comparing strongly and weakly associated word pairs. The findings reveal that episodic memory plays a key role in more creative responses to strongly related word pairs, while the controlled retrieval of less dominant semantic information and the activation of the semantic control network are important in more creative responses to weakly related word pairs.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jaana Simola, Timo Silander, Minna Harju, Outi Lahti, Emilia Makkonen, Leea-Maria Patsi, Jonathan Smallwood
Summary: This study used EEG recording and multidimensional experience sampling to assess the electrophysiological correlates of ongoing thought in different task environments. The results showed that ongoing thought and the amplitude of the P3 event-related potential varied depending on the external task demands. Participants were more likely to engage in off-task episodic social cognition and mental imagery when the external task demands were low. These findings suggest that attentional decoupling from sensory inputs is necessary for certain types of self-generated thoughts.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shogo Kajimura, Daniel Margulies, Jonathan Smallwood
Summary: The analysis of brain function in resting-state network models, ascertained through the functional connectivity pattern of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), is sufficiently powerful for studying large-scale functional integration of the brain. However, in RSN-based research, the network architecture has been regarded as the same through different frequency bands. Thus, here, we aimed to examined whether the network architecture changes with frequency.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Shogo Kajimura, Yuki Nozaki, Takayuki Goto, Jonathan Smallwood
Summary: Preliminary evidence suggests that daydreaming about others has adaptive value in daily social lives. This study found that daydreaming about marital partners is separate from general daydreaming and is negatively correlated with subsequent relationship investment size. The effects are moderated by attachment styles.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)