Consciousness and Cognition 20 (4):1604-1611 (2011)
Abstract |
Given that as much as half of human thought arises in a stimulus independent fashion, it would seem unlikely that such thoughts would play no functional role in our lives. However, evidence linking the mind-wandering state to performance decrement has led to the notion that mind-wandering primarily represents a form of cognitive failure. Based on previous work showing a prospective bias to mind-wandering, the current study explores the hypothesis that one potential function of spontaneous thought is to plan and anticipate personally relevant future goals, a process referred to as autobiographical planning. The results confirm that the content of mind-wandering is predominantly future-focused, demonstrate that individuals with high working memory capacity are more likely to engage in prospective mind-wandering, and show that prospective mind-wandering frequently involves autobiographical planning. Together this evidence suggests that mind-wandering can enable prospective cognitive operations that are likely to be useful to the individual as they navigate through their daily lives
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DOI | 10.1016/j.concog.2011.08.007 |
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References found in this work BETA
The Evolution of Foresight: What is Mental Time Travel, and is It Unique to Humans?Thomas Suddendorf & Michael C. Corballis - 2007 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 30 (3):299-313.
Self-Projection and the Brain.Randy L. Buckner & Daniel C. Carroll - 2007 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11 (2):49-57.
The Proactive Brain: Using Analogies and Associations to Generate Predictions.Moshe Bar - 2007 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11 (7):280-289.
Meta-Awareness, Perceptual Decoupling and the Wandering Mind.Jonathan W. Schooler, Jonathan Smallwood, Kalina Christoff, Todd C. Handy, Erik D. Reichle & Michael A. Sayette - 2011 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15 (7):319-326.
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Citations of this work BETA
Psychedelics, Meditation, and Self-Consciousness.Raphaël Millière, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Leor Roseman, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein & Aviva Berkovich-Ohana - 2018 - Frontiers in Psychology 9.
The Myth of Cognitive Agency: Subpersonal Thinking as a Cyclically Recurring Loss of Mental Autonomy.Thomas Metzinger - 2013 - Frontiers in Psychology 4:931.
Why Are Dreams Interesting for Philosophers? The Example of Minimal Phenomenal Selfhood, Plus an Agenda for Future Research.Thomas Metzinger - 2013 - Frontiers in Psychology 4:746.
Mind-Wandering as a Natural Kind: A Family Resemblances View.Paul Seli, Michael J. Kane, Jonathan Smallwood, Daniel L. Schacter, David Maillet, Jonathan W. Schooler & Daniel Smilek - 2018 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 22 (6):479-490.
Mind-Wandering is Unguided Attention: Accounting for the “Purposeful” Wanderer.Zachary Irving - 2016 - Philosophical Studies 173 (2):547-571.
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