Mind-wandering rates fluctuate across the day: evidence from an experience-sampling study.

ABSTRACT: Previous research has demonstrated reliable fluctuations in attentional processes during the course of the day. Everyday life experience sampling, during which participants respond to "probes" delivered at random intervals throughout the day on their mobile devices, is an effective tool for capturing such diurnal fluctuations in a naturalistic way. The existence of diurnal fluctuations in the case of mind-wandering, however, has not been examined to date. We did so in two studies. In the first study, we employed everyday experience sampling to obtain self-reports from 146 university students who rated the degree of free movement in their thoughts multiple times per day over five days. These time course data were analyzed using multilevel modelling. Freely moving thought was found to fluctu

SUBMITTER: Smith GK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6311173 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature