Comparing the phenomenological qualities of stimulus-independent thought, stimulus-dependent thought and dreams using experience sampling.

ABSTRACT: Humans spend a considerable portion of their lives engaged in 'stimulus-independent thoughts' (SIT), or mental activity that occurs independently of input from the immediate external environment. Although such SITs are, by definition, different from thoughts that are driven by stimuli in one's external environment (i.e. stimulus-dependent thoughts; SDTs), at times, the phenomenology of these two types of thought appears to be deceptively similar. But how similar are they? We address this question by comparing the content of two types of SIT (dreaming and waking SITs) with the content of SDTs. In this 7 day, smartphone-based experience-sampling procedure, participants were intermittently probed during the day and night to indicate whether their current thoughts were stimulus dependent or st

SUBMITTER: Gross ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7741088 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature