title: Concern-induced negative affect is associated with the occurrence and content of mind-wandering.
abstract: Previous research has shown that the content and frequency of mind-wandering episodes--the occurrence of thoughts that are both stimulus-independent and task-unrelated--are closely related to an individual's future-related concerns. Whether this relationship is shaped by the affective changes that are usually associated with future-related concerns still remains unclear, however. In this study, we induced the anticipation of a negatively valenced event and examined whether the ensuing affective changes were related to the occurrence and content of mind-wandering during an unrelated attentional task. We found that the increase in negative affect following concern induction predicted the general frequency of mind-wandering episodes. Furthermore, mind-wandering episodes specifically directed at the induced concern were related to a lower decrease in negative affect during the attentional task. These results suggest that the negative emotional impact of future-related concerns is an important factor to be taken into consideration for the subsequent occurrence of mind-wandering episodes, which might in turn be involved in the maintenance of negative affect over time.
authors: Department of Psychology-Cognition & Behavior, University of Liège, Belgium. d.stawarczyk@ulg.ac.be
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Stawarczyk
authors: Steve
authors: S
authors: Majerus
authors: Arnaud
authors: A
authors: D'Argembeau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult