Mind-Wandering With and Without Intention.
The past decade has seen a surge of research examining mind-wandering, but most of this research has not considered the potential importance of distinguishing between intentional and unintentional mind-wandering. However, a recent series of papers have demonstrated that mind-wandering reported in empirical investigations frequently occurs with and without intention, and, more crucially, that intentional and unintentional mind-wandering are dissociable. This emerging literature suggests that, to increase clarity in the literature, there is a need to reconsider the bulk of the mind-wandering literature with an eye toward deconvolving these two different cognitive experiences. In this review we highlight recent trends in investigations of the intentionality of mind-wandering, and we outline a novel theoretical framework regarding the mechanisms underlying intentional and unintentional mind-wandering.
Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: paulseli@fas.harvard.edu.
Paul
P
Seli
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Evan F
EF
Risko
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Daniel
D
Smilek
Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Daniel L
DL
Schacter
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*
deliberate; intentional; intentionality; mind-wandering; spontaneous; unintentional