Quantifying mindwandering in laboratory studies Marieke van Vugt

Quantifying mind-wandering in laboratory studies Marieke van Vugt Dept of Artificial Intelligence, University of Groningen m. k. van. vugt@rug. nl www. ai. rug. nl/~mkvanvugt @mvugt artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

My focus areas Why do we mind-wander? u Cognitive mechanisms underlying mindfulness u Social cognition in Tibetan monks u artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

How, when and why do we mindwander? van Vugt & Broers (2016) modeling, EEG, eyetracking lab tasks van Vugt et al. (2015) artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

Cognitive mechanisms of mindfulness van Vugt et al. (2012) clearer memory for detailed visual information less stuck in cycles of negative recall van Vugt & Jha (2011) artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

What is mind-wandering? Task-unrelated thought (Giambra, 1989) u Stimulus-independent thought (Teasdale et al. , 1993) u Daydreaming (Klinger & Cox, 1987; Antrobus et al. , 1968) u artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

Measurement: combining first and third-person methods Give participant a boring task (e. g. , slow sustained attention to response task. SART) u Intersperse task with questions (“thought probes”), e. g. , “were you paying attention to the task? ” u Thought probes every 30 -60 seconds u Relate objective performance prior to probes to these responses u artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

Sustained attention to response task • Give response to frequently occurring “go” stimulus (“O”), withhold response to rare “nogo” (“Q”) • Thought probes: “were you attending to the task? ” • Other questions possible, e. g. , “were you thinking about past, present or future? ” artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

Sample data note: we can also predict these responses with a computational cognitive model artificial intelligence cognitive modeling van Vugt et al. (2015)

When off-task, increased RTCV and hippocampal γ-waves off-task > on-task with Liang Wang (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing) artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

Mind-wandering also happens in more complex tasks Task designed to separate selfrelated from more neutral mindwandering Huijser et al (in prep) artificial intelligence cognitive modeling

Mind-wandering also happens in more complex tasks artificial intelligence cognitive modeling Huijser et al (in prep)

Self-related thinking triggers mindwandering that impairs working memory artificial intelligence cognitive modeling Huijser et al (in prep)

Summary Measure mind-wandering in the lab by combining self-report thought probes with objective task performance u It may be necessary to separate selfreferential (rumination-like) mindwandering from daydreaming u artificial intelligence cognitive modeling