Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiential elements of mind wandering at work and prompt the formation of new research questions addressing this experiential perspective. To do this, we use an episodic framework for mind wandering that is grounded in the subjective work experience and examines mind wandering holistically. Thirty full-time employees participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews exploring the experience of mind wandering at work. Responses were transcribed and then coded using conventional content analysis. Data collection and coding proceeded in an iterative process, as described by Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). This qualitative study provides descriptive evidence for the experiential components of a mind wandering episode (onset, termination cues, and outcomes). Within each of these components, additional themes are identified, discussed, and connected to person- and organization-centric work processes. The thematic organization of daydreaming episodes reveals new aspects of the subjective experience of daydreaming that can be explored further. To aid this, we provide a framework for investigating the inter-relationships between these aspects. The identification of these subjective experiences paves the way for novel research investigating how daydreams, and the accompanying subjective experience, inform momentary work processes. This paper provides a unique subjective experience to understanding mind wandering at work. By directly addressing the phenomenology of mind wandering at work, we encourage a new perspective to the mind wandering phenomena and encourage the development of new research questions.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors teste l'hypothese that the meditation de pleine conscience implique un changement dans la cognition de l'experience vecue, impactant de ce fait la formation des habitudes mentales.

TL;DR: Results confirm that pupil diameter is sensitive to the changes associated with the onset of MW and its unfolding over time and stress the need for objective measures about the temporal unfolding of MW (while most studies focus on arbitrary time-window preceding self-reports of MW).

TL;DR: In this paper, a machine learning framework was adopted to examine the predictive effect of daydreaming-related brain functional connectivity (FC) on creativity, and the results showed that task FCs related to positive constructive day-dreaming and task FC related to poor attentional control both predicted an individual's creativity score successfully.

TL;DR: A baseline state of the normal adult human brain in terms of the brain oxygen extraction fraction or OEF is identified, suggesting the existence of an organized, baseline default mode of brain function that is suspended during specific goal-directed behaviors.

TL;DR: Past observations are synthesized to provide strong evidence that the default network is a specific, anatomically defined brain system preferentially active when individuals are not focused on the external environment, and for understanding mental disorders including autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.

TL;DR: It is suggested that both task-driven neuronal responses and behavior are reflections of this dynamic, ongoing, functional organization of the brain, featuring the presence of anticorrelated networks in the absence of overt task performance.