Absorbed in Thought: The Effect of Mind Wandering on the Processing of Relevant and Irrelevant Events
Absorbed in Thought: The Effect of Mind Wandering on the Processing of Relevant and Irrelevant Events
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DOI：
10.1177/0956797611404083
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发表时间：
2011-05-01
影响因子：
8.2
通讯作者：
Smallwood, Jonathan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Barron, Evelyn;Riby, Leigh M.;Smallwood, Jonathan
本研究利用事件相关电位来探讨走神（与任务无关的思维，TUT）是否是由于分心、任务相关处理缺陷（执行功能观点）等一般问题而出现，或者是对外部事件的注意力普遍减少（无论其相关性如何）（解耦假说）。二十五名参与者执行了一项视觉奇怪的任务，其中他们被要求区分罕见的目标刺激（以测量任务相关过程）、罕见的新颖刺激（以测量干扰处理）和频繁的非目标刺激。 TUT 是在任务执行后立即使用经过验证的回顾性测量方法进行测量的。高水平的 TUT 与任务相关事件和干扰刺激的皮层处理减少有关。这些数据与认为走神与分心问题或任务相关过程中的特定缺陷有关的建议相矛盾。相反，这些数据与解耦假设一致：TUT 会抑制感觉信息的处理，而不管该信息的任务相关性如何。
This study used event-related potentials to explore whether mind wandering (task-unrelated thought, or TUT) emerges through general problems in distraction, deficits of task-relevant processing (the executive-function view), or a general reduction in attention to external events regardless of their relevance (the decoupling hypothesis). Twenty-five participants performed a visual oddball task, in which they were required to differentiate between a rare target stimulus (to measure task-relevant processes), a rare novel stimulus (to measure distractor processing), and a frequent nontarget stimulus. TUT was measured immediately following task performance using a validated retrospective measure. High levels of TUT were associated with a reduction in cortical processing of task-relevant events and distractor stimuli. These data contradict the suggestion that mind wandering is associated with distraction problems or specific deficits in task-relevant processes. Instead, the data are consistent with the decoupling hypothesis: that TUT dampens the processing of sensory information irrespective of that information's task relevance.