Identifying the Role of Mind Wandering in Stress Related Changes in Executive Attention and Inflammation

长期的压力会损害人保持注意力的能力。慢性压力也会导致免疫系统发炎。因此，慢性压力可能会影响多个身体系统，从心理到生物，以部分理解的方式。该研究项目利用认知心理学的理论见解，揭示了在经历各种日常压力源的个体中，慢性压力、认知和炎症之间的确切关系。它进一步分析了正念是否以及如何调节压力和炎症以及压力和注意力之间的关系。它在为少数民族服务的机构培训学生，向学术和非学术受众广泛传播结果，并提供与临床保健干预有关的见解。本项目收集了多个时间段的压力、认知和炎症的测量数据，包括基线、低压力期和与生态有效的慢性压力源相关的一个时间段，以研究以下假设：1)慢性压力对执行注意力和炎症测量的影响是由负价值、非任务思维的比率介导的；2)较高的正念率和执行注意力基线测量值预测压力下负价值走神的减少，减少压力对执行注意力和炎症的影响；3)基线的个体差异将预测正念和走神的比率，影响这些调节压力和炎症之间关系的程度。这项研究的发现提供了慢性压力对认知功能和炎症影响之间缺失的联系，并确定了可用于干预措施的因素，以限制慢性压力对健康和福祉的负面影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to sustain attention is impaired by chronic stress. Chronic stress also results in inflammation in the immune system. Thus, chronic stress is likely to impact multiple bodily systems, from psychological to biological, in ways that are only partially understood. This research project uses theoretical insights from cognitive psychology to shed light on the precise relationships among chronic stress, cognition, and inflammation among individuals who experience a variety of day-to-day stressors. It further analyzes whether and how mindfulness mediates the relationships between stress and inflammation and between stress and attention. It trains students at a minority-serving institution, disseminates results broadly to academic and non-academic audiences, and provides insights that are relevant to clinical health interventions. This project collects measures of stress, cognition, and inflammation during multiple time periods, including a baseline, low-stress period and one associated with an ecologically valid chronic stressor to investigate the following hypotheses: 1) the impact of chronic stress on measures of executive attention and inflammation is mediated by rates of negatively valenced, off-task thoughts; 2) higher rates of mindfulness and baseline measures of executive attention predict reduced negatively valenced mind wandering during stress, reducing the effects of stress on executive attention and inflammation; and 3) individual differences at baseline will predict rates of mindfulness and mind wandering, affecting the degree to which these mediate relationships between stress and inflammation. The findings from this study provide a missing link between the impact of chronic stress on cognitive functioning and inflammation and identify factors that can be used in interventions seeking to limit the negative impacts of chronic stress on health and well-being.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.