TY - JOUR
T1 - For whom the mind wanders, and when
T2 - An experience-sampling study of working memory and executive control in daily life
AU - Kane, Michael J.
AU - Brown, Leslie H.
AU - McVay, Jennifer C.
AU - Silvia, Paul J.
AU - Myin-Germeys, Inez
AU - Kwapil, Thomas R.
PY - 2007/7
Y1 - 2007/7
N2 - An experience-sampling study of 124 undergraduates, pretested on complex memory-span tasks, examined the relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and the experience of mind wandering in daily life. Over 7 days, personal digital assistants signaled subjects eight times daily to report immediately whether their thoughts had wandered from their current activity, and to describe their psychological and physical context. WMC moderated the relation between mind wandering and activities' cognitive demand. During challenging activities requiring concentration and effort, higher-WMC subjects maintained on-task thoughts better, and mind-wandered less, than did lower-WMC subjects. The results were therefore consistent with theories of WMC emphasizing the role of executive attention and control processes in determining individual differences and their cognitive consequences.
AB - An experience-sampling study of 124 undergraduates, pretested on complex memory-span tasks, examined the relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and the experience of mind wandering in daily life. Over 7 days, personal digital assistants signaled subjects eight times daily to report immediately whether their thoughts had wandered from their current activity, and to describe their psychological and physical context. WMC moderated the relation between mind wandering and activities' cognitive demand. During challenging activities requiring concentration and effort, higher-WMC subjects maintained on-task thoughts better, and mind-wandered less, than did lower-WMC subjects. The results were therefore consistent with theories of WMC emphasizing the role of executive attention and control processes in determining individual differences and their cognitive consequences.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34547253324&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34547253324&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01948.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01948.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 17614870
AN - SCOPUS:34547253324
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 18
SP - 614
EP - 621
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
IS - 7
ER -