Task Modality and Mind Wandering - Free Paper Example

Introduction

Mind-wandering is a mental procedure that is part of a task one is doing or independent. It is like a prediction that mind-wandering is dependent on the form of modality like auditory or visual when one is performing a task. However, lab studies suggest different from experiments on auditory, visual, and fixation task conditions. They show that mind-wandering is similar to a job or process in an individual's mind (Anderson & Farb, 2018). Therefore, mind wandering should be considered more as a multi-process as there are different external and internal mental processes in play.

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It is usual for an individual's mind to wander away when they are performing a task, and they think about different things (Andrews-Hanna et al., 2018). It shows that mind wandering occurs in many dimensions, and it depends on the severity of intrusiveness and task modality and the level of detail in one's thoughts. Thoughts are unique, and they are in various forms, like auditory and visual imagery. An audiobook is an example of aural imagery, and a film is an example of visual imagery (Bixler et al., 2015). Therefore, research on mind wandering is useful to determine how it occurs and its forms.

Theoretical Accounts

Previously mind-wandering was considered to be independent of the task that an individual is doing. It is like a whole different environment in mind consisting of disconnected thoughts (Humphreys et al., 2015). Therefore, an individual is less likely to pay attention to the task they are doing as mind-wandering acts like a task itself. Because of the reduced attention, the person is less likely to focus on the task at hand. The form of mind-wandering above can be referred to as a task-unrelated account (Choi et al., 2017).

Alternatively, there are suggestions that mind-wandering depends on the intensity of the task. It means that the higher the power of the job, the less the likelihood of the mind to wander. It shows there is regulation because of the demand for cognitive resources; therefore, mind wandering depends on the situation. The above form of regulation therefore seeks to create an environment with minimum competition for the cognitive resource when an individual is performing a task. It can be referred to as a controlled dual-task account (Choi et al., 2017). A different view on mind wandering against task modality shows that internal and external brain processes are independent of themselves as they work in various brain networks. It is known as the overlapping activation account (Choi et al., 2017). It explains that some parts of the brain may support imagery and visual mind wandering through consciousness. It means that an individual can do a task and concurrently be mind-wandering.

Experiment

An experiment shows the relationship between visual and auditory tasks with mind wandering in different conditions. The conditions include back to the auditory, 2-back task, visual 2-back task, and a simple fixation task with 35 participants, 18 females and 17 males (Choi et al., 2017). The results of the experiment contrast the different theoretical accounts of the relationship between mind-wandering and task modality. The investigation shows that mind wandering overlaps with the current task and individual is doing, deferring from the theoretical accounts that mind-wandering is independent of the concurrent job (Choi et al., 2017). The result shows that external and internal processes are complex either in visual images or visual perception forms (Choi et al., 2017). Therefore, the brain processes overlap to facilitate the concurrent task and mind wandering.

The experiment shows that mind wandering increases with more information processing in mind; therefore, an individual can perform a task concurrently. External factors or stimulations in the brain are highly likely to increase the likelihood of mind wandering. The external stimuli include visual, auditory, or simple fixation, and they increase participants' eye movement. It shows that visual 2-back task and eye movements are crucial in the increase of an individual's mind wandering (Choi et al., 2017). Mind-wandering is, however, unique to individuals concerning task modality. Therefore, different studies may show different results to the ones above in the same conditions.

Conclusion

Mind-wandering is a common occurrence either when one is idle or when performing a task. Experiments show that the level of mind wandering often differs from the level of task detail, intrusiveness, and task modality. Mind-wandering can be in different forms, for example, auditory or visual. Theoretical accounts provide different views about mind wandering concerning task modality as either unrelated, depend on task intensity, or increase with an increase in task modality (Kopp & D'Mello, 2015). However, other experiments challenge these theoretical accounts. The investigation in this study shows that mind wandering is concurrent with task modality.

However, mind wandering is different in every individual; therefore, it is not entirely an accurate account. Other experiments may bring varying results depending on the various conditions in the studies (Laflamme et al., 2018). When studying the relationship between mind-wandering and task modality, it is essential to understand how the external and internal brain processes connect. They are independent; therefore, they should not be treated as unified processes (Humphreys et al., 2015). In summary, mind wandering is not a fixed account relating to task modality. The participant, the type of task, conditions, and stimuli affect mind wandering, and they are unique to every person. Therefore, more experiments are needed to determine the relationship between mind wandering and task modality entirely.

References

Anderson, T., & Farb, N. A. (2018). Personalising practice using preferences for meditation anchor modality. Frontiers in Psychology, 9.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02521

Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Irving, Z. C., Fox, K. C., Spreng, R. N., & Christoff, K. (2018). The neuroscience of spontaneous thought. Oxford Handbooks Online.
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190464745.013.33

Bixler, R., Blanchard, N., Garrison, L., & D'Mello, S. (2015). Automatic detection of mind wandering during reading using gaze and physiology. Proceedings of the 2015 ACM on International Conference on Multimodal Interaction - ICMI '15.
https://doi.org/10.1145/2818346.2820742

Choi, H., Geden, M., & Feng, J. (2017). More visual mind wandering occurrence during visual task performance: Modality of the concurrent task affects how the mind wanders. PLOS ONE, 12(12), e0189667.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189667

Humphreys, G. F., Hoffman, P., Visser, M., Binney, R. J., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2015). Establishing task- and modality-dependent dissociations between the semantic and default mode networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(25), 7857-7862.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1422760112

Kopp, K., & D'Mello, S. (2015). The impact of modality on mind wandering during comprehension. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 30(1), 29-40.
https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3163

Laflamme, P., Seli, P., & Smilek, D. (2018). Validating a visual version of the metronome response task. Behavior Research Methods, 50(4), 1503-1514.
https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-018-1020-0

Poerio, G. L., Sormaz, M., Wang, H., Margulies, D., Jefferies, E., & Smallwood, J. (2017). The role of the default mode network in component processes underlying the wandering mind. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(7), 1047-1062.
https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsx041.