MindLAB, Aarhus University Hospital Aarhus, Denmark ; Department of Culture and Society, Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University Aarhus, Denmark.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 Nov 7;7:743. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00743. eCollection 2013.
Self-generated thoughts unrelated to ongoing activities, also known as "mind-wandering," make up a substantial portion of our daily lives. Reports of such task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) predict both poor performance on demanding cognitive tasks and blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity in the default mode network (DMN). However, recent findings suggest that TUTs and the DMN can also facilitate metacognitive abilities and related behaviors. To further understand these relationships, we examined the influence of subjective intensity, ruminative quality, and variability of mind-wandering on response inhibition and monitoring, using the Error Awareness Task (EAT). We expected to replicate links between TUT and reduced inhibition, and explored whether variance in TUT would predict improved error monitoring, reflecting a capacity to balance between internal and external cognition. By analyzing BOLD responses to subjective probes and the EAT, we dissociated contributions of the DMN, executive, and salience networks to task performance. While both response inhibition and online TUT ratings modulated BOLD activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of the DMN, the former recruited a more dorsal area implying functional segregation. We further found that individual differences in mean TUTs strongly predicted EAT stop accuracy, while TUT variability specifically predicted levels of error awareness. Interestingly, we also observed co-activation of salience and default mode regions during error awareness, supporting a link between monitoring and TUTs. Altogether our results suggest that although TUT is detrimental to task performance, fluctuations in attention between self-generated and external task-related thought is a characteristic of individuals with greater metacognitive monitoring capacity. Achieving a balance between internally and externally oriented thought may thus aid individuals in optimizing their task performance.
自主产生的与当前活动无关的思维，也被称为“思维漫游”，构成了我们日常生活的重要组成部分。关于这种与任务无关的思维（TUT）的报告，既预测了在高要求认知任务上的表现不佳，也预测了默认模式网络（DMN）中的血氧水平依赖（BOLD）活动。然而，最近的研究结果表明，TUT 和 DMN 也可以促进元认知能力和相关行为。为了进一步理解这些关系，我们使用错误意识任务（EAT），研究了思维漫游的主观强度、反刍质量和变异性对反应抑制和监测的影响。我们预计会复制 TUT 与抑制能力下降之间的联系，并探索 TUT 的变异性是否可以预测错误监测的改善，这反映了在内部和外部认知之间取得平衡的能力。通过分析对主观探测和 EAT 的 BOLD 反应，我们将 DMN、执行和突显网络对任务表现的贡献进行了分离。虽然反应抑制和在线 TUT 评分都调节了 DMN 中内侧前额叶皮质（mPFC）的 BOLD 活动，但前者募集了更背侧的区域，暗示了功能的分离。我们还发现，TUT 的平均个体差异强烈预测了 EAT 停止的准确性，而 TUT 的变异性则专门预测了错误意识的水平。有趣的是，我们还观察到在错误意识期间突显和默认模式区域的共同激活，这支持了监测和 TUT 之间的联系。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，尽管 TUT 对任务表现有害，但在自我产生的和与外部任务相关的思维之间注意力的波动是具有更高元认知监测能力的个体的特征。因此，在内部和外部思维之间取得平衡可能有助于个体优化其任务表现。
