Kam Julia W Y, Handy Todd C
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada.
Conscious Cogn. 2014 May;26:51-63. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.03.002. Epub 2014 Mar 24.
Recent research has shown that mind wandering recruits executive resources away from the external task towards inner thoughts. No studies however have determined whether executive functions are drawn away in a unitary manner during mind wandering episodes, or whether there is variation in specific functions impacted. Accordingly, we examined whether mind wandering differentially modulates three core executive functions-response inhibition, updating of working memory, and mental set shifting. In three experiments, participants performed one of these three executive function tasks and reported their attentional state as either on-task or mind wandering at random intervals. We found that mind wandering led to poorer performance in the response inhibition and working memory tasks, but not the set-shifting task. These findings suggest that mind wandering does not recruit executive functions in a monolithic manner. Rather, it appears to selectively engage certain executive functions, which may reflect the adaptive maintenance of ongoing task performance.
近期研究表明，思绪游荡会将执行资源从外部任务转移到内心想法上。然而，尚无研究确定在思绪游荡期间执行功能是否以统一的方式被转移，或者受影响的特定功能是否存在差异。因此，我们研究了思绪游荡是否会对三种核心执行功能——反应抑制、工作记忆更新和心理定势转换——产生不同的调节作用。在三个实验中，参与者执行这三种执行功能任务中的一种，并随机间隔报告他们的注意力状态是专注于任务还是思绪游荡。我们发现，思绪游荡会导致反应抑制和工作记忆任务的表现变差，但不会影响定势转换任务。这些发现表明，思绪游荡不会以单一的方式调用执行功能。相反，它似乎会选择性地运用某些执行功能，这可能反映了对当前任务表现的适应性维持。
