Xu Judy, Friedman David, Metcalfe Janet
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York City, New York, USA.
Neuroreport. 2018 Mar 21;29(5):380-384. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000000978.
Although much research shows that early sensory and attentional processing is affected by mind wandering, the effect of mind wandering on deep (i.e. semantic) processing is relatively unexplored. To investigate this relation, we recorded event-related potentials as participants studied English-Spanish word pairs, one at a time, while being intermittently probed for whether they were 'on task' or 'mind wandering'. Both perceptual processing, indexed by the P2 component, and deep processing, indexed by a late, sustained slow wave maximal at parietal electrodes, was attenuated during periods preceding participants' mind wandering reports. The pattern when participants were on task, rather than mind wandering, is similar to the subsequent memory or difference in memory effect. These results support previous findings of sensory attenuation during mind wandering, and extend them to a long-duration slow wave by suggesting that the deeper and more sustained levels of processing are also disrupted.
尽管大量研究表明早期的感觉和注意力加工会受到走神的影响，但走神对深度（即语义）加工的影响相对而言尚未得到充分探索。为了探究这种关系，我们在参与者学习英语-西班牙语单词对时记录了事件相关电位，每次学习一对单词，同时间歇性地询问他们是“专注于任务”还是“走神”。在参与者报告走神之前的时间段内，由P2成分索引的知觉加工以及由顶叶电极处一个晚期、持续的慢波索引的深度加工均被削弱。参与者专注于任务而非走神时的模式与随后的记忆情况或记忆效应差异相似。这些结果支持了先前关于走神期间感觉衰减的研究发现，并通过表明更深层次和更持续的加工水平也会受到干扰，将这些发现扩展到了一个持续时间较长的慢波。
