Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Harvard, MA, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA.
Trends Cogn Sci. 2018 Jun;22(6):479-490. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.03.010.
As empirical research on mind-wandering accelerates, we draw attention to an emerging trend in how mind-wandering is conceptualized. Previously articulated definitions of mind-wandering differ from each other in important ways, yet they also maintain overlapping characteristics. This conceptual structure suggests that mind-wandering is best considered from a family-resemblances perspective, which entails treating it as a graded, heterogeneous construct and clearly measuring and describing the specific aspect(s) of mind-wandering that researchers are investigating. We believe that adopting this family-resemblances approach will increase conceptual and methodological connections among related phenomena in the mind-wandering family and encourage a more nuanced and precise understanding of the many varieties of mind-wandering.
随着对思维漫游的实证研究的加速，我们注意到思维漫游的概念化出现了一种新趋势。以前表述的思维漫游的定义在重要方面彼此不同，但它们也保持着重叠的特征。这种概念结构表明，最好从家族相似性的角度来考虑思维漫游，这需要将其视为一个渐变的、异构的结构，并清楚地测量和描述研究人员正在研究的思维漫游的具体方面。我们相信，采用这种家族相似性的方法将增加思维漫游家族中相关现象之间的概念和方法联系，并鼓励对思维漫游的许多变体有更细致和精确的理解。
