Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science, and Artificial Intelligence, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2020 Dec 9;15(12):e0243532. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243532. eCollection 2020.
Throughout the day, we may sometimes catch ourselves in patterns of thought that we experience as rigid and difficult to disengage from. Such "sticky" thinking can be highly disruptive to ongoing tasks, and when it turns into rumination constitutes a vulnerability for mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. The main goal of the present study was to explore the stickiness dimension of thought, by investigating how stickiness is reflected in task performance and pupil size. To measure spontaneous thought processes, we asked participants to perform a sustained attention to response task (SART), in which we embedded the participant's concerns to potentially increase the probability of observing sticky thinking. The results indicated that sticky thinking was most frequently experienced when participants were disengaged from the task. Such episodes of sticky thought could be discriminated from neutral and non-sticky thought by an increase in errors on infrequent no-go trials. Furthermore, we found that sticky thought was associated with smaller pupil responses during correct responding. These results demonstrate that participants can report on the stickiness of their thought, and that stickiness can be investigated using pupillometry. In addition, the results suggest that sticky thought may limit attention and exertion of cognitive control to the task.
在一天中，我们有时会发现自己陷入了一些思维模式，这些模式让我们感到僵化，难以摆脱。这种“黏滞”的思维会严重干扰正在进行的任务，而当它变成沉思时，就构成了抑郁和焦虑等精神障碍的脆弱性。本研究的主要目的是通过研究思维的黏滞维度来探索思维的黏滞性，即考察黏滞性是如何反映在任务表现和瞳孔大小上的。为了测量自发的思维过程，我们要求参与者执行持续注意力反应任务（SART），在这个任务中，我们嵌入了参与者的关注点，以增加观察黏滞思维的可能性。结果表明，当参与者从任务中分心时，最常经历黏滞思维。通过在不常见的禁止反应试验中增加错误，可以将这种黏滞思维的发作与中性和非黏滞思维区分开来。此外，我们发现，在正确反应时，黏滞思维与较小的瞳孔反应相关。这些结果表明，参与者可以报告自己思维的黏滞性，并且可以使用瞳孔测量法来研究黏滞性。此外，研究结果表明，黏滞思维可能会限制注意力和对任务的认知控制的发挥。
