Department of Psychology and Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Brain Research New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand.
Department of Psychology, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
Conscious Cogn. 2022 Jul;102:103335. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103335. Epub 2022 Apr 30.
Despite that previous studies have investigated mind wandering using task-switching paradigms, the association between the tendency to mind wander and cognitive flexibility remains largely unexplored. The present study investigated the relationship between self-reported spontaneous mind-wandering tendencies and task-switching performance in young adults. Seventy-nine university students performed a forced task-switching and a voluntary task-switching paradigm and then completed a battery of questionnaires. The results showed that compared to participants with lower spontaneous mind-wandering tendencies, participants with higher spontaneous mind-wandering tendencies demonstrated better performance (evidenced by smaller switch cost reaction times) in the forced task-switching paradigm despite indicating more mind wandering during task performance. Performance on the voluntary task-switching paradigm, on the other hand, did not differ between the two groups. The findings in the forced task-switching paradigm indicate a link between mind wandering and cognitive flexibility, thus providing initial evidence in favor of a role for switching in mind wandering.
尽管先前的研究已经使用任务转换范式调查了思维漫游，但思维漫游倾向与认知灵活性之间的关联在很大程度上仍未得到探索。本研究调查了年轻人中自我报告的自发思维漫游倾向与任务转换表现之间的关系。79 名大学生完成了强制任务转换和自愿任务转换范式，然后完成了一系列问卷。结果表明，与自发思维漫游倾向较低的参与者相比，自发思维漫游倾向较高的参与者在强制任务转换范式中表现更好（表现为转换反应时的开关代价更小），尽管在任务表现期间表现出更多的思维漫游。另一方面，两组在自愿任务转换范式上的表现没有差异。强制任务转换范式中的发现表明思维漫游与认知灵活性之间存在联系，从而为切换在思维漫游中的作用提供了初步证据。
