Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
PLoS One. 2023 Jan 26;18(1):e0279532. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279532. eCollection 2023.
If our attention wanders to other thoughts while making a decision, then the decision might not be directed towards future goals, reflecting a lack of model-based decision making, but may instead be driven by habits, reflecting model-free decision making. Here we aimed to investigate if and how model-based versus model-free decision making is reduced by trait spontaneous mind wandering.
We used a sequential two-step Markov decision task and a self-report questionnaire assessing trait spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering propensity, to investigate how trait mind wandering relates to model-free as well as model-based decisions. We estimated parameters of a computational neurocognitive dual-control model of decision making. Analyzing estimated model parameters, we found that trait spontaneous mind wandering was related to impaired model-based decisions, while model-free choice stayed unaffected.
Our findings suggest trait spontaneous mind wandering is associated with impaired model-based decision making, and it may reflect model-based offline replay for other tasks (e.g., real-life goals) outside the current lab situation.
如果我们在做决策时注意力转移到其他想法上，那么这个决策可能不是针对未来目标的，反映了缺乏基于模型的决策，而是可能受到习惯的驱动，反映了无模型的决策。在这里，我们旨在研究特质性自发思维漫游是否以及如何减少基于模型的与无模型的决策。
我们使用了一个两步连续的马尔可夫决策任务和一个自我报告问卷来评估特质性自发和故意思维漫游倾向，以研究特质性思维漫游与无模型以及基于模型的决策之间的关系。我们估计了决策的计算神经认知双控制模型的参数。通过分析估计的模型参数，我们发现特质性自发思维漫游与受损的基于模型的决策有关，而无模型的选择则不受影响。
我们的研究结果表明，特质性自发思维漫游与受损的基于模型的决策有关，它可能反映了其他任务（例如现实生活中的目标）的基于模型的离线重放，而不是当前的实验室情况。
