Department of Psychology, Keio University, 2-15-45 Mita, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 108-8345, Japan.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Kojimachi Business Center Building, 5-3-1, Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 28;13(1):1581. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-28690-1.
Some studies have asked participants about attentional state on a scale from on-task to off-task, which set the middle option as attention focused on both, including the possibility of the coexistence of thoughts. In addition, studies using multidimensional probes explicitly assumed coexistence within spontaneous thoughts and task-focus dimensions. Although several studies have assumed the coexistence of some thought dimensions, none has explored whether these are different types of thoughts (task-focus, mind-wandering, task-related, external stimuli-related). To examine whether this coexistence of thought types occurred, we used thought probes to determine the degree of immersion in each. The participants responded to probes presented at random during a sustained attention task. The results revealed a mixture of thought types in many self-reports. In addition, the state of attentional allocation behind self-reports was estimated using the hidden Markov model. We observed the following attentional states: task-focused, task-unrelated, task-related, external stimuli-focused, and task-focused-but also focused on other thoughts. These results suggest that individuals can simultaneously allocate attention to thought types and discriminate between reporting. In some cases, probe options should also be considered for this coexistence. We also examined the relationship between self-reports and behavioral indexes, and discussed the necessity of separately measuring the degree of immersion for each thought type.
一些研究在关注状态量表上询问参与者，从专注到不专注，其中间选项是同时关注两者，包括可能同时存在的想法。此外，使用多维探针的研究明确假设自发思维和任务焦点维度内的共存。尽管有几项研究假设了某些思维维度的共存，但没有一项研究探讨这些思维类型是否不同（任务焦点、走神、与任务相关、与外部刺激相关）。为了检查这些思维类型是否共存，我们使用思维探针来确定每种思维的沉浸程度。参与者在持续注意力任务中随机回答探针。结果表明，许多自我报告中存在多种思维类型的混合。此外，还使用隐马尔可夫模型估计了自我报告背后的注意力分配状态。我们观察到以下注意力状态：任务聚焦、任务不相关、任务相关、外部刺激聚焦和任务聚焦但也关注其他想法。这些结果表明，个体可以同时分配注意力到思维类型并进行报告区分。在某些情况下，也应该考虑探针选项来考虑这种共存。我们还检查了自我报告与行为指标之间的关系，并讨论了分别测量每种思维类型的沉浸程度的必要性。
