New Perspectives on Mind Wandering

Visit the link below to download the full version of this book:

https://medipdf.com/product/new-perspectives-on-mind-wandering/

Click Download Now

vi Prologue

Introduction

The mind is always engaged. The mind wanders. The mind is invited to score the
sky as we look out the window and goes on marvelous journeys as we catch
butterflies.
Through mind-wandering, we invent tell stories, expand our mental horizons. Mind wan-
dering underwrites creativity (Corballis, 2015).

What does the brain do when the mind wanders? Does it wonder? Does it create
visions? Does it tie loose ends and open new possibilities? Is it at its most creative?
This short essay wants to investigate the journey the mind takes when being
itself, following a natural path and drifting toward currents of thought that lead
beyond the moment.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
(Tolkien, 1968)
Mind wandering may thread loose strings of creative thought to unsolved prob-
lems and unanswered questions. The past, present, and future work along with each
other creating infinite possibilities, and maybe the mind in these moments is at rest,
dynamic rest.
Some suggest meditation as a way to settle the mind and find peace at last. But
maybe the mind is happiest and fulfilled when traveling in time and space. It is the
individual who judges the calm from the storm. The mind is itself. Should it be
tamed or listened to?
The wandering mind has gained interest in the last decades. Interest in it has
evolved and developed different titles to list a few, spontaneous thought, stream of
consciousness, daydreaming, stimulus-independent thought, and task unrelated
thought. Which one best suits this phenomena?

In Search of an Adequate Title

Interest in mind wandering has fluctuated over time as the foundations of psycho-
logical research allowed space and wonder on the subject. Relegated to a corner
with little or no attention, it slept and created no wonder. As Callard states (Callard
et al., 2013), behaviourism influenced the depth and width of research, and mind
wandering was not perceived as a constructive activity under any aspect. Some
interest sprouted from daring research conducted by John Antorbus (Antrobus,
1968) and Kenneth Pope (Pope, 1968) in the 1960s, and then it fell in shadows till
Prologue vii

Klinger (1971) and Giambra (Giambra, 1974) revived the topic but as Callard
(2013) states research remained in the shadows and never made it to any prominent
journal. Day dreaming was the common word used to describe the phenomena. As
days, come and go so did interest.
As cognitive science emerged so did interest in daydreaming. Research gathered
a momentum, and the term daydreaming became reductive. Callard (2013) notes the
changes in terminology from daydreaming to spontaneous cognition to spontaneous
thought to fantasy proneness to mind wandering that appear in journals from 2006.
One interesting aspect of the development of research in mind wandering is the
parallel between the growth of cognitive neuroscience and the term default mode
network where the two gain interest and depth. Finally, science has noticed that the
phenomena has an important place in brain functions. This demonstrates that inter-
est in one branch of science poses questions and queries that draw out hidden aspects
that were once neglected or overshadowed by more prominent issues. Callard
(2013) also considers the important shift made in recent time by mind wandering
from cognitive psychology to cognitive neuroscience.

Out of the Blue

Mind wandering seems to take us on a journey of its own. While engaged in an

activity, our minds move our focus on an apparently distant topic. Is this day dream-
ing? Are we dreaming? Are we spontaneously shifting our attention? Are we
induced to steer away? Are we taking a break? Michael Corballis (2013) states that
our mind wanders throughout the day. At night and during the day, our brain is trav-
elling back and forth anchoring our attention in different places. Its travels have also
included different titles.
Its journeys start out of the blue and into the blue. Like a sailboat travelling the
seas, the mind travels along waves. The eyes act like the rudder. It has been proven
that during mind wandering the brain produces alpha waves (Gruberger et al., 2011).
These are correlated to peace of mind and creative thinking. The act of mind wan-
dering happens when the mind is fully engaged in an activity. Here brain regions
work simultaneously creating an overlap of seemingly different functions.

Why Do We Wander and Simultaneously Wonder?

It has been proven (Corballis, 2013) that wandering happens in regions of the brain
that are not immediately involved in perception. So are the eyes the rudder? Or are
they closed portholes?
viii Prologue

Mind Wandering and Distraction

Distraction is seen as dis-attention and loss of focus. A sort of withdrawal from the
current scene that one is in to shift into another dimension. What if it is a need to
reconnect? Could it be a natural coffee break for the mind? The need to sort out all
the information and stimuli that are being absorbed? Could it be just a momentary
disconnection?
It seems that the brain needs to alternate between focused attention and mind
wandering (Smallwood, 2013). It is physiological. It is the price we pay to live in a
multi stimuli world.
There is so much that can be absorbed and digested. Then comes storage of
memories, our story and human history need an abode and humans love stories.
Stories are a way of time travel, a flexibility that only we have.
Humans get distracted, pulled away from one end to move into a fleeting moment
in the past of jump into the future in order to connect or reconnect loose strings.
We try to tame distraction through meditation and recently mindfulness but how
difficult is it? The more we try to put a bridle on our thoughts, the more we realize
how many we have and how attached we are to them. Can peace of mind be corre-
lated to reconnection by threading thoughts into an invisible fabric of order and
silence?
It goes without saying that negative thoughts and negative mind wandering as in
obsessions generate a thoughtscape of chaos and destruction. This wasteland creates
its own lunar scenery.

Where Does the Mind Travel To?

Time. Past, present, and future. A continuous passage. Relations that events have
with each other, indefinite and continuous thread of occurrences.
The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present and future
regarded as a whole (Google.it, 2018).

Memory. The place where time leaves its mark by storing our story as humans
and individuals. As Corballis (2013) states, memories provide us with places where
our mind can wander. Furthermore, it nourishes imagination and creates fertile
ground for our wandering journeys.
Stories. Human life relies on stories. They are the currency of life. People need
stories in order to find meaning. They connect events and characters. They answer
questions and create new ones (Gopnik et al., 2018). They juggle our lives.
Mind wandering travels in time digs in memories and juggles stories.
Michael Corballis (2015) states that our lives happen between the day we are
born to the day we die and we can travel beyond both. Mind wandering takes us
before and beyond. There seems to be no place where we can wander.
Prologue ix

So this traveling we do, is it a destination or a process? The faculty of rewinding,

pausing, and fast-forwarding memories as stories in time allows incredible flexibil-
ity. Can we say that this flexibility allows connections that tie loose strings? Create
the eureka moment of enlightenment?
Ripples of thought create intricate patterns and build new possibilities. The over-
lapping of activities in the brain allows new routes to be formed and consolidate old
ones. Corballis (2013) underlines that our cognitive maps are very pliant.
Eagleman (2011) states that when an idea arises and steps out of the unconscious
it has been wandering around our neural circuitry for perhaps days or years. Many
famous people from scientists to artists admitted that their breakthroughs just hap-
pened with no previews.
Our minds just work their way in the meanders of our unconscious travelling our
neural motorways and roads without much apparent assistance then grace us with
the “share” button when ready. As Eagleman (2011) states, “Just give the brain the
information and it will figure it out.”

Wandering Inventiveness

When the mind wanders, it seems to be playing as in practicing a task that will be
needed in the future. As humans, we do plenty of practice through play. This is
needed in order to be able to adapt to a situation when it arises in real time. Creativity
plays a vital role in this process as Corballis (2013) states, creativity depends on
mind wandering. Therefore, do we play at being creative or does play encompass
creativity. Maybe creativity needs play to express itself, and play is the training
ground for creativity.
When we play, we experiment what has been demonstrated and will create new
and personal visions. This happens when the mind is left to wander? Engulfed in our
personal stories our inventiveness emerges as we connect and propose our visions.
We create repertoires of our experiences (Corballis, 2013). There would be no dis-
coveries if we were to stick to known pathways. So playfulness is an attitude for
proficient mind wandering, it acts as an incubator keeping ideas warm and running
while the correct associations are found. Creative thoughts flow incessantly between
generating new possibilities and critical evaluation (Christoff et al, 2016). Mind
wandering is part of our perpetual rewiring. Like the heartbeat and our breathing,
the mind beats and breaths where there is an inflow and an outflow that keeps us
alive and tuned in.
New lands were discovered through travelling when little was known to us. The
mind wondered if there were distant shores and possibilities to experiment with?
Inventiveness and creativity are part of human mental processes that have enabled
us to always go a step further.
x Prologue

Mind Wandering Activities

The mind wanders and the body? Are there activities that are associated with mind
wandering?
Here is a potential list.
Doodling.
Colouring in.
Walking and other sports such as running where attention is not the main focus.
Kicking stones.
Sky gazing.
Hair twitching.
Flying a kite.

Temporary Conclusion

Mind wandering is a multidimensional activity. It seems to happen spontaneously.

It takes us through time, space, and memory. It incessantly rewires thoughts tying
loose strings and allows new connections to move our thoughts in any direction. It
gives us respite from tedious activities and ignites our imagination. It can make us
happy, ask questions, and catch butterflies. It welcomes innovation though problem
solving, thus helping us adapt to an ever-changing world. Let the mind wander, it
knows what it is doing. Sit back and wonder.

Holly, University of Hertfordshire, School of Creative Art Diana. B.F. Warren

References

Antrobus, J. (1968). Information theory and stimulus dependent thought. British Journal of
Psychology, 59(4), 423–430.
Callard, F., Smallwood, J., Golchert, J., & Margulies, D. (2013). The era of the wandering mind?
Twenty-first century research on self-generated mental activity. Frontiers in Psychology, 4.
Christoff, K., Gordon, A. M., Smallwood, J., Smith, R., & Schooler, J. W. (2009). Experience
sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind
wandering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 106, 8719–8724.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900234106
Corballis, M. (2015). The wandering mind. The University of Chicago Press.
Eagleman, D. (2011). Incognito. Pantheon Books.
Giambra, L. M. (1993). The influence of aging on spontaneous shifts of attention from external
stimuli to the contents of consciousness. Experimental Gerontology, 28, 485–492. https://doi.
org/10.1016/0531-­5565(93)90073-­M
Prologue xi

Google.it. (2018). Time definition - Google Search. [online] Available at: https://www.
google.it/search?safe=active&rlz=1C1AVNE_enIT629IT630&ei=caFyW4Hd CIzM
8APeqrjQCw&q=time+definition&oq=Time+de&gs_l=psyab.1.0.0i67k1j0i20
3k1l9.2751.3436.0.5571.3.3.0.0.0.0.350. Accessed August 14, 2018.
Gopnik, A., Yaffa, J., Schmidle, N., Mead, R., Fan, J., Cassidy, J., Yaffa, J., Schmidle, N., & Mead,
R. (2018). Can science explain why we tell stories?. [online] The New Yorker. Available at:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-­turner/can-­science explain-­why-­we-­tell-­stories.
Accessed August 14, 2018.
Gruberger, M., Ben-Simon, E., Levkovitz, Y., Zangen, A., & Hendler, T. (2011). Towards a neuro-
science of mind-wandering. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5.
Pope, K. S., & Singer, J. L. E. (1978). The stream of consciousness: Scientific investigations into
the flow of human experience. Plenum.
Smallwood, J. (2013). Distinguishing how from why the mind wanders: a process– occurrence
framework for self-generated mental activity. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 519. https://doi.
org/10.1037/a0030010
Tolkien, J. (1968). The Lord of the rings. G. Allen and Unwin.
Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the ASLAN project (ANR-10-LABX-0081) of the

Université de Lyon for its financial support within the French program “Investments
for the Future” operated by the National Research Agency (ANR).

xiii
Contents

1 
Introduction. The Lines, Circles and Zigzag on Mind-Wandering�����������    1
Nadia Dario and Luca Tateo
2 
How and Why Our Mind Wanders?������������������������������������������������������   23
Guillaume Pepin and Alex Lafont
3 Mind-Wandering in Adolescents: Evidence, Challenges,
and Future Directions������������������������������������������������������������������������������   43
Manila Vannucci, Claudia Pelagatti, and Igor Marchetti
4 Mind and Body: The Manifestation of Mind Wandering
in Bodily Behaviors����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   59
Mariana Rachel Dias da Silva, Myrthe Faber,
Diogo António de Andrade Branco, and Marie Postma
5 Reorganizing One’s World: The Gestalt Psychological
Multiple-Field Approach to “Mind-Wandering”����������������������������������   77
Gerhard Stemberger
6 
Extended Minds and Tools for Mind-Wandering �������������������������������� 103
Davood Gozli
7 Windows to the Mind: Neurophysiological Indicators
of Mind Wandering Across Tasks ���������������������������������������������������������� 123
Mariana Rachel Dias da Silva, Marie Postma, and Myrthe Faber
8 
Noninvasive Brain Stimulation for the Modulation of Mind
Wandering������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 143
Leila Chaieb, Thomas P. Reber, Sofie Krakau, and Juergen Fell
9 
Education in Agency, Mind-Wandering, and the Contemplative
Mind���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 159
Oren Ergas

xv
xvi Contents

10  Contemplative Perspective on Mind Wandering������������������������������ 175

A
Lars Schermer Didriksen
11 
Mind-Wandering and Emotional Processing in Nondirective
Meditation������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 201
Halvor Eifring
12 The Secret Powers of a Wandering Mind: Underestimated
Potential of a Resting State Network for Language Acquisition �������� 211
Heiner Böttger and Deborah Költzsch
13 Is a Wandering Mind an Unhappy Mind? The Affective
Qualities of Creativity, Volition, and Resistance ���������������������������������� 225
Nicolás González, Camila García-Huidobro, and Pablo Fossa
14 Conclusion. Toward a Generative-Systemic Perspective:
A Critical View on the Mind Wandering Arena������������������������������������ 255
Luca Tateo and Nadia Dario

Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 263
About the Contributors

Heiner Böttger is a professor of English Didactics at the Catholic University of

Eichstaett-Ingolstadt. His present research mainly focuses on early language acqui-
sition, educational neurosciences, and preconditions for plurilingualism. Since
2018, his LEARLab addresses questions like how children develop communicative
competences, which language strategies they use when, what brain processes under-
lie language development, and what are the jigsaw pieces for acquiring three or
more languages.

Diogo António de Andrade Branco MSc, is a PhD researcher in the Faculty of

Exact Sciences and Engineering at Madeira University. His research is focused on
human-machine interaction, combining technology, neuroscience, and clinical
practice to find novel solutions for motor and mental rehabilitation to increase the
quality of life of those with special needs. Furthermore, at the core of his research
is the development of Virtual Reality Frameworks that, in combination with physi-
ological measures, aims to produce novel tools for researchers and clinicians.

Leila Chaieb obtained her BSc in neuroscience from Manchester University, UK;
an MSc from UCL, UK; and her PhD from Göttingen, Germany. Since 2013, she
has worked in the group of Dr. Juergen Fell as a postdoctoral researcher in Bonn,
investigating the effects of auditory beat stimulation on memory processes and
mind wandering. She is interested in the impact of brain stimulation techniques on
cognition.

Mariana Rachel Dias da Silva MSc, is a PhD researcher in the Department of

Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence at Tilburg University. She conducts
research on the automatic detection of mind wandering during computer tasks from
behavioral and brain signals. For this purpose, she makes use of machine learning
techniques to analyze mouse tracking, eye tracking, and EEG data.

Lars Schermer Didriksen is a clinical psychologist working in Southern Denmark

Regional Psychiatric Hospital. Lars leads group sessions based on mindfulness and

xvii
xviii About the Contributors

sees individual patients with anxiety, PTSD and depression, and other mental disor-
ders. His main research interest revolves around contemplative practice, such as
meditation, its effects on the brain and the mind, and how it can be used to alleviate
suffering in psychiatric care. Alongside this, Lars serves as advisory board member
for a telehealth company specializing in online psychology treatment. Lars has pre-
viously published in the journal Human Arenas – Springer.

Halvor Eifring is a professor of Chinese at the University of Oslo, Norway. His

research interests include meditative traditions and mind wandering, in addition to
Chinese language, literature, and thought. His recent publications include five
edited volumes on meditative traditions and the book The Power of the Wandering
Mind: Nondirective Meditation in Science and Philosophy (Dyade Press, 2019).

Oren Ergas is a senior lecturer at Beit Berl College’s Faculty of Education. He has
published extensively on the themes of the embodied mind and mindfulness in edu-
cation, curriculum, and teacher education, applying interdisciplinary perspectives,
including philosophy East/West, neuroscience, sociology, and contemplative
practices.

Myrthe Faber is a cognitive scientist working on the intersection of psychology,

neuroscience, and language studies. Her research focuses on the role of spontaneous
cognition in discourse processing, with a special interest in the experience of being
drawn in or zoned out during narrative reading. She is an assistant professor at the
Tilburg University Tilburg Center for Cognition and Communication, and a research
affiliate at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour.

Juergen Fell studied physics and philosophy. He is the head of the cortical oscilla-
tions group at the Department of Epileptology in Bonn, Germany. His main research
interests are memory, sleep, and consciousness.

Pablo Fossa is a professor and researcher in the Faculty of Psychology, Universidad

del Desarrollo, Chile. He received a PhD in Psychology from Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile and a postdoctoral position from the National Commission of
Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) of Chile. Pablo does research in
cognition, cultural psychology, and phenomenology. He is a member of the
International Society for Cultural-Historical Activity Research (ISCAR), the
International Society for Theoretical Psychology (ISTP), and the International
Society for Dialogical Self (ISDS). Currently, he is PhD(c) in Philosophy at the
University of Navarra, Spain. [email protected].

Camila Garcia-Huidobro has a degree in Psychology from the psychology

department of the Universidad del Desarrollo. She has been a teacher assistant in
various subjects and has participated as a research assistant in projects related to the
study of language, thought, and mind wandering. [email protected].
About the Contributors xix

Nicolás González is a psychologist who graduated from the Faculty of Psychology

of the Universidad del Desarrollo with maximum distinction. He has a diploma in
Neuropsychology and Neuropsychiatry from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de
Chile. Lately, he entered the field of research in cognitive psychology by collaborat-
ing with Universidad del Desarrollo’s research team. [email protected].

Davood Gozli completed his PhD in experimental psychology at the University of

Toronto. He is currently an assistant professor of Psychology at the University of
Macau. His book, Experimental Psychology and Human Agency, is a detailed cri-
tique of experimental methods—and their unreflective (mis)use—in human psy-
chology. He is consulting editor at Review of General Psychology and co-editor
(with Dr. Natalia Smirnov) of REFUSE: A Journal of Iconoclasms.

Deborah Költzsch is a research assistant and doctoral candidate at Heiner Böttger’s

LEARLab at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. Her PhD thesis focuses
on the evaluation and promotion of creativity within the English language class-
room. Her further research interests are evidence-based findings regarding neural
networks of the human brain as well as the use of gamification in the language
classroom.

Sofie Krakau studies medicine at the University of Bonn. Since 2019, she has
worked as a research assistant in the cortical oscillations group at the Department of
Epileptology in Bonn, Germany. Her research interests are investigating the effects
of auditory beat stimulation on mind wandering and cognition.

Alex Lafont is a postdoctoral fellow at Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de

l’Espace (ISAE) in Toulouse where he is currently researching the effects of neuro-
feedback and adaptive automation on cognitive and flying performances in pilots.
His research interests are mostly cognitive sciences and neuroergonomics by using
a set of various tools such as eye-tracking, physiological measurements, or
electroencephalography.

Igor Marchetti is an assistant professor in Clinical Psychology and the director of

the Experimental and Clinical Psychopathology Lab at the University of Trieste,
Italy. His main research fields are depression, complex dynamics, and spontaneous
thought, with a particular emphasis on adolescence and early adulthood.

Claudia Pelagatti graduated in Psychology at the University of Florence, Italy,

and obtained her PhD in Neuroscience from the same university. Her main research
interests are mind-wandering, autobiographical memory, and pupillometry.

Guillaume Pepin After a PhD in cognitive neuroscience on mind-wandering,

Guillaume PEPIN works on the orientation of high school students at Université de
Technologie de Troyes. What should students need to make better orientation and
career choice? What should be improved in the actual system, and what are the
xx About the Contributors

needs of all the people involved in the process (students, teachers, family, etc.)? The
objective is to facilitate the orientation process of high-school students using a par-
ticipatory approach.

Marie Postma is an associate professor in the Department of Cognitive Science

and Artificial Intelligence at Tilburg University. Her research addresses attentional
and perceptual processes and how they affect cognitive performance in different
domains, including speech processing and learning. She is also involved in a num-
ber of applied projects concerning educational technology, particularly the use of
virtual and mixed reality applications.

Thomas P. Reber obtained his PhD in Psychology from the University of Bern in
2012 and joined the Cognitive Neurophysiology Unit at the Department of
Epileptology, University of Bonn, Germany in 2013. In 2018, he was appointed as
an assistant professor at the Swiss Distance University Institute at the Faculty of
Psychology. He investigates neural mechanisms of perception, memory, and con-
sciousness using behavioral studies in combination with fMRI and EEG. Continuing
his close collaboration with the epileptology in Bonn, he also conducts research
with epilepsy patients that have been implanted with depth-electrodes for chronic
seizure monitoring. Electrodes are used either to record neuronal activity or to stim-
ulate neural tissue directly by delivering small electric currents.

Gerhard Stemberger is a sociologist and psychotherapist (Gestalt Theoretical

Psychotherapy) in Vienna, Austria. He is a member of the teaching faculty of the
Austrian Association for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy (ÖAGP). Before shift-
ing the focus of his professional activities to scientifically based psychotherapy, he
was head of the multidisciplinary social research unit of the Vienna Chamber of
Labour. He was president of the International Society for Gestalt Theory and Its
Applications (GTA), and editor of several scientific journals, among these peer-­
reviewed Gestalt Theory – An International Multidisciplinary Journal (De Gruyter/
Sciendo). His research interests are metatheoretical issues in psychotherapy, naïve
psychology, mental health, and clinical applications of Gestalt theory.

Manila Vannucci is an associate professor of General Psychology at the University

of Florence (Italy) and collaborative professor at the University of Kanazawa
(Japan). Her research focuses on cognitive psychology and neuropsychology, spe-
cifically on visual cognition (visual object processing, visual object, and spatial
imagery) and involuntary cognition (involuntary memories and mind-wandering).
She has been studying these processes in healthy subjects (adolescents, younger
adults, and older adults) and neuropsychological patients (temporal lobe epilepsy
patients, patients with Alzheimer’s disease), using behavioral and psychophysiolog-
ical techniques (surface ERPs, intracranial ERPs, pupillometry).
Chapter 1
Introduction. The Lines, Circles
and Zigzag on Mind-Wandering

Nadia Dario and Luca Tateo

“New Perspective on Mind Wandering in Education” presents a body of studies and

research that deal with mind-wandering and shows the points of convergence and
divergence among them, suggesting which are the conjunctions with learning in
educational settings.
Generally, we can define mind wandering (MW) as a conscious experience
where the mind wanders away at different levels of disconnection from here and
now towards inner musings (Kane et al., 2007; Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010), but
the discussion on its definition is recursively considered by our authors.1
Mind-wandering is a complex phenomenon that deals with dimensions of mental
activity such as intentionality, attention, motivation, emotion and performance,
which are part of the educational domain. MW represents a dilemmatic object in
pedagogical and psychological research, because it remains split between positive
and negative implications. Just to give an example, in cognitive sciences, mind-­
wandering correlates with cognitive control. On the one hand, it is a failure to con-
strain thinking to task-relevant material; on the other hand, this failure in control
facilitates the expression of self-generated mental contents.

1
An interesting analysis on this aspect in cognitive, clinical psychology and neuroscience is offered
by Pelagatti et al. (2020). However, in the chapter, the more common definition in literature is
reported: Mind-wandering is a “shift in the focus of attention away from the here and now towards
one’s private thoughts and feelings”. This shifting away is generally spontaneous, although there
is evidence that it may also occur intentionally (Seli et al., 2016).

N. Dario (*)
CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Lyon 2, Lyon, France
e-mail: [email protected]
L. Tateo
University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1

N. Dario, L. Tateo (eds.), New Perspectives on Mind-Wandering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06955-0_1
2 N. Dario and L. Tateo

“New Perspective on Mind Wandering in Education” aims at providing a land-

scape view of the phenomenon, from different perspectives and interpretations,
without imposing a single viewpoint. In particular, the book deals with some of
prototypical dimensions and instances of mind-wandering that have an impact in the
educational field (O’Neill et al., 2021, p. 2599):
(a) Task-relatedness that captures the extent to which one’s thoughts pertain to a
primary task or to a task-unrelated content. Barron et al. (2011) and Smallwood
and Schooler (2006) suggest that more highly prototypical instances of MW
tend to include thoughts that are unrelated to a focal task (i.e. TUTs), as opposed
to task-focused thoughts.
(b) Intentionality and consciousness (i.e. whether thought is deliberately or sponta-
neously engaged2).
(c) Thought constraint that distinguishes between thoughts that are constrained and
unconstrained by attention where MW is associated with a greater degree of
freely moving thought (FMT).
Thus, the text is fully inserted into the debate about MW’s dimensions and their
relatedness or dissociation (O’Neill et al., 2021). The book deals with the relation-
ship between the main domains of attention, memory, perception and performance
(Callard et al., 2013), but also considers intentionality, temporality, motivation,
emotion, creativity and acquisition of new knowledge.
Finally, it discusses the methodological issues concerning the idiographic and
nomothetic approaches in the MW research. The former concentrate on the unique-
ness, specificity and unrepeatability of the individual (idios) and try to govern it and
to bring it back to general laws (generalists). The latter adopt a measurative approach
and try to find stable and recursive laws (experimentalists).
Therefore, the book intends to overcome the limits set by generalists and experi-
mentalists, whereas the former criticise the latter for its neopositivist paradigm. The
experimentalist paradigm claims instead that the scientific nature of knowledge is
linked to the use of quantitative methodologies that provide measurable results.
However, neopositivism cannot be dismissed by just an a-historical and obsolete
criticism. Scholars in this volume are aware that thinking is marked by self-­
awareness and external reality. The problem is instead a poor conceptualisation of
both consciousness, environment and their relationship. The latter becomes com-
plex, consisting of elements that interact in a non-linear manner so that even though
thought can no longer be considered such, it must still be able to deconstruct and
restructure consolidated schemes, and follow inaccessible roads by making

2
Seli et al. (2016) claim: “Voluntary shifts of attention to TUITs would seem to involve higher
orders of control in information processing or be motivationally determined and to be benign
because of their controlled nature. However, involuntary shifts of attention from the task at hand to
TUITs would seem to involve lower orders of control in information processing and not [be] moti-
vationally determined; in addition, involuntary shifts may be less benign because they are uncon-
trolled” (p. 606).
1 Introduction. The Lines, Circles and Zigzag on Mind-Wandering 3

connections that have never been practised before, getting rid of any rigidity. Hence,
thought places MW among its postulates.
Our prologue represents MW as a mind’s journey in time, space and knowledge.
As in a “loose string of creative thought”, this book moves along imaginary “lines”
and “circles” of scientific knowledge.3 In the first section, represented as “lines”, the
authors show their perspectives on the issues of attention (selective and sustained),
the influence of age, embodiment, consciousness and experience related to
MW. Each time the authors expand the planes creating new lines of inquiry.
In the second section, these “lines” become “circles” of knowledge on methodol-
ogy (tasks and measurement), intervention (auditory beat stimulation and mindful-
ness practices) and creativity, in which there are always profitable, decisive and
retroactive exchanges between information that each group or author activates. In
this manner, we recreate a dance of interacting parts: scrolling through the different
contributions, one can grasp the rhythm of convergences and interconnections that
animates them.
In the last part “zigzag”, we discuss the absence of a unified theoretical perspec-
tive, in the pedagogical field, based on a generative-systemic approach, attentive
both to the developing processes of emergence and the interactions between parts.
The book prologue (Warren, 2022) frames the question of the conceptual and
operational definition of MW, named in different ways: spontaneous thought, stream
of consciousness, daydreaming, stimulus-independent thought, task unrelated
thought, etc. Which one best suits mind-wandering?
Starting from this question, Warren (2022) considers the debate on its definition
in cognitive science.4 She reports the first use of the term “mind-wandering” as a
synonym of stream of consciousness (Pope, 1978) and stimulus-independent

3
Reconsidering Giunta (2014)’s idea on flexibility as lines and circles.
4
Here, we find two main approaches: dynamic and family resemblance. The former propose that
mind-wandering is a member of a family of spontaneous-thought phenomena that must be studied
to understand how its states, arise or change over time, distinguishing it from, for example, rumi-
nation (see Christoff et al. 2016, 2018), and linking mind-wandering with two concepts: variability
and constraints. “Some studies have started investigating this dynamic dimension of MW, intro-
ducing measure of the degree of freedom of movement in thought (i.e., level of constraints on
thought as it unfolds over time) (Smith et al., 2018) and examining its relationship with the other,
content-based dimensions, as task-unrelatedness and stimulus-independence Mills et al. (2018)
(Pelagatti et al., 2020, p. 3). The issue of the dynamic of MW is also addressed, in a more temporal-
based perspective, in the process-occurrence framework, proposed by Smallwood. According to
this proposal, any comprehensive account of Mw is expected to explain when and why MW occurs,
that is which processes and events control and prompt the initial occurrence of MW (onset) and
how MW unfolds over time, that is which processes sustain MW over time (maintenance). In order
to understand how the mind wanders, we need to identify and distinguish between the onset (the
so-called process of ignition) and maintenance” (Pelagatti, p. 2).
The Family Resemble Approach doesn’t accept a definition because “no single definition can
capture all the facets and subtleties of mind-wandering, and neither logic nor empiricism can select
among them. Thus, they propose defining mind-wandering as a multidimensional and fuzzy con-
struct, encompassing a family of experiences with common and unique features” (Seli et al.
2018a, b).