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Article Dans Une Revue Scientific Reports Année : 2023

The benefits of mind wandering on a naturalistic prospective memory task

Résumé

Mind wandering (MW) occurs when our attention spontaneously shifts from the task at hand to inner thoughts. MW is often future-oriented and may help people remember to carry out their planned actions (Prospective Memory, PM). Past-oriented MW might also play a critical role in boosting PM performance. Sixty participants learned 24 PM items and recalled them during an immersive virtual walk in a town. The items were divided into event-based-EB and time-based-TB. During the PM retention phase, participants were randomly assigned to a high or a low cognitive load condition, in order to manipulate MW frequency. Some PM items were encoded before this MW manipulation (pre-PM) and some during the virtual walk (post-PM). A high MW frequency was linked with better global PM performances. Spontaneous past-oriented MW predicted better pre-EB retrospective PM retrieval, while spontaneous future-oriented MW predicted better Pre-EB prospective PM retrieval. Voluntary future-oriented MW predicted better post-EB retrospective retrieval. We highlighted, for the first time, a differential impact of spontaneous MW content depending on the PM component (retrospective or prospective). Past-oriented MW is crucial for (re)consolidating PM intentions, and episodic future thinking MW for the execution of PM intentions. We discuss the twofold functional role of MW, namely, to consolidate an already programmed intention and to plan future actions. Have you ever been in the situation where, during a conference talk, you realize that you cannot remember a word the keynote speaker said because you were thinking about your personal issues? This fundamentally human mental state that arises from our inner stream of consciousness is called mind wandering (MW) and occurs when your mind stops being in the present moment. Generally, MW reflects the disengagement of attentional focus from the environment toward self-generated thoughts unrelated to the activity at hand 1-3. This cognitive state has received, in the last decade, great scientific interest as MW is a prominent phenomenon, occupying between 30 and 50% of our waking mental activity 2-7. Contrary to what this description of MW suggests, its operationalization and theoretical definition are the subject of lively debate 4-6. Some authors argue that MW is above all characterized by its dynamical and unconstrained evolution 7 , while others consider that its definition rests mainly on its content, which can be: task-unrelated 8 or stimulus-independent thoughts 9. Some authors even propose a distinction between spontaneous and voluntary MW 3 , the former corresponding to an involuntary switch from a task-related focus to a task-unrelated one, while the latter is a conscious choice to stop paying attention to the task at hand. Given that there is no consensus on a single operational definition to date, Seli et al. (2018) proposed to consider this concept from the perspective of a "Family Resemblance View", in which the different existing definitions of MW are seen as different complementary aspects of the phenomenon 9,10. Its attributes may be shared by different definitions, or be specific to some, with the most widely used attributes characterizing the most prototypical definition of MW. So far, MW has been mainly associated with major cognitive disagreements 3,10-13. The overall consensus is that it has a broadly negative impact, hindering focused attention 14,15 , working memory capacity 16,17 and episodic memory encoding 4 to name a few effects. However, it would be surprising if such a prevalent phenomenon served no purpose. A series of studies has opened a new avenue of interest regarding its functional role 13. As previously mentioned, the initiation of an MW episode can be triggered in two different ways: spontaneously or voluntarily. Spontaneous MW is associated with certain measures of mindfulness such as a greater tendency to perform actions without being aware of them 18 .
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hal-04224916 , version 1 (02-10-2023)

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J C Girardeau, R Ledru, A Gaston-Bellegarde, P Blondé, M Sperduti, et al.. The benefits of mind wandering on a naturalistic prospective memory task. Scientific Reports, 2023, 13, ⟨10.1038/s41598-023-37996-z⟩. ⟨hal-04224916⟩
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