An Experimental Study On The Adaptive Function Of Mind Wandering

Mind-wandering,commonly known as mind-wandering,daydreaming,wandering,etc.,refers to the process of shifting attention from an ongoing external task to an internal thought experience.Our brains remain active despite a lack of attention or a wandering mind.Some early studies regarded mind wandering as a derivative of the neural structure defect of human brain.Mind wandering would occupy the waking time of People’s Daily consciousness,interfere with the performance of the current task,reduce motor control and affect the learning effect.In 2010,the famous American journals "science" published stories that happened in our daily life the ratio of mind wandering occupy about 46.9% of the people sober moments,and when individual immersed in a wandering mind experience,due to the greatly affect the task is not completed in accordance with the original plan of work,the result often lead to shame and unpleasant feeling.However,from the perspective of evolutionary psychology,mind wandering,as a cross-racial and cross-cultural psychological phenomenon and consciousness experience,is ubiquitous in human consciousness and occurs with high frequency.It also plays an important adaptive function and plays a role in promoting human development.First of all,mind wandering can be used as a bridge between conscious thinking and unconscious thinking with unlimited capacity.It is related to self-awareness and helps individuals maintain a sense of continuity between past,present and future.Secondly,mind wandering is a process of intense metabolism.Previous studies have pointed out that when an individual is in a trance state,the free activities in the subconscious cerebral cortex will consume a certain amount of energy.At this time,the default network in the medial prefrontal cortex will be activated,and meanwhile the executive network will also be activated.The activation of these two neural networks promotes the brewing of creative thinking and the solving of complex problems.Previous studies have focused on the negative effects of mind wandering.In recent years,with the deepening of research on mind wandering,researchers have proposed that mind wandering has adaptive functions in planning and envisioning future goals related to individuals,facilitating decision making,reducing loneliness,and acquiring deep personal memories.Therefore,this study uses the method of empirical research to design three behavioral experiments to demonstrate the adaptive function of mind wandering.In The first experiment,participants were tested for The correlation between mind-wandering and state boredom by using The Sustained Attention to Response Task that causes mind-wandering.Sart)and the choice response task which is not easy to cause the subjects to have mind wandering.During the execution of the task,the differences in the state boredom of the individuals after a long time of monotonous and boring pressing the key task were compared to discuss whether mind wandering plays a buffer role and reduces the generation of state boredom.The results showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in the score of multidimensional state boredom scale(MSBS)in the dimension of time perception(P =0.003).There were significant differences in total scores(P =0.031).Experiment 2 to explore the function of moving mind plans for future events,previous studies have shown that when people is produced in the current task irrelevant thoughts,always thinking that has not happened but the impending event,in the form of scenarios imagine in the mind again and again to preview of those events,the researchers this characteristic is called mind wandering forward bias.In Experiment 2,we added goal-oriented prospective memory tasks(yes,no)and task types(SART task,selective response task)as independent variables to the experimental design to investigate the relationship between prospective bias and mind wandering and future planning.The main effect of task type was not significant(P =0.512).The main effect of prospective memory task was not significant(P =0.273).The interaction between task type and prospective memory was significant(P =0.045).The third experiment is based on the previous research,from the different structure of mind wandering to explore the promotion of creative power.Using Deliberate and Spontaneous Mind Wandering Scales,subjects with high scores on these two dimensions were divided into two groups: the intentional Mind Wandering group and the unintentional Mind Wandering group.A two-factor mixed experimental design of intentional mind wandering group and unintentional mind wandering group)×2(task type: SART task,selective response task)was designed to compare the differences in the creative task performance of the subjects under different experimental conditions.The main effect of task type was significant(P =0.043).The main effect of group was not significant(P =0.842);The interaction between task type and group was not significant(P =0.674).Therefore,the main conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)Mental wandering is one of the ways for individuals to regulate state boredom,which can effectively relieve the sensitivity of individuals to time perception and reduce the arousal of state boredom.(2)Participants with prospective memory task were able to think about future events while performing the SART task.Suggesting that when mind wandering occurs,the brain provides an opportunity to allow the individual to tackle something more urgent than the task at hand.(3)The results do not support that the dichotomous structure of mind wandering has different effects on creativity.(4)Mind wandering phenomenon can enhance the gestation effect,can bring more creative thinking.