[1][2] This can be in the form of three different subtypes: positive constructive daydreaming, guilty fear of failure, and poor attentional control.
[3] A common understanding of mind-wandering is the experience of thoughts not remaining on a single topic for a long period of time, particularly when people are engaged in an attention-demanding task.
[6] Studies using event-related potentials (ERPs) have shown that mind-wandering reduces the brain's processing of external information.
In 1921, Varendonck published The Psychology of Day-Dreams, in which he traced his "'trains of thoughts' to identify their origins, most often irrelevant external influences".
[19][page needed] Wallas (1926) considered mind-wandering as an important aspect of his second stage of creative thought – incubation.
Mind-wandering is important in understanding how the brain produces what William James called the train of thought and the stream of consciousness.
This aspect of mind-wandering research is focused on understanding how the brain generates the spontaneous and relatively unconstrained thoughts that are experienced when the mind wanders.
This network of regions is highly active even when participants are resting with their eyes closed[29] suggesting a role in generating spontaneous internal thoughts.
The default mode network is active when a person is not focused on the outside world and the brain is at wakeful rest because experiences such as mind-wandering and daydreaming are common in this state.
[17] However, recent studies show that signals in the default mode network provide information regarding patterns of detailed experience in active tasks states.
In addition to neural models, computational models of consciousness based on Bernard Baars' Global Workspace theory[35][page needed][36][page needed] suggest that mind-wandering, or "spontaneous thought" may involve competition between internally and externally generated activities attempting to gain access to a limited capacity central network.
Being more conscientious allows people to stay focused on the task better which causes fewer instances of mind-wandering.
Seli et al. (2015) found that spontaneous mind-wandering, the uncontrolled or unwarranted shifting of attention, is a characteristic of those who have ADHD.
However, they note that deliberate mind-wandering, or the purposeful shifting of one's attention to different stimuli, is not a consistent characteristic of having ADHD.
[41] Franklin et al. (2016) arrived at similar conclusions; they had college students take multiple psychological evaluations that gauge ADHD symptom strength.
Studies show that humans typically spend 25-50% of their time thinking about thoughts irrelevant to their current situations.
[16] Moreover, individual difference studies[clarification needed] demonstrate that when tasks are non-demanding, high levels of working memory capacity are associated with more frequent reports of task-unrelated thinking[51][52] especially when it is focused on the future.
[53] By contrast, when performing tasks that demand continuous attention, high levels of working memory capacity are associated with fewer reports of task-unrelated thoughts.
[11] Together these data are consistent with the claim that working memory capacity helps sustain a train of thought whether it is generated in response to a perceptual event or is self-generated by the individual.
[54] Working memory capacity variation in individuals has been proven to be a good predictor of the natural tendency for mind-wandering to occur during cognitively demanding tasks and various activities in daily life.
Mind-wandering affects retention where working memory capacity is directly related to reading comprehension levels.
Throughout the reading itself, the author provides important cues to identify the villain, known as inference critical episodes (ICEs).
It was found that episodes of mind-wandering, especially early on in the text led to decreased identification of the villain and worse results on both factual and deducible questions.
This supports the executive-resource hypothesis which describes that both task related and task-unrelated thoughts (TUT) compete for executive function resources.
[63][64] As part of his doctoral research at Harvard University, Matthew Killingsworth used an iPhone app that captured a user's feelings in real time.
[24][63] Executive functions (EFs) are cognitive processes that make a person pay attention or concentrate on a task.
[4][38][40] Metacognition serves to correct the wandering mind, suppressing spontaneous thoughts and bringing attention back to more "worthwhile" tasks.
[77][78] Paul Seli and colleagues have shown that spontaneous mind-wandering is associated with increased fidgeting;[79][80] by contrast, interest, attention and visual engagement lead to Non-Instrumental Movement Inhibition.
[81] One possible application for this phenomenon is that detection of non-instrumental movements may be an indicator of attention or boredom in computer aided learning.
Traditionally teachers and students have viewed fidgeting as a sign of diminished attention,[82] which is summarized by the statement, “Concentration of consciousness, and concentration of movements, diffusion of ideas and diffusion of movements go together.”[83] However, James Farley and colleagues have proposed that fidgeting is not only an indicator of spontaneous mind-wandering, but is also a subconscious attempt to increase arousal in order to improve attention and thus reduce mind-wandering.