The Persistence of Thought: Evidence for a Role of Working Memory in the Maintenance of Task-Unrelated Thinking
Open accessAbstract
Tasks that tax working memory (WM) have consistently been found to decrease mind wandering. These findings may indicate that maintenance of mind wandering requires WM resources, such that mind wandering cannot persist when WM resources are being consumed by a task. An alternative explanation for these findings, however, is that mind wandering persists without the support of WM but is nonetheless decreased during any demanding task because good task performance requires that attention be restricted from task-unrelated thought (TUT). The present study tested these two competing theories by investigating whether individuals with greater WM resources mind-wander more during an undemanding task, as would be predicted only by the theory that WM supports TUT. We found that individuals with higher WM capacity reported more TUT in undemanding tasks, which suggests that WM enables the maintenance of mind wandering.
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Individuals with improved executive control are able to limit self-generated thought to non-demanding or unimportant contexts.
“By contrast, individuals with improved executive control are able to limit their self-generated thought to non-demanding or unimportant contexts.10,176,178”
From The default network and self-generated thought: component processes, dynamic control, and clinical relevance (2014) · cites this paper as [176]
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InfluentialA multi-faceted approach to understanding individual differences in mind-wandering
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Ventromedial prefrontal damage reduces mind-wandering and biases its temporal focus
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When the mind wanders: Age-related differences between young and older adults
Zavagnin, M., Borella, E., & Béni, R. D. (2013) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.10.016 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Differential recruitment of executive resources during mind wandering
Kam, J. W. Y., & Handy, T. C. (2014) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2014.03.002 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
“These results are therefore in line with the recent finding that maintaining an internal train of thoughts requires working memory resources (Levinson et al., 2012).”
More than meets the ear: Investigating how music affects cognitive task performance.
Gonzalez, M. F., & Aiello, J. R. (2019) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000202 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
“Because simple tasks tend to underutilize the performer’s attentional resources (Levinson et al., 2012), salient distractions—such as complex or loud music in the current study—more strongly facilitate simple task performance by occupying more leftover attentional resources and reducing the…”
Frith, E., Kane, M. J., Welhaf, M. S., Christensen, A. P., Silvia, P. J., & Beaty, R. E. (2021) · Creativity Research Journal · doi:10.1080/10400419.2020.1855906 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
“, 2011; Smallwood & Schooler, 2006; Smeekens & Kane, 2016) and attention shifts from the goals of the target task to an individual’s internal environment (Levinson et al., 2012).”
BackgroundGodwin, C. A., Hunter, M. A., Bezdek, M. A., Lieberman, G., Elkin-Frankston, S., Romero, V. L., Witkiewitz, K. A., Clark, V. P., & Schumacher, E. H. (2017) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.07.006 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
“If the MWQ was actually tapping into mind wandering tendency only during low load conditions, we might have expected a positive correlation between the MWQ scores and complex span scores, since previous work has documented that individuals with high working memory capacity tend to mind wander more in low load situatio…”
Farrugia, N., Jakubowski, K., Cusack, R., & Stewart, L. (2015) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2015.04.020 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Cognitive rigidity is mirrored by autonomic inflexibility in daily life perseverative cognition
Ottaviani, C., Medea, B., Lonigro, A., Tarvainen, M. P., & Couyoumdjian, A. (2015) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.02.011 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
More mind wandering, fewer original ideas: Be not distracted during creative idea generation
Hao, N., Wu, M., Runco, M. A., & Pina, J. (2015) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.09.001 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
“The MW frequency during the course of idea generation was measured by means of the probe-caught MW, as in the previous studies (Hu, He, & Xu, 2012; Levinson et al., 2012; Stawarczyk et al., 2014).”
MethodThe restless mind while driving: drivers’ thoughts behind the wheel
Berthié, G., Lemercier, C., Paubel, P., Cour, M., Fort, A., Galéra, C., Lagarde, E., Gabaude, C., & Maury, B. (2015) · Accident Analysis & Prevention · doi:10.1016/j.aap.2015.01.005 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Mindwandering heightens the accessibility of negative relative to positive thought
Marchetti, I., Koster, E. H. W., & Raedt, R. D. (2012) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2012.05.013 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
“Recent perspectives claim that during MW (i) attention is mainly focused internally (Baird et al., 2011; Barron et al., 2011; Smallwood et al., 2011) and (ii) personal goals/priorities are actively processed (Levinson et al., 2012; Stawarczyk et al., 2011).”
Bertossi, E., Peccenini, L., Solmi, A., Avenanti, A., & Ciaramelli, E. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-17267-4 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Reflecting on past failures leads to increased perseverance and sustained attention
DiMenichi, B. C., & Richmond, L. L. (2015) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2014.995104 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Marcusson‐Clavertz, D., Cardeña, E., & Terhune, D. B. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/xlm0000180 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
“Together with earlier findings (Levinson et al., 2012; Rummel & Boywitt, 2014; Smallwood et al., 2013), these results suggest that greater working memory capacity allows individuals to flexibly adjust the occurrence of mind wandering relative to the content and the context.”
Ju, Y.-J., & Lien, Y.-W. (2018) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2018.06.006 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Examining the role of emotional valence of mind wandering: All mind wandering is not equal
Banks, J., Welhaf, M. S., Hood, A. V. B., Boals, A., & Tartar, J. L. (2016) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2016.06.003 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Vannucci, M., Pelagatti, C., Hanczakowski, M., & Chiorri, C. (2018) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-018-0854-0 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Meta-analysis of aging effects in mind wandering: Methodological and sociodemographic factors.
Jordão, M., Ferreira‐Santos, F., Pinho, M. S., & Jacques, P. L. S. (2019) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/pag0000356 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Vannucci, M., Pelagatti, C., & Marchetti, I. (2017) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2017.06.004 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
No Pain, no Gain? Investigating motivational mechanisms of game elements in cognitive tasks
Bernecker, K., & Ninaus, M. (2020) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106542 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
“Depending on the situation, task disengagement can result in task switching or in performance deficits, for instance, if a student engages in daydreaming instead of doing math problems (Kurzban et al., 2013; Levinson, Smallwood, & Davidson, 2012).”
BackgroundArabacı, G., & Parris, B. A. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22390-x · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Chronotype and time-of-day correlates of mind wandering and related phenomena
Carciofo, R., Du, F., Song, N., & Zhang, K. (2013) · Biological Rhythm Research · doi:10.1080/09291016.2013.790651 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“Although the theoretical basis of MW continues to be debated, it seems likely that both resources and control mechanisms are involved (Smallwood 2010; McVay & Kane 2011; Kane & McVay 2012; Levinson et al. 2012).”
Linking mind wandering tendency to risky driving in young male drivers
Albert, D. A., Ouimet, M. C., Jarret, J., Cloutier, M., Paquette, M., Badeau, N., & Brown, T. G. (2018) · Accident Analysis & Prevention · doi:10.1016/j.aap.2017.11.019 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
The influence of thought probes on performance: Does the mind wander more if you ask it?
Wiemers, E. A., & Redick, T. S. (2018) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-018-1529-3 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Keulers, E. H. H., & Jonkman, L. M. (2019) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2018.11.013 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Understanding the role of mind wandering in stress-related working memory impairments
Banks, J., & Boals, A. (2016) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2016.1179174 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“Higher WM capacity individuals report more frequent TUTs during a low-perceptual load visual search task than lower WM capacity individuals, but WM did not predict TUTs during a high-perceptual load visual search task (Levinson et al., 2012).”
BackgroundJha, A. P., Witkin, J. E., Morrison, A. B., Rostrup, N., & Stanley, E. A. (2017) · Journal of Cognitive Enhancement · doi:10.1007/s41465-017-0035-2 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“…strongest in the training-focused variant (Jha et al. 2015); (2) the established relationship between attention and WM (Jha 2002; Kane et al. 2007; Levinson et al. 2012; McVay and Kane 2012); and (3) prior results suggesting that WM is bolstered by short-formMT during typical civilian life…”
Distraction and Mind-Wandering Under Load
Forster, S. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00283 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“…exert attentional control over mind-wandering draws on an executive control mechanism (e.g., McVay and Kane, 2010), which also supports attentional control over external stimuli (e.g., during Stroop or response-competition tasks, Kane and Engle, 2003; Levinson et al., 2012; Shipstead et al., 2012).”
InfluentialCallard, F. J., Smallwood, J., & Margulies, D. S. (2012) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00321 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“For example, when task demands are minimal, self-generated thought occurs most frequently in those individuals who perform well on goal-driven tasks (Levinson et al., 2012); while self-generated thought can be associated with a reduction in the processing of distracter stimuli, a hallmark process…”
Self-citationWorking memory capacity and mind-wandering during low-demand cognitive tasks
Robison, M. K., & Nash Unsworth, A. (2017) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2017.04.012 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“From these findings, Levinson et al. (2012) argue that working memory resources are actually necessary for mind-wandering, and those with greater WMC can actually mind-wander more when their resources are not consumed by external task demands.”
BackgroundThe wandering self: Tracking distracting self-generated thought in a cognitively demanding context.
Huijser, S., van Vugt, M. V., & Taatgen, N. (2017) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2017.12.004 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“This is in line with resource theories of mind wandering, which claim that mind wandering is a process that requires resources to start and to continue (see e.g., Levinson, Smallwood, & Davidson, 2012; Smallwood & Schooler, 2006).”
Zedelius, C. M., Müller, B. C. N., & Schooler, J. W. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-57306-9 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Shepherd, J. (2019) · Neuroscience of Consciousness · doi:10.1093/nc/niz014 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Other work suggests that when task demands are low, greater working memory capacity correlates with the occurrence of more task-unrelated thoughts (Levinson et al. 2012), although a preregistered replication attempt failed to find the same correlation (Meier 2019).”
BackgroundThe Neuroscience of Spontaneous Thought: An Evolving, Interdisciplinary FieldPreprint
Andrews‐Hanna, J. R., Irving, Z. C., Fox, K. C. R., Spreng, R. N., & Kalina Christoff, A. (2017) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1704.02533 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Meier, M. E. (2019) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797619837942 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Multiple routes to mind wandering: Predicting mind wandering with resource theories
Randall, J. G., Beier, M. E., & Villado, A. J. (2018) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2018.11.006 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Martinon, L. M., Smallwood, J., McGann, D., Hamilton, C., & Riby, L. M. (2019) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.02.034 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“…from a third to half of our mental life (Kane et al., 2007), has an impact on everyday life activities (Cowley, 2013; McVay et al., 2009) and has been observed across multiple cultures (Deng et al., 2012; Levinson et al., 2012; Smallwood et al., 2009; Song and Wang, 2012; Tusche et al., 2014).”
Self-citationDoes Mind Wandering During the Thought Incubation Period Improve Creativity and Worsen Mood?
Yamaoka, A., & Yukawa, S. (2019) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.1177/0033294119896039 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Training satisfaction relative to turnover intention: the mediating role of employee loyalty
Albtoosh, Q. A. A., Ngah, A. H., & Yusoff, Y. M. (2022) · Industrial and Commercial Training · doi:10.1108/ict-06-2021-0047 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Working memory capacity does not always support future-oriented mind-wandering.
McVay, J. C., Nash Unsworth, A., McMillan, B. D., & Kane, M. J. (2013) · Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale · doi:10.1037/a0031252 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“…2007; McVay & Kane, 2009, 2012a, 2012b; Mrazek et al., 2012; Unsworth & McMillan, in press; Unsworth et al., 2012), but not during less demanding tasks, in which the correlations range from null to positive (Baird et al., 2011; Kane, Brown et al., 2007; Levinson et al., 2012; McVay & Kane, 2012a).”
Iwata, T., Yanagisawa, T., Ikegaya, Y., Smallwood, J., Fukuma, R., Oshino, S., Tani, N., Khoo, H. M., & Kishima, H. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48367-1 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Self-citationMind surfing: Attention in musical absorption
Høffding, S., Nielsen, N., & Laeng, B. (2023) · Cognitive Systems Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2023.101180 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Introspective and Neurophysiological Measures of Mind Wandering in Schizophrenia
Iglesias‐Parro, S., Soriano, M. F., Prieto, M., Rodriguez, I. R. N., Aznarte, J. I., & Ibáñez-Molina, A. J. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-61843-0 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
When the mind’s eye prevails: The Internal Dominance over External Attention (IDEA) hypothesis
Verschooren, S., & Egner, T. (2023) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-023-02272-8 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“At the empirical level, given that mind wandering itself is defined as self-generated mental content, it is not straight-forward to manipulate this phenomenon experimentally (see Kane et al., 2007; Levinson et al., 2012).”
Shared and distinct factors driving attention and temporal processing across modalities
Berry, A. S., Li, X., Lin, Z., & Lustig, C. (2013) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.07.020 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Soft Robotic Compression Garment to Assist Novice Meditators
Foo, E. W., Baker, J., Compton, C., & Holschuh, B. T. (2020) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/3334480.3382919 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Attenuated Face Processing during Mind Wandering
Denkova, E., Brudner, E. G., Zayan, K. L., Dunn, J., & Jha, A. P. (2018) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01312 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Attention, mindwandering, and mood
Hobbiss, M. H., Fairnie, J., Jafari, K., & Lavie, N. (2019) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2019.04.007 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Jubera-García, E., Gevers, W., & Filip Van Opstal, A. (2021) · Biochemical Pharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.bcp.2021.114478 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Age-related changes in ongoing thought relate to external context and individual cognition
Turnbull, A. G., Poerio, G. L., Ho, N. S. P., Martinon, L. M., Riby, L. M., Lin, F. V., Jefferies, E., & Smallwood, J. (2021) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103226 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“In our study we measured fluid intelligence using Raven’s matrices and found that accuracy correlated positively with task focus (replicating prior studies linking executive control to on-task thoughts: (Kane et al., 2007; Levinson et al., 2012; McVay & Kane, 2012a; 2012b; McVay, Kane, & Kwapil, 2009; Mrazek et al., 2…”
Self-citationNeural representations of self-generated thought during think-aloud fMRI
Li, T., Lu, B., Wang, Y., Li, X., Chen, X., & Yan, C. (2022) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119775 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Welhaf, M. S., Meier, M. E., Smeekens, B. A., Silvia, P. J., Kwapil, T. R., & Kane, M. J. (2022) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-021-01766-4 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“…of probe numbers and frequencies have been employed, with some studies using tasks that include as few as four probes (e.g., Forster & Lavie, 2009; Levinson et al., 2012; Robison et al., 2020; Rummel & Boywitt, 2014) and others using tasks with as many as 45–120 probes (e.g., Kane et al., 2016;…”
MethodFossa, P., González, N., & Montezemolo, F. C. D. (2018) · Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science · doi:10.1007/s12124-018-9462-6 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Banks, J., & Welhaf, M. S. (2021) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-021-01579-2 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
A new approach to differentiate states of mind wandering: Effects of working memory capacity
Voss, M. J., Zukosky, M., & Wang, R. F. (2018) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2018.05.013 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
The Impact of Modality on Mind Wandering during Comprehension
Kopp, K. J., & D’Mello, S. K. (2015) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.3163 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Levinson, D. B., Smallwood, J., & Davidson, R. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-03-14
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 375-380
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- PMC
- PMC3328662
- OpenAlex
- W2129021060
- Cited by
- 232
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 9.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Fetzer Institute
- Association for Psychological Science
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH043454)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (P01AT004952)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30HD003352)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- mind wandering, working memory, task-unrelated thoughts, task demands, attentional control, cognitive resources
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Attention, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Task Performance and Analysis, Thinking
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