In pursuit of off-task thought: mind wandering-performance trade-offs while reading aloud and color naming
Open accessAbstract
The present study investigated whether the frequency of probe-caught mind wandering varied by condition and had any impact on performance in both an item-by-item reading aloud task and a blocked version of the classic Stroop task. Across both experiments, mind wandering rates were found to be quite high and were negatively associated with vocal onset latencies and error rates across conditions. Despite this however, we observed poor correspondence between the effects of task demands on mind wandering rates and the effects of mind wandering on primary task performance. We discuss these findings in relation to attentional resource accounts of mind wandering and suggest that individuals can adjust the relative distribution of executive/attentional resources between internal and external goals in a way that maximizes off-task thought while preserving primary task performance.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Able-bodied speakers have a 1-2% word error rate when reading a paragraph aloud.
“and able-bodied speakers have a 1-2% word error rate 29 when reading a paragraph aloud.”
From An Accurate and Rapidly Calibrating Speech Neuroprosthesis (2024) · cites this paper as [29]
Experiment 1 Results report error rates of 0.9% for high-frequency words and 1.7% for low-frequency words, close to the claimed 1–2%. But the Procedure says participants read one letter string at a time, not a paragraph, and the paper describes the participants as undergraduates rather than establishing an error rate for able-bodied speakers generally. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions
Stroop, J. R. (1935) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0054651 · Cited by 18,622 · see citing works
(1967) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 7,532 · see citing works
Controlled and automatic human information processing: I. Detection, search, and attention.
Schneider, W., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1977) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.84.1.1 · Cited by 5,902 · see citing works
Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review.
MacLeod, C. M. (1991) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.163 · Cited by 5,500 · see citing works
PsychoPy—Psychophysics software in Python
Peirce, J. W. (2007) · Journal of Neuroscience Methods · doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2006.11.017 · Cited by 4,728 · see citing works
Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading
LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/0010-0285(74)90015-2 · Cited by 3,841 · see citing works
Dual-task interference in simple tasks: data and theory
Pashler, H. (1994) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.116.2.220 · Cited by 3,112 · see citing works
A wandering mind is an unhappy mind
Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1192439 · Cited by 2,575 · see citing works
Controlled and automatic human information processing: I
Schneider, W. E., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1977) · Cited by 2,228 · see citing works
Robertson, I. H., Manly, T., Andrade, J., Baddeley, B., & Yiend, J. (1997) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(97)00015-8 · Cited by 2,189 · see citing works
Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2006) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.6.946 · Cited by 2,067 · see citing works
Kane, M. J., & Engle, R. W. (2003) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.132.1.47 · Cited by 1,725 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…with incongruent trials placing greater demands on attention and controlled processing, by, for example, necessitating both goal maintenance and competition resolution from competing stimulus dimensions (Kane and Engle, 2003); executive processes not required for performance on congruent trials.”
BackgroundOn the economy of the human-processing system.
Navon, D., & Gopher, D. (1979) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.86.3.214 · Cited by 1,668 · see citing works
Driven to Distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellular Telephone
Strayer, D. L., & Johnston, W. A. (2001) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00386 · Cited by 1,134 · see citing works
Lexical access and naming time
Forster, K. I., & Chambers, S. M. (1973) · Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(73)80042-8 · Cited by 1,132 · see citing works
Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind
Schooler, J. W., Smallwood, J., Christoff, K., Handy, T. C., Reichle, E. D., & Sayette, M. A. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.05.006 · Cited by 917 · see citing works
A Solution to the Effect of Sample Size on Outlier Elimination
Selst, M. V., & Jolicœur, P. (1994) · The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A · doi:10.1080/14640749408401131 · Cited by 844 · see citing works
Investigations of the functional anatomy of attention using the stroop test
Bench, C. J., Frith, C., Grasby, P. M., Friston, K. J., Paulesu, E., Frackowiak, R. S. J., & Dolan, R. J. (1993) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(93)90147-r · Cited by 815 · see citing works
MacLeod, C. M., & MacDonald, P. A. (2000) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01530-8 · Cited by 694 · see citing works
The nature of remembering: Essays in honor of Robert G. Crowder.
Roediger, H. L., & Crowder, R. G. (2001) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10394-000 · Cited by 657 · see citing works
Smallwood, J., Davies, J. B., Heim, D., Finnigan, F., Sudbery, M. V., O’Connor, R. C., & Obonsawin, M. C. (2004) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2004.06.003 · Cited by 609 · see citing works
The absent mind: further investigations of sustained attention to response
Manly, T. (1999) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(98)00127-4 · Cited by 595 · see citing works
358,534 nonwords: The ARC Nonword Database
Rastle, K., Harrington, J. M., & Coltheart, M. (2002) · The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A · doi:10.1080/02724980244000099 · Cited by 545 · see citing works
Going AWOL in the Brain: Mind Wandering Reduces Cortical Analysis of External Events
Smallwood, J., Beach, E., Schooler, J. W., & Handy, T. C. (2007) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2008.20037 · Cited by 520 · see citing works
When attention matters: The curious incident of the wandering mind
Smallwood, J., McSpadden, M., & Schooler, J. W. (2008) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/mc.36.6.1144 · Cited by 458 · see citing works
Spelling and sound: Approaches to the internal lexicon.
Frederiksen, J. R., & Kroll, J. F. (1976) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.2.3.361 · Cited by 442 · see citing works
Eye Movements During Mindless Reading
Reichle, E. D., Reineberg, A. E., & Schooler, J. W. (2010) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797610378686 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Forty-five years after Broadbent (1958): Still no identification without attention.
Lachter, J., Forster, K. I., & Ruthruff, E. D. (2004) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.111.4.880 · Cited by 390 · see citing works
The role of prefrontal regions in the Stroop task
Vendrell, P., Junqué, C., Pujol, J., Jurado, M. Á., Molet, J., & Grafman, J. H. (1995) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(94)00116-7 · Cited by 355 · see citing works
Smallwood, J., McSpadden, M., & Schooler, J. W. (2007) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/bf03194102 · Cited by 351 · see citing works
Unsworth, N., & McMillan, B. D. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/a0029669 · Cited by 335 · see citing works
Smilek, D., Carriere, J. S. A., & Cheyne, J. A. (2010) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797610368063 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Self-citationMoscovitch, M. (1994) · Neuropsychology · doi:10.1037/0894-4105.8.4.524 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Mind wandering while reading easy and difficult texts
Feng, S., D’Mello, S., & Graesser, A. C. (2013) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0367-y · Cited by 257 · see citing works
Harnessing the wandering mind: The role of perceptual load
Forster, S., & Nilli Lavie, C. (2009) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2009.02.006 · Cited by 253 · see citing works
The context-specific proportion congruent Stroop effect: Location as a contextual cue
Crump, M. J. C., Gong, Z., & Milliken, B. (2006) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/bf03193850 · Cited by 248 · see citing works
Dual-task interference in perceptual category learning
Zeithamová, D., & Maddox, W. T. (2006) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/bf03193416 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
Wandering minds and wavering rhythms: Linking mind wandering and behavioral variability.
Seli, P., Cheyne, J. A., & Smilek, D. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/a0030954 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Self-citationCatching the mind in flight: Using behavioral indices to detect mindless reading in real time
Franklin, M. S., Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2011) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-011-0109-6 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Is semantic activation automatic? A critical re-evaluation.
Neely, J. H., & Kahan, T. A. (2004) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10394-005 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Smallwood, J. (2011) · Language and Linguistics Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1749-818x.2010.00263.x · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Smallwood, J. (2010) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0018673 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Visual attention and word recognition in Stroop color naming: Is word recognition "automatic?"
Brown, T. L., Gore, C. L., & Carr, T. H. (2002) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037//0096-3445.131.2.220 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Reynolds, M., & Besner, D. (2006) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.32.6.1303 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Self-citationThe role of spatial attention in visual word processing.
McCann, R. S., Folk, C. L., & Johnston, J. C. (1992) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.18.4.1015 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Visual attention and word recognition in Stroop color naming: Is word recognition "automatic?"
Brown, T. L., Gore, C. L., & Carr, T. H. (2002) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.131.2.220 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
What kind of attention modulates the Stroop effect?
Besner, D., & Stolz, J. A. (1999) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/bf03210815 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Self-citationThe role of spatial attention in visual word processing.
McCann, R. S., Folk, C. L., & Johnston, J. C. (1992) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.18.4.1015 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Waechter, S., Besner, D., & Stolz, J. A. (2010) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/13506285.2010.517228 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citationStroop Dilution Revisited: Evidence for Domain-Specific, Limited-Capacity Processing.
Roberts, M. A., & Besner, D. (2005) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.31.1.3 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationA Paradigm for Exploring What the Mind Does While Deciding What It Should Do.
Besner, D., & Care, S. (2003) · Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale · doi:10.1037/h0087434 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Self-citationReading aloud: Spelling-sound translation uses central attention.
O’Malley, S., Reynolds, M., Stolz, J. A., & Besner, D. (2008) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.34.2.422 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Self-citationContext-specific control and the Stroop negative priming effect
Milliken, B., Thomson, D. R., Bleile, K. R., et al. (2012) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2012.656851 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Self-citationReading aloud and the question of intent
O’Malley, S., & Besner, D. (2012) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2012.06.011 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationDoes Spatial Attention Influence Lexical Processing During Reading Aloud?
Waechter, S., Ehrlich, D., Stolz, J. A., et al. (2012) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e502412013-859 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Posner M. I. Snyder C. R. R. (1975). Facilitation and inhibition in the processing of signals, in Attention and Performance V, eds Rabbit P. M. A. Dornic S. (New York, NY: Academic Press), 669– 682
Cited by
Sorted by citations
An Accurate and Rapidly Calibrating Speech Neuroprosthesis
Card, N. S., Wairagkar, M., Iacobacci, C., Hou, X., Singer-Clark, T., Willett, F. R., Kunz, E. M., Fan, C., Vahdati Nia, M., Deo, D. R., et al. (2024) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa2314132 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
The wandering mind oscillates: EEG alpha power is enhanced during moments of mind-wandering
Compton, R. J., Gearinger, D., & Wild, H. (2019) · Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-019-00745-9 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Liu, Y., Hou, Y., Quan, H., Zhao, D., Zhao, J., Cao, B., Pang, Y., Chen, H., Lei, X., & Yuan, H. (2023) · Brain Topography · doi:10.1007/s10548-023-00938-z · Cited by 22 · see citing works
An accurate and rapidly calibrating speech neuroprosthesis
Card, N. S., Wairagkar, M., Iacobacci, C., Hou, X., Singer-Clark, T., Willett, F. R., Kunz, E. M., Fan, C., Vahdati Nia, M., Deo, D. R., et al. (2023) · doi:10.1101/2023.12.26.23300110 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
- Authors
- Thomson, D. R., Besner, D., & Smilek, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Thomson, David R.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 4
- Pages
- 360-360
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3684797
- OpenAlex
- W2120007541
- Cited by
- 76
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 3.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Human-Automation Interaction and Safety
- Keywords
- mind wandering, off-task thought, reading aloud, color naming, Stroop task, attention allocation, executive function, task performance, error rate
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
