Cargando…
Trait-Level Variability in Attention Modulates Mind Wandering and Academic Achievement
Although mind wandering remains ubiquitous in daily life, the processes that underlie and sustain this behavior remain poorly understood. Across two experiments, we studied the role of intrinsic temperament traits, which shape stable behavioral processes, in moderating the association between mind w...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2020
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7271744/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32547441 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00909 |
_version_ | 1783542139500625920 |
---|---|
author | Pereira, Effie J. Gurguryan, Lauri Ristic, Jelena |
author_facet | Pereira, Effie J. Gurguryan, Lauri Ristic, Jelena |
author_sort | Pereira, Effie J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Although mind wandering remains ubiquitous in daily life, the processes that underlie and sustain this behavior remain poorly understood. Across two experiments, we studied the role of intrinsic temperament traits, which shape stable behavioral processes, in moderating the association between mind wandering and the real-life functional outcome of academic success. In Experiment 1, participants completed the Mind Wandering Questionnaire, the Adult Temperament Questionnaire, and reported their grade for the highest degree completed or in progress. Individuals with traits of low Effortful control, high Negative affect, and low Extraversion indicated more mind wandering. Effortful control moderated the relationship between mind wandering and academic success, with higher tendency for mind wandering associated with higher academic achievement for individuals with high Effortful control, and lower academic achievement for those with low Effortful control. Experiment 2 confirmed these links using the visual metronome response task, an objective measure of mind wandering. Together, these results suggest that the intrinsic temperament trait of Effortful control represents one of the key mechanisms behind the functional influence of mind wandering on real-life outcomes. This work places an innate ability to control attention at the very core of real life success, and highlights the need for studying mind wandering through an interdisciplinary lens that brings together cognitive, biological, social, and clinical theories in order to understand the fundamental mechanisms that drive this behavior. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7271744 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-72717442020-06-15 Trait-Level Variability in Attention Modulates Mind Wandering and Academic Achievement Pereira, Effie J. Gurguryan, Lauri Ristic, Jelena Front Psychol Psychology Although mind wandering remains ubiquitous in daily life, the processes that underlie and sustain this behavior remain poorly understood. Across two experiments, we studied the role of intrinsic temperament traits, which shape stable behavioral processes, in moderating the association between mind wandering and the real-life functional outcome of academic success. In Experiment 1, participants completed the Mind Wandering Questionnaire, the Adult Temperament Questionnaire, and reported their grade for the highest degree completed or in progress. Individuals with traits of low Effortful control, high Negative affect, and low Extraversion indicated more mind wandering. Effortful control moderated the relationship between mind wandering and academic success, with higher tendency for mind wandering associated with higher academic achievement for individuals with high Effortful control, and lower academic achievement for those with low Effortful control. Experiment 2 confirmed these links using the visual metronome response task, an objective measure of mind wandering. Together, these results suggest that the intrinsic temperament trait of Effortful control represents one of the key mechanisms behind the functional influence of mind wandering on real-life outcomes. This work places an innate ability to control attention at the very core of real life success, and highlights the need for studying mind wandering through an interdisciplinary lens that brings together cognitive, biological, social, and clinical theories in order to understand the fundamental mechanisms that drive this behavior. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-05-28 /pmc/articles/PMC7271744/ /pubmed/32547441 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00909 Text en Copyright © 2020 Pereira, Gurguryan and Ristic. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Pereira, Effie J. Gurguryan, Lauri Ristic, Jelena Trait-Level Variability in Attention Modulates Mind Wandering and Academic Achievement |
title | Trait-Level Variability in Attention Modulates Mind Wandering and Academic Achievement |
title_full | Trait-Level Variability in Attention Modulates Mind Wandering and Academic Achievement |
title_fullStr | Trait-Level Variability in Attention Modulates Mind Wandering and Academic Achievement |
title_full_unstemmed | Trait-Level Variability in Attention Modulates Mind Wandering and Academic Achievement |
title_short | Trait-Level Variability in Attention Modulates Mind Wandering and Academic Achievement |
title_sort | trait-level variability in attention modulates mind wandering and academic achievement |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7271744/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32547441 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00909 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT pereiraeffiej traitlevelvariabilityinattentionmodulatesmindwanderingandacademicachievement AT gurguryanlauri traitlevelvariabilityinattentionmodulatesmindwanderingandacademicachievement AT risticjelena traitlevelvariabilityinattentionmodulatesmindwanderingandacademicachievement |