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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 12, 2026

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

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Published on: July 5, 2015

Distinguishing how from why the mind wanders: a process-occurrence framework for self-generated mental activity.

Jonathan Smallwood¹

¹Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.

Psychological Bulletin

|April 24, 2013

Summary

Understanding self-generated mental activity is key in cognitive science and neuroscience. Distinguishing between the process and occurrence of thoughts offers clarity and new research directions.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Neuroscience

Background:

Self-generated mental activity occurs independently of external events, posing challenges for scientific analysis.
Differentiating between the initiation and continuation of internal thought processes is difficult.

Purpose of the Study:

To provide theoretical clarity on self-generated mental activity.
To offer conceptual leverage on disparate research findings.
To highlight key questions for unconstrained thought research.

Main Methods:

This is a review article, synthesizing existing research.
Theoretical analysis and conceptual distinction are employed.
Focus is on the distinction between process and occurrence.

Main Results:

A process-occurrence distinction clarifies discussions on self-generated mental activity.
This distinction helps reconcile findings linking internal thought to domain-general processes and errors.
It emphasizes the need to identify the onset of mental events.

Conclusions:

Identifying the initiation of self-generated mental events is crucial.
This approach advances testable accounts of why the mind focuses on past or future.
Understanding unconstrained thought is vital for psychopathology and education.