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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 6, 2025

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension

Published on: January 10, 2014

Mind wandering in reading: An embodied approach.

Sarah Bro Trasmundi^1,2, Juan Toro²

¹Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

|March 20, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Mind wandering, often seen as disruptive to reading, can actually enhance comprehension and reflection by integrating embodied cognitive processes. This study suggests reading is multi-actional, benefiting from varied strategies beyond constant focus.

Keywords:

cognitive ethnography embodied cognition embodying mind wandering mind wandering phenomenology reading

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Last Updated: Aug 6, 2025

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension

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Published on: January 10, 2014

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

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Published on: July 5, 2015

Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading

Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading

Published on: October 18, 2018

Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Neuroscience
Psychology
Philosophy

Background:

Mind wandering is traditionally viewed as task-unrelated, unintentional thought disrupting goal-oriented behavior, particularly in reading.
Existing research on mind wandering during reading focuses on neurocognitive mechanisms and often assumes reading is a disembodied information-processing activity.
Prevailing views consider mind wandering detrimental to reading flow, comprehension, and inferential capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

To challenge traditional assumptions by integrating embodied accounts of mind wandering and reading.
To demonstrate how reading can benefit from nested mind wandering processes within an embodied framework.
To propose an alternative interpretation of mind wandering in reading as a multi-actional process that enriches cognitive functions.

Main Methods:

Integration of embodied cognitive science theories with existing research on mind wandering and reading.
Empirical investigation of readers' ability to transition between embodied processes and cognitive strategies, including mind wandering.
Analysis of data from ethnographic and semi-experimental studies on reading practices.

Main Results:

Reading is proposed as a multi-actional activity that benefits from diverse cognitive strategies, including mind wandering.
Mind wandering can enrich cognitive processes integral to reading, such as imagination and reflection.
Successful navigation between different embodied processes and cognitive strategies, including mind wandering, is observed in readers.

Conclusions:

Mind wandering, when viewed through an embodied lens, can be a beneficial component of the reading process.
Reading is not solely about constant focus but involves dynamic shifts in cognitive strategies, including mind wandering.
A richer, embodied methodology is required to fully capture cognitive phenomena in reading, considering the brain-body-environment system.