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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 12, 2025

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Task difficulty modulates the effect of mind wandering on phase dynamics.

Zhengkun Long^1,2,3, Georg Northoff^3,4, Xiaolan Fu^1,2,5

¹State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|May 30, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Mind wandering disrupts neural entrainment (ITPC) in simple tasks but not difficult ones. Task difficulty modulates the balance between internal mind wandering and external processing via phase coherence.

Keywords:

internal and external cognition mind wandering phase coherence task difficulty temporal precision

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroscience
Psychology

Background:

Mind wandering affects sensory and motor processing via phase coherence.
Neural entrainment to stimuli is measured by intertrial phase coherence (ITPC).
The moderating role of task difficulty on mind wandering's impact on phase coherence is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if mind wandering impacts sensory and motor processing by modulating neural entrainment (ITPC).
To determine if task difficulty moderates the effect of mind wandering on phase coherence.

Main Methods:

Utilized the thought-probe method to assess participants' attentional states.
Assessed participants during sensory and motor tasks with varying difficulty levels.
Measured neural entrainment using intertrial phase coherence (ITPC).

Main Results:

Mind wandering decreased ITPC in less demanding tasks but not in difficult ones.
This effect was observed irrespective of whether tasks involved visual input or motor output.
Simpler tasks facilitated internally oriented cognition and increased mind wandering.

Conclusions:

External task difficulty modulates the balance between internal (mind wandering) and external cognitive processing.
Phase coherence acts as a neural mechanism mediating this balance.
Findings support the role of phase coherence dynamics (ITPC) in balancing internal and external cognition, aligning with the Baseline model of cognition.