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Published on: July 5, 2015
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Face the future! How the self and time shape mind-wandering
Giovanni Cantarella1, Alberto Massimiliano Umiltà2, Debora Stendardi1
1Department of Psychology 'Renzo Canestrari', University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Center for Studies and Research of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy.
Summary
Activating self-reflection and future thinking influences mind-wandering. Focusing on one's future self increases unaware mind-wandering with self-related thoughts, while considering an older face boosts aware mind-wandering.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Adaptive mind-wandering often involves future-oriented thinking.
- Self-reflection is thought to promote future-oriented cognition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how activating the Self schema versus another person's schema affects mind-wandering.
- To examine if activating future time representation versus present time representation influences mind-wandering frequency and content.
- To differentiate the effects of Self and Time schemas on aware (self-caught) and unaware (probe-caught) mind-wandering.
Main Methods:
- Four groups of healthy young adults were exposed to conditions manipulating Self/Other and Present/Future time schemas using facial stimuli.
- Participants viewed either their own or a famous person's current or aged face.
- Mind-wandering was assessed during a Choice Reaction Time task using both self-caught and probe-caught methods.
Main Results:
- Viewing an older face correlated with increased aware mind-wandering compared to viewing a younger face.
- Viewing one's own face was linked to increased unaware mind-wandering, characterized by self-related and future-oriented thoughts, compared to viewing another person's face.
- Distinct effects of Self and Time schemas were observed on aware versus unaware mind-wandering.
Conclusions:
- Both Self and Time schemas significantly influence the frequency and content of off-task thought.
- The activation of Self and Time schemas has dissociable impacts on aware and unaware forms of mind-wandering.
- Future-oriented self-reflection plays a role in modulating different types of mind-wandering.
Keywords:
Default mode networkExperience samplingFuture-oriented thoughtInternal thoughtsMeta-awarenessMind-wanderingProspective thinkingSelfSelf-schemaSpontaneous cognitionTemporal focusTimeMore Related Videos
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