Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026
09:37
Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control
Published on: July 5, 2015
Examining the association between vigilance and mind wandering.
Brooke Schwartzman1, Anthony P Zanesco2, Ekaterina Denkova1
1Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States.
Frontiers in Cognition
|June 24, 2026
Summary
Mind wandering, or task-unrelated thought, increases with time-on-task, leading to performance declines in sustained attention tasks. Higher motivation and interest can mitigate these effects, even in shorter tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- The vigilance decrement describes performance decline over time-on-task.
- Mind wandering (task-unrelated thought) is increasingly linked to vigilance decrements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between vigilance decrement and mind wandering in a shorter (10-min) online task for college students.
- To explore if task motivation, interest, and difficulty moderate this relationship.
Main Methods:
- 310 undergraduates completed a 10-min Sustained Attention to Response Task with mind wandering probes.
- Bivariate growth curve modeling analyzed within-task changes in performance and mind wandering.
- Self-reported motivation, interest, and difficulty were assessed.
Main Results:
- Decreased accuracy and increased response time variability correlated with increased mind wandering over time.
- Higher motivation and interest reduced the impact of time-on-task on response time variability and mind wandering.
Conclusions:
- Mind wandering contributes to vigilance decrements even in shorter tasks.
- Task motivation and interest can buffer performance costs associated with mind wandering.
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