Wandering behavior of 4 geriatric patients with dementia residing in a long-term care facility was assessed using direct behavioral observations. The consequences identified during the observations as maintaining wandering for each patient were then applied for the absence of wandering using differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO). The effectiveness of the DRO procedure was evaluated...

When we get distracted, we may engage in mind-wandering, or task-unrelated thinking, which impairs performance on cognitive tasks. Yet, we do not have cognitive models that make this process explicit. On the basis of both recent experiments that have started to investigate mind-wandering and introspective knowledge from for example meditators, we built a process model of distraction in the form...

Here we test the hypothesis that fluctuations in subjective reports of mind wandering over time-on-task are associated with fluctuations in performance over time-on-task. In Study 1, we employed a singleton search task and found that performance did not differ prior to on- and off-task reports, nor did individual differences in mind wandering predict differences in performance (so-called standa...

The executive resource hypothesis assumes a positive relationship between resource availability and mind wandering. Under the assumption that different modalities of information delivery differentially tax resources, we compared mind wandering across different modalities during the presentation of The Red Headed League (Experiment 1 and 2) and Walden (Experiment 3). An Audio only condition prod...

Individual differences in mind wandering and reading comprehension were examined in the current study. In particular, individual differences in mind wandering, working memory capacity, interest in the current topic, motivation to do well on the task, and topic experience and their relations with reading comprehension were examined in the current study. Using confirmatory factor analysis and str...

Introspection and language are the cognitive prides of humankind, but their interactions in healthy cognition remain unclear. Episodes of mind-wandering, where personal thoughts often go unnoticed for some time before being introspected, offer a unique opportunity to study the role of language in introspection. In this paper, we show that inner speech facilitates awareness of mind-wandering. In...

This study evaluated the frequency, predictors, and effects of wandering in a population-based sample of 193 individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although wandering occurred in subjects at all levels of cognitive impairment, analysis of variance indicated that for the group as a whole, greater frequency of wandering was associated with significantly more impairment in cognition, day-to-da...

Wandering spleen is a rare clinical condition characterized by ectopic position of the spleen due to abnormal peritoneal attachments including the lienorenal and gastrosplenic ligaments (1). Wandering spleen and intestinal malrotation share a common cause: the absence of an intraperitoneal visceral ligament (2). Wandering spleen presents a wide range of clinical manifestations, from incidental ...

The mind wanders, even when people are attempting to make complex decisions. We suggest that mind wandering-allowing one's thoughts to wander until the "correct" choice comes to mind-can positively impact people's feelings about their decisions. We compare post-choice satisfaction from choices made by mind wandering to reason-based choices and randomly assigned outcomes. Participants chose a po...

This article reviews the hypothesis that mind wandering can be integrated into executive models of attention. Evidence suggests that mind wandering shares many similarities with traditional notions of executive control. When mind wandering occurs, the executive components of attention appear to shift away from the primary task, leading to failures in task performance and superficial representat...