• David R Thomson, Paul Seli, Derek Besner, and Daniel Smilek.
• Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Canada. Electronic address: d5thomso@uwaterloo.ca.
• Conscious Cogn. 2014 Jul 1; 27: 14-26.

AbstractHere 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 standard analytic methods). Importantly however, we find that fluctuations in mind wandering over time are strongly associated with fluctuations in behavior. In Study 2, we provide a replication of the relation between mind wandering and performance over time found in Study 1, using a Flanker interference task. These data indicate (1) a tight coupling between mind wandering and performance over time and (2) that a temporal-analytic approach can reveal effects of mind wandering on performance in tasks where standard analyses fail to do so. The theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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