The Relationship Between Different Types Of Mind Wandering And Working Memory Capacity

Mind Wandering is the idea that the individual's attention is irrelevant to the current task because it is detached from the current task and not subject to self-control.From the level of intentionality,mind wandering can be divided into intentional mind wandering and unintentional mind wandering;From the level of consciousness,the mind wandering can be divided into the mind wandering with meta-conscious and the mind wandering without meta-conscious.The occurrence of mind wandering predicts the executive control of us,and working memory capacity is directly related to these abilities.Many studies have proved that working memory capacity can predict the occurrence of mind wandering.The study of the relationship between them is helpful to gain a clearer understanding of the generation and development process of mind wandering,and also provides a possibility for individuals to reduce the negative mind wandering through working memory capacity training in the future,so as to improve task performance.In the studies of relationship between mind wandering and working memory capacity are controversial.According to previous researches,it is reasonable to argues that lead to different conclusions about the relationship between the factors because most predecessors to explore the overall occurrence of mind wandering,and for different types of mind wandering explore seldom involved.In addition,the factors affecting their relationship are complex and varied,especially the two factors of task load and individual difference of working memory capacity.Therefore,this study will specifically explore the relationship between different types of mind wandering and working memory capacity under different task loads and working memory capacity.The Experiment 1 explored the relationship between working memory capacity and mind wandering intentionality under different task loads and different working memory capacities.A 2×2 mixed experimental design was used to set the n-back task into two task load states:high load(3-back)and low load(1-back),and the working memory capacity of individuals was divided into high and low groups by the operation span task.The amount of intentional mental wandering and unintentional mental wandering was measured by the detection method.The results showed that:The results show that:(1)the intentional mind wandering supports the Hypothesis of Cognitive Flexibility;(2)on the intentionality level of mind wandering,the unintentional mind wandering is more than the intentional mind wandering,and the occurrence is relatively stable;(3)individuals with high working memory capacity have better task performance,especially in high-load tasks.On the basis of Experiment 1,self-report method was added to Experiment 2 to measure whether meta-consciousness was involved in the occurrence of mental wandering,so as to explore the relationship between working memory capacity and mental wandering consciousness under different task loads and working memory capacities.The results showed that:(1)meta-conscious mind wandering supports the Hypothesis of Cognitive Flexibility;(2)at the level of consciousness of mind wandering,the mind wandering with meta-consciousness is more stable than that without meta-consciousness;(3)the intentionality of mind wandering has significant difference in consciousness;The hypothesis of cognitive flexibility is supported by both intentional and unintentional mind wandering based on meta-conscious participation;(4)individuals with high working memory capacity have better task performance,especially in high-load tasks;Task performance of individuals with low working memory capacity is susceptible to task load,while that of individuals with high working memory capacity is more stable.In this paper,findings support the cognitive flexibility assumption that high working memory capacity of the individual could be changed with the task load in their own mind wandering flexible control,but the regulation of state as the change of mind wandering type and have different performance,in particular,only to have the consciousness of yuan participation of mind wandering and has no intention of mind wandering is effective,and to have no sense of yuan in mind wandering adjust ability also need to be further explored.Therefore,in the future research on the relationship between them,we should pay attention to the specific research on different types of mind wandering under different background factors.