A Preliminaty Study About The Function Of Mind Wandering In Problem Solving

Mind-wandering refers to a ubiquitous experience during which the attention drifts away from the current task to the internal information processing. People usually think that mind-wandering is a kind of interference to the task and will lead to a lower task performance. However, the phenomenon of mind-wandering reminds us that besides instant external stimulation, spontaneous internal information also can occupy the centre of consciousness. Many researchers believe that mind wandering should have some adaptive functions. Spontaneous thinking is closely related with the personal events of daily life, and it reflects the persons current concerns, internal feelings, unfinished goals, unresolved challenges, inner fears and hopes, the interior of the controversial ideas and so on. Recently some researches indicated that on complex decision making unconscious thought can lead to better result than conscious thought. However, does the advantage of off-line thinking in complex decision making exist only in the unconscious thought condition? In the present study we focus on the cognitive function of mind-wandering in problem solving.We explored the function on problem solving of mind wandering by two ways, one was the relationship between one’s creativity and the frequency of mind wandering, the other was the effect of mind wandering on complex problem solving.We got the main research conclusion as follows:1) One’s frequency of mind-wandering was positively correlated with the creativity.2) Compared with the group of conscious thought, the other off-line thinking groups made better choice. The result suggests that not only unconscious thought, but also mind wandering can help to make better decisions on complex problem solving.3) There was gender difference at off-line thinking. The female benefited more from off-line thinking than the male.