Dissociation And Orientation Of Mind Wandering During Chinese Reading

Mind wandering refers to the phenomenon in which attention is shifted away from external information to internal thoughts and feelings that are unrelated to the current task.But beyond that,this phenomenon is common during reading,and many people have the experience.Although their eyes have been moving across the text,little or none of what they have been "reading" has been processed in a meaningful manner.Zoning out refers to mind wandering with awareness,whereas tuning out refers to mind wandering without awareness.This study aims at exploring the phenomenon of mind wandering,the dissociation of mind wandering,and the orientation of mind wandering content during Chinese reading under strictly controlled experimental conditions.This paper includes three studies:36 graduate participants were in study 1,using the ES paradigm,single factor within-subjects design(reading conditions:mind wandering reading,normal reading),insert the 18 probes in the reading task,to detect the participants' condition of reading.35 graduate participants were in study 2,using the ES paradigm,single factor within-subjects design(reading conditions:normal reading,zoning out,tuning out),insert the 18 probes in the reading task,to detect the dissociation of mind wandering during Chinese reading.37 graduate participants were in study 3,using the ES paradigm,single factor within-subjects design(orientation:past,now,future,others),insert the 18 probes in the reading task,to detect the orientation of mind wandering content.The results show that:First,mind wandering is a very common phenomenon during Chinese reading,and showing a gradual increasing trend over the process of time.Second,mind wandering will affect the accuracy rate of reading,and reduce the reading speed.Third,mind wandering is not a single structure,but can be dissociated.Zoning out is more frequent than tuning out.Whereas these two have no difference in accuracy rate of the reading comprehension and reading speed.Fourth,the content of mind wandering during Chinese reading is not about future.On the contrary,the content of mind wandering is more about the memories of the past.