{"pk":25535,"title":"A Computational Model of MindWandering","subtitle":null,"abstract":"We present a computational cognitive model of mind wandering,\nan important cognitive phenomenon whose mechanisms\nare involved in insight, problem-solving, and creativity. The\nmodel posits that mind wandering begins when one is not\nengaged in goal-oriented cognition, whether when between\ntasks or when in the middle of a task but not actively thinking\nabout one’s goal. At such times, the model thinks about other,\nhighly-activated thoughts in memory. This model sheds light\non both how task-oriented and more basic cognitive processes\ninteract, as well as how mind wandering content is generated;\nboth unresolved questions for mind wandering research. We\ncompare our model against data presented by McVay and Kane\n(2013), who induced mind wandering in a laboratory setting by\nembedding participants’ personal goals and concerns in a lexical\nSART task. Overall, our model matched the data’s mind\nwandering rates very well. We discuss implications and future\nwork on the model.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"mind wandering; spreading activation; priming;\ncognitive models"}],"section":"Papers","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/31g374jk","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Laura","middle_name":"M","last_name":"Hiatt","name_suffix":"","institution":"Naval Research Laboratory","department":""},{"first_name":"J","middle_name":"Gregory","last_name":"Trafton","name_suffix":"","institution":"Naval Research Laboratory","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2015-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/25535/galley/15159/download/"}]}