Where Is My Mind ... ? The Link between Mind Wandering and Prospective Memory

Mind wandering (MW) is a common feature of the human experience occurring when our attention shifts from the task at hand to inner thoughts. MW seems to be often future-oriented and could be used to help people to carry out their planned actions (Prospective Memory PM). Here, we tested the link between MW and the ability to perform PM intentions. We assessed MW and PM over 15 days using experience-sampling probes via mobile phone (226 participants) associated with a naturalistic PM task. We confirmed that MW occupies a significant proportion of our mental activity (40%). This time seems to be mainly used to project ourselves into the future (64%), whether to anticipate and imagine the long term (20%) or to plan daily obligations (44%). Intriguingly, only past-oriented thoughts (9%) predict the PM performance. We discuss the possible functional role played by MW in maintaining intentions in mind.

Automated summary

Mind wandering is a common feature of the human experience that can help people carry out planned actions. In this study, researchers found that mind wandering occupies a significant proportion of mental activity and is primarily used to project oneself into the future and plan daily obligations. Interestingly, only past-oriented thoughts are able to predict the execution of planned actions.