Intrusive Thoughts, Rumination, and Incomplete Intentions

Abstract

Examines mechanisms of attentional control. The author analyzes the manner in which the cognitive system via these mechanisms controls the access of internal and external inputs to consciousness and thereby facilitates or hinders the enactment of action control strategies. He proposes a hierarchy of attention controllers, or gatekeepers, that function to mediate changes in thought content. Some of these gatekeepers operate at an unconscious level, passing along information to the next controller if the informational input exceeds a requisite threshold level. One of the major aspects of the author's theory of intrusive thought deals with what exactly determines this threshold level. In part, the answer concerns the contents of current and competing thought. If the content of competing thought is not strong enough to exceed the threshold, then automatic attentional inhibition results. There also are 2 auxiliary functions of the controllers that can be engaged to control the contents of conscious thought, both of which involve volition on the part of the individual. This chapter, in its consideration of the cognitive, affective, and motivational supports for effective goal-directed behavior, has important implications for theories of action control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)