The association of motivation with mind wandering in trait and state levels

Abstract

Mind wandering (MW) is a phenomenon in which attention drifts away from task-related thoughts toward task-unrelated thoughts. Recent studies have demonstrated thatMW occurs during tasks in which participants are unmotivated. However, motivation ranges on a continuum from trait to state. We examined the association between trait-state motivation and trait-state MW. Participants (176 undergraduate students 18-24 years old; 68 male) completed three questionnaires for our trait level investigation. State level indices were measured using the experience sampling method with 104 students completing a sustained attention to response task. Through correlation analyses, we demonstrated an association between motivation andMWwithin the same dimension (trait and state, respectively) but found no association across dimensions in which the correlation coefficient was nearly zero. We show the significant association between motivation andMWwhose novelty is especially evident in the trait level. Although the relationship between motivation andMWis substantial, trait-state dimensionality would be important for them. The stateMW is a phasic phenomenon driven by a range of factors, one being state motivation. The causality and confounding factors remain to be further studied. Copyright: