Sanders, Jet G, Wang, Hao-Ting, Schooler, Jonathan et al. (1 more author) (2016) Can I get me out of my head?:Exploring strategies for controlling the self-referential aspects of the mind-wandering state during reading. Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006). pp. 1-10. ISSN 1747-0226
Abstract
Trying to focus on a piece of text and keep unrelated thoughts at bay can be a surprisingly futile experience. The current study explored the effects of different instructions on participants' capacity to control their mind-wandering and maximize reading comprehension, while reading. Participants were instructed to (a) enhance focus on what was read (external) or (b) enhance meta-awareness of mind-wandering (internal). To understand when these strategies were important, we induced a state of self-focus in half of our participants at the beginning of the experiment. Results replicated the negative association between mind-wandering and comprehension and demonstrated that both internal and external instructions impacted on the efficiency of reading following a period of induced self-focus. Techniques that foster meta-awareness improved task focus but did so at the detriment of reading comprehension, while promoting a deeper engagement while reading improved comprehension with no changes in reported mind-wandering. These data provide insight into how we can control mind-wandering and improve comprehension, and they underline that a state of self-focus is a condition under which they should be employed. Furthermore, these data support component process models that propose that the self-referent mental contents that arise during mind-wandering are distinguishable from those processes that interfere with comprehension.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Experimental Psychology Society 2016. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Psychology (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 13 Sep 2016 12:55 |
Last Modified: | 30 Mar 2025 00:05 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2016.1216573 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/17470218.2016.1216573 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:104372 |
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Description: Sanders et al (2016) Can I get me out of my head