Shifting Moods, Wandering Minds: Negative Moods Lead the Mind to Wander

This study examined the effect of mood states on mind wandering. Positive, neutral, and negative moods were induced in participants prior to them completing a sustained attention task. Mind wandering was measured by using the frequencies of both behavioral lapses and retrospective indices of subject...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2009-04, Vol.9 (2), p.271-276
Main Authors: Smallwood, Jonathan, Fitzgerald, Annamay, Miles, Lynden K, Phillips, Louise H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Affect
Affectivity. Emotion
Attention
Biological and medical sciences
Commitment
Emotional States
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Male
Mind Wandering
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Sustained Attention
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Summary:This study examined the effect of mood states on mind wandering. Positive, neutral, and negative moods were induced in participants prior to them completing a sustained attention task. Mind wandering was measured by using the frequencies of both behavioral lapses and retrospective indices of subjective experience. Relative to a positive mood, induction of a negative mood led participants to make more lapses, report a greater frequency of task irrelevant thoughts, and become less inclined to reengage attentional resources following a lapse. Positive mood, by contrast, was associated with a better ability to adjust performance after a lapse. These results provide further support for the notion that a negative mood reduces the amount of attentional commitment to the task in hand and may do so by enhancing the focus on task irrelevant personal concerns.
ISSN:1528-3542
1931-1516
DOI:10.1037/a0014855