wandering into the future - ippm · 2017-01-19 · wandering into the future mind wandering, the...

Wandering Into the Futuremind wandering, the default network, and the desire for exploration

Chandra Sripada

University of Michigan

system 2 thinkingSerial Thought

IntuitiveThought Fast, Automatic, Effortless

system 1 thinking

Serial, Conscious,Intentional, EffortfulControlled/Directed

The Cognitive Science of Thinking

system 2 thinking


Serial Thought


system 1 thinking“Because so many people attended, they had to move

the ball.”




system 1 thinking“Because so many people attended, they had to move

the ball.”





system 1 thinking




IntuitiveThought


Fast, Automatic, Effortless

system 1 thinking

mind wandering

Serial, Conscious,Unintentional, Effortless

Discursive



IntuitiveThought



system 1 thinking

mind wandering


Discursive

“The ForgottenThird Mode of Thinking”


The first is Unguided, without Designe, and inconstant; … thoughts are said to wander, and seem impertinent one to another, as in a Dream. (1651/1928, 20-21

By...Trayne of Thoughts, I understand that succession of one thought after another...This...is of two sorts.

The second is more constant; as being regulated by some desire, and designe.

serial thinking

DirectedThinking

DiscursiveThinking

Thomas Hobbes

discursive thinking (mind wandering)directed thinking (system 2 thinking)

Irving, Zachary C. 2015. “Mind-Wandering Is Unguided Attention: Accounting for the ‘purposeful’ Wanderer.” Philosophical Studies 173 (2): 547–71.

[W]hen ideas float in our mind without any reflection or regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call reverie…(1689, II, 19 §1)

discursive thinking (mind wandering)directed thinking (system 2 thinking)

[W]hilst we are awake, there will always be a train of ideas succeeding one another in our minds.

[W]hen the mind with great earnestness, and of choice, fixes its view on any idea, considers it on all sides, and will not be called off by the ordinary solicitation of other ideas, it is that we call … “study.”

serial thinking

DirectedThinking

DiscursiveThinking

John Locke

Four Fun Facts About Mind Wandering

Finding#1: We do a LOT of mind wandering!!

Baumeister, R. F., Hofmann, W., & Vohs, K. D. (2015). Everyday thoughts about the past, present, and future: An experience sampling study of mental time travel. Manuscript submitted for publication.Killingsworth MA, Gilbert DT. A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science 2010; 330: 932.Kane MJ, Brown LH, McVay JC, Silvia PJ, Myin-Germeys I, Kwapil TR. For Whom the Mind Wanders, and When An Experience-Sampling Study of Working Memory and Executive Control in Daily Life. Psychol Sci 2007; 18: 614–621.Klinger E, Cox WM. Dimensions of Thought Flow in Everyday Life. Imagin Cogn Personal 1987; 7: 105–128.

Experience Sampling Methodology

many studies say 30-50% of our waking lives is spent mind wandering

Finding#2: Mind wandering involves imagery and sensorily-rich content

Klinger E, Cox WM. Dimensions of Thought Flow in Everyday Life. Imagin Cogn Personal 1987; 7: 105–128.Delamillieure P, Doucet G, Mazoyer B, Turbelin M-R, Delcroix N, Mellet E et al. The resting state questionnaire: An introspective questionnaire for evaluation of inner experience during the conscious resting state. Brain Res Bull 2010; 81: 565–573.

It snowed in May in Michigan

Being at Dartmouth in May when it snowed

Being at Dartmouth sitting on a field with my friend Jana

Being at Pittsburgh this September with Jana and other friends

Autobiographical memory

Autobiographical memory

Prospective episode

Finding#3: Mind wandering involves streams of associations

Association – A spontaneous

transition between two concepts or ideas based on relevant connections (e.g., thematic or taxonomic).

salt pepper

bird robin

Task-positive regions

Default Regions

! "#$ "%#$ &' #$ %( #$

! "#$ "%#$ &' #$ %( #$

") *! %+, $%- *$$) +, $

") *! %+, $%- *$$) +, $

4/#5$ 4/#5$

! "#$ "%#$ &' #$ %( #$

! "#$ "%#$ &' #$ %( #$

") *! %+, $%- *$$) +, $

") *! %+, $%- *$$) +, $

4/#5$ 4/#5$

The default network is the substrate for mind wandering

The task positive network is the substrate for directed thinking

Finding#4: Mind wandering and directed thinking are associated with specific brain networks

Christoff K, Gordon AM, Smallwood J, Smith R, Schooler JW. Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2009; 106: 8719–24.Fox KCR, Spreng RN, Ellamil M, Andrews-Hanna JR, Christoff K. The wandering brain: Meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of mind-wandering and related spontaneous thought processes. NeuroImage 2015; 111: 611–621.

Bar, M., Aminoff, E., Mason, M., & Fenske, M. (2007). The units of thought. Hippocampus, 17(6), 420–428. http://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.20287

autobiographical memory

prospective imaginationdefault network

Buckner, R., & Carroll, D. (2007). Self-projection and the brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(2), 49–57.

A Puzzle: Why Do We Mind Wander?

system 2 thinking

The Executive Failure Model of Mind Wandering

Serial Thought

IntuitiveThought

Serial, Conscious,Intentional, Effortful

Controlled


system 1 thinking

Mcvay, J. C., & Kane, M. J. (2010). Does mind wandering reflect executive function or executive failure? Comment on Smallwood and Schooler (2006) and Watkins (2008). Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 188–197.

system 2 thinking


Serial Thought

IntuitiveThought


Controlled


system 1 thinking Impulsive behavior


system 2 thinking


Serial Thought


Controlled

mind wandering


Discursive

Top-Down Regulation


Three More Fun Facts About Mind Wandering

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Time (minutes)

Sustained Attention Response Task (SART)

“Press a button if the letter shown is an X”

See Esterman, M., Noonan, S. K., Rosenberg, M., & DeGutis, J. (2013). Cerebral Cortex (New York, NY : 1991), 23(11), 2712–27233

Finding#5: Mind wandering and directed thinking oscillate in a quasi-periodic pattern

high inattention states

low inattention states

thought probe, yes mind wandering

thought probe, no mind wandering

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in r

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0 10 20 30

Time (minutes)

Sustained Attention Response Task (SART)

“Press a button if the letter shown is an X”

Finding#5: Mind wandering and directed thinking oscillate in quasi-periodic pattern

Christoff K, Gordon AM, Smallwood J, Smith R, Schooler JW. Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proc Natl Acad Sci U A 2009; 106: 8719–24.Mittner, M., Boekel, W., Tucker, A. M., Turner, B. M., Heathcote, A., & Forstmann, B. U. (2014). When the brain takes a break: a model-based analysis of mind wandering. Journal of Neuroscience, 34(49), 16286–16295. http://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2062-14.2014

Usher, M., Cohen, J. D., Servan-Schreiber, D., Rajkowski, J., & Aston-Jones, G. (1999). Science, 283(5401), 549–554.

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Finding#6: The locus coeruleus, a midbrain structure, helps to regulate switching from mind wandering to directed thinking

20 40 60 80 100Time (minutes)

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of

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Usher, M., Cohen, J. D., Servan-Schreiber, D., Rajkowski, J., & Aston-Jones, G. (1999). Science, 283(5401), 549–554.

Ind

ex o

f In

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nti

on

(fal

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larm

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e)

Finding#6: The locus coeruleus, a midbrain structure, helps to regulate switching from mind wandering to directed thinking

20 40 60 80 100Time (minutes)

Present a Problem

Requiring Creative Thinking

Manipulate/Measure Mind Wandering

Test Problem Solving Success

Singer and Schonbar, 1961; Singer, 1964; Singer, 1966, 1974, 1975, 1993, 2009; Wang et al., 2009; Baars, 2010; Baird et al., 2011, 2012; Kaufman and Singer, 2011; Stawarczyk et al., 2011; Kaufman, 2013

Immordino-Yang et al. 2012 (parsing social events)Takeuch et al 2011 (divergent thinking challenge)Wang et al 2009 (spatial navigation task)

Pure Correlational

Studies

Studies with fMRI

Easy versus Hard Cognitive Task

Behavioral studies Baird et al (2012)

Default NetworkActivity/Connectivity

Finding#7: Mind wandering enhances “pattern discovery” and creativity

Individuals who mind wander more are more creative

Studies with manipulations

Manipulations that promote mind wandering promote creativity

Back to the Puzzle: Why Do We Mind Wander?

An alternative hypothesis for why we mind wander…

The exploration hypothesis

nibble nibble explore nibble explore nibble explore explore nibble nibble explore explore nibble explore explore explore

nibble nibble explore nibble explore nibble explore explore nibble nibble explore explore nibble explore explore explore

focus focus explore focus explore focus explore explore focus focus explore explore focus explore explore explore

Conjecture: Mind wandering is a form of mnemonic exploration and this explains why it promotes pattern discovery and creativity.

Mind wandering involves associative streams of imagistic thought

The default network generates spontaneous associations between thoughts

Remember…

There is growing evidence that:

-association and pattern discovery are intimately connected

-the default network is the basis of both

Pattern discovery is something like the inverse of association

-skate/cream-throat/loser

Remote Association Test: What notion links these two words?

association = given idea X and a known associative connection between X and Y, retrieve Y

pattern discovery = given ideas X and Y, find an associative connection that might potentially link them

Ilg, Ruediger, Kai Vogeley, Thomas Goschke, Annette Bolte, Jon N. Shah, Ernst Pöppel, and Gereon R. Fink. 2007. “Neural Processes Underlying Intuitive Coherence Judgments as Revealed by fMRI on a Semantic Judgment Task.” NeuroImage 38 (1): 228–38.

Example of pattern discovery

Experience itself is always temporally ordered

When memories of experience are replayed in mind wandering, the constraint of temporal ordering is removed.

Etime 1 Etime 2 Etime 3 Etime 4 Etime n Etime n+1 Etime n+2 Etime n+3

Patient X (an adolescent male) abruptly discontinued treatment

Autobiographical memory of Etime n+2

Autobiographical memory of Etime 2

Patient Y (an adolescent male) abruptly discontinued treatment

Why Producing Associative Streams Is Good for Pattern Discovery

Producing associative streams help you see relevant ideas “side-by-side” so you can uncover additional hidden associative connections between them!

Where two ideas are already linked by one associative connection, there are likely to be others awaiting discovery.

Why do we do so much mind wandering?

Why is there a quasi-periodic ongoing desire to mind wander?

Because mind wandering is an exploratory activity that facilitates pattern discovery.

Summing Up…

1. Mind wandering is the forgotten third mode of thinking.

3. There is an ongoing debate between supporters of the executive failure versus exploratoryview of mind wandering.

2. It occupies an enormous portion of our lives.

Future Directions: “Positive Mind Wandering”?

ADHD

Depression

Kessler, Daniel, Michael Angstadt, and Chandra Sripada. 2016. “Brain Network Growth Charting and the Identification of Attention Impairment in Youth.” JAMA Psychiatry.

We created “growth charts” for default network and task-positive networks--the networks that underlie mind wandering

Children whose networks are “immature for age” display excess mind wandering during attention tasks

“Negative Mind Wandering” is Thriving!

Hamilton, J. P., Farmer, M., Fogelman, P., & Gotlib, I. H. (2015). Depressive Rumination, the Default-Mode Network, and the Dark Matter of Clinical Neuroscience. Biological Psychiatry, 78(4), 224–230

Problems in Timing of Mind Wandering

Problems in Content of Mind Wandering

The challenge: Build on “negative mind wandering” research to in order to improve the timing and content of mind wandering.

The goal should be to measure and cultivate mind wandering that supports:

InsightImaginationCreativityOpenness to IdeasOptimismResilience

“Positive Mind Wandering” needs to be developed!

The End

Your expected value: 10

Slot Machine 1 Slot Machine 2

Your expected value: 5

If you are exclusively rational, then you will always play slot machine 1 and never learn potential payoffs of slot machine 2

True expected value: 10 True expected value: 1000000000

Fundamental rule of rationality: Do that action that maximizes expected value.

Lesson: Rational agents need to balance exploitation and exploration!!

wandering into the future - ippm · 2017-01-19 · wandering into the future mind wandering, the...

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