Interest and mind wandering: How do individual and situational characteristics impact learning?

This research examines the impact of individual and situational characteristics on mind wandering and interest on learning. Mind wandering is an attentional internal distraction that is deleterious to one’s performance in sustained attention tasks (Cheyne et al., 2009) and in learning (Szpunar et al., 2013). First, two studies were conducted to validate a mind wandering scale in French (with a trait and a state dimension)—both in ecological and in laboratory settings (studies 1 and 2). Then, an experiment was conducted to induce mind wandering and explore the link between individual and situational characteristics of interest and their impact on learning (Study 3). Interest was gauged using a self-reported scale. Mind wandering was measured both by probe-caught measures and self-reported scales. The main results suggest that mind wandering mediates the link between individual interest and situational interest and that a mind wandering state and situational interest jointly influence learning scores. • New French tool for measuring mind wandering with a trait and a state dimension. • Individual and situational features of interest and mind wandering on learning. • Mind wandering explains a significant part of the variance of learning. • Mind wandering partly explains the link between individual and situational interest.