Chronotype and time-of-day correlates of mind wandering and related phenomena

This study investigated the associations between morningness/eveningness and the frequency of mind wandering (MW), daydreaming, mindfulness and attention-related cognitive errors. Self-reported time-of-day for the peak occurrence of these phenomena was also studied. A total of 1852 Chinese, aged 18–82, each completed one of several surveys comprised of various combinations of scales. Morningness was negatively correlated with MW, daydreaming and attention-related cognitive errors, and positively correlated with mindfulness. Additionally, more MW, daydreaming and attention-related cognitive errors, and less mindfulness, were generally reported at the non-preferred time-of-day (evening for morning-types, morning for evening-types), although this interaction was especially strong in morning-types. The implications of these findings for theories of MW are discussed.