Examining the Dynamics of Mind-Wandering During Music Listening: A Network Perspective

Music listening is a central aspect of people's daily lives and provides an ecologically valid framework for understanding the natural ebbs and flows of attention during perception. Recent studies indicate that music influences mind-wandering's frequency and contents. However, the dynamic interactions of the subjective experiential features that lead to mind-wandering through music remain poorly understood. Inspired by the psychometric network approach, this study aims to investigate mind-wandering during music listening as a network of interacting features and examine its temporal dynamics while shifting progressively between two different tasks (reading and music listening). A multidimensional experience sampling questionnaire assessed valence, attentional focus, thought diversity, self-awareness, visual imagery, dissociation, and calmness. Network structures of within-person contemporaneous and temporal effects were estimated based on data ( N = 352) with three measurement points: initial reading, during music listening, and post-listening. Findings revealed that calmness was the most interconnected feature during music listening. Additionally, time-dependent effects (e.g., dissociation predicting subsequent visual imagery and calmness) led up to and helped explain the emergence of mind-wandering. We discuss how our approach has significant implications for advancing the study of the subjective nature of mind-wandering experiences.