Mind wandering and executive functions: A conceptual replication of Kam & Handy (2014)

Mind wandering - a spontaneous shift in attention away from a task - has been consistently associated with impaired cognitive task performance, often attributed to disruptions in executive functioning. In this study, we conducted three experiments to replicate and extend previous work (Kam & Handy, 2014) by examining how mind wandering interacts with three core executive functions: Inhibition (Experiment 1: Sustained Attention to Response Task, n = 54), updating (Experiment 2: Random n-back Task, n = 52) and shifting (Experiment 3: Number-Letter Task, n = 54). If mind wandering is closely related to executive functioning, it was expected that mind wandering would impair performance on trials requiring these functions, reflected in lower accuracy and increased reaction time variability. Our findings did not confirm this: Mind wandering was associated with a general negative effect on performance, rather than specifically impairing executive functioning. Accuracy was lower on executive than non-executive trials in the inhibition and shifting tasks, but these effects were not attenuated by mind wandering. In the updating task, where executive and non-executive trials were matched in difficulty, mind wandering reduced accuracy in both executive and non-executive trials. Variability in reaction time was found to be higher during mind wandering in the inhibition and updating tasks, with evidence against such an effect in the shifting task. These findings suggest that the observed performance decrements may be more closely tied to task demands than to executive functions per se.