Attention Restraint, Working Memory Capacity, and Mind Wandering: Do Emotional Valence or Intentionality Matter?

Event Name/Location

60th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society

Event Location / Date(s)

Palais des congrès de Montréal, Québec, Canada

Presentation Date

11-15-2019

Document Type

Poster

Presenter(s)/Author(s)

Alexandra C. Nieto, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Matthew S. Welhaf, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Anum Mallick, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Jonathan B. Banks, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Description

Attention restraint appears to mediate the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and mind wandering (Kane et al., 2016). Prior work has identifed two dimensions of mind wandering—emotional valence and intentionality. However, less is known about how WMC and attention restraint correlate with these dimensions. Te current study examined the relationship between WMC, attention restraint, and mind wandering by emotional valence and intentionality. A confrmatory factor analysis demonstrated that WMC and attention restraint were strongly correlated, but only attention restraint was related to overall mind wandering, consistent with prior fndings. However, when examining the emotional valence of mind wandering, attention restraint and WMC were related to negatively and positively valenced, but not neutral, mind wandering. Attention restraint was also related to intentional but not unintentional mind wandering. Tese results suggest that WMC and attention restraint predict some, but not all, types of mind wandering.

NSUWorks Citation

Nieto, A. C., Welhaf, M. S., Mallick, A., Banks, J. B. (2019). Attention Restraint, Working Memory Capacity, and Mind Wandering: Do Emotional Valence or Intentionality Matter?. 60th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facpresentations/4560