Citation

Iijima Y, Tanno Y. Shinrigaku Kenkyu 2012; 83(3): 232-236.

Affiliation

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. iijima@beck.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Japanese Psychological Association, Publisher University of Tokyo Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

23012825

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of cognitive load on the temporal focus of mind wandering. Participants performed a cognitive-load task under three load conditions (0 back, 1 back, 2 back). During each condition, thought sampling was conducted to measure task-unrelated thoughts. When a thought probe was presented, participants responded what they were just thinking. The results showed that future-related thoughts were reduced with increasing cognitive-load. On the other hand, past-related thoughts were not reduced under moderate cognitive-load but were under high cognitive-load. This indicates that future-related thoughts require additional resources. Furthermore, future-related thoughts were more prevalent than past-related thoughts under low cognitive-load. These findings may indicate that a future prospective bias is important for survival.

Language: ja