This state of mind preferentially exists in the absence of external stimuli and goals and we usually experience a loss of autonomy in retrospect. When people zone out, their mind is most likely wandering with an inward focus while staying detached from the outside world.ĭefinition: Mind-wandering is a global mental state that generates internally driven thoughts that move in no particular direction. These are called spontaneous cognitions they can be depressive, annoying, creative, or just bland. A relatively free and empty mind actives a brain network that accesses lots of memories and spits out private random thoughts. Spontaneous cognitions can manifest as mental imagery of all senses as well as vocal internal dialog. Recent research provides evidence that spontaneous cognitions are often matters of self-importance such as goal-oriented thoughts about the past and future. Klinger (1971) suggests that mind-wandering primarily consists of thoughts important to the self. Researchers often study “Task unrelated thoughts” and “day-dreaming” as a substitute for spontaneous thoughts because they have similarities such as both are unrelated to the work one does while having them. ![]() (see types of spontaneous cognitions below) These probabilities may change over time. While not truly random, the probability of a particular type of spontaneous thought can go up or down based on other factors like mental status, recent activities, obsessions, etc. Some spontaneous thoughts are good (creative insights), some are neutral (random memories) and some are negative (random depressive thoughts). We usually do not know why a spontaneous cognition occurs sometimes, it is indirectly influenced by triggers or cues. It the brain’s passive resting state and the idle mind roams around freely accessing random memory units creating hypotheticals, simulations, internal verbal dialogs. Mind-wandering is a general term that describes a brain state which is not purposefully directed toward external information/stimuli. Mentation is a fancy word for mental activity. Internal refers to spontaneous cognitions being a phenomenon that occurs within one’s mind with no external component. Self-generated implies you create them on your own. Involuntary refers to our lack of control over when they occur. ![]() Definition: Spontaneous cognition is defined as involuntary self-generated internal mentation that occurs when our mind wanders and withdraws from the external world.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |