Mind-Wandering or Task-Unrelated Thought Reports May Be a Response to Performance Not a Cause of Performance: Using Forced Errors to Impact Thought Content Reports

Abstract

Objective

In this study, we aimed to show that post-task self-reported mind-wandering can be influenced by task performance.

Background

Retrospective self-report scales are widely used to measure thought content such as task-unrelated thoughts or mind-wandering in sustained attention or vigilance research. Self-reported thought content is presumed to be a predictor of performance. However, it is possible performance affects how people report their thought content.

Method

In a remote online experiment, we used a fixed order Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) to force errors by manipulating an expected stimulus. We then assessed self-reported thought content.

Results

We were successful in forcing errors in the SART. Participants in the forced error version of the task reported having higher task-unrelated thoughts than those participants in a version of the task which did not force an error, despite the tasks being identical up until the forced error.

Conclusion

Post-task thought content probes (and similar thought content measures) are apparently affected by task performance despite their conventional use as a predictor of that performance. The current method of using post hoc thought content probes is thus a poor choice for studying the impact of thought content on performance.

Application

A fixed order SART with forced errors is a novel way to investigate relationships between performance and self-report measures of thought content.

Keywords

attention sustained attention sustained attention to response task task-unrelated thoughts vigilance

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aflalo

Zhang

Revechkis

Rosario

Pouratian

Andersen

R. A.

(2022). Implicit mechanisms of intention. Current Biology, 32(9), 2051–2060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.047

Aitken

J. A.

Pagan

Wong

C. M.

Bayley

Helton

W. S.

Kaplan

S. A.

(2023). Task-related and task-unrelated thoughts in runners and equestrians: Measurement issues in evaluations of thought content. Applied Ergonomics, 110(1), Article 104011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104011

Angilletta

Kubitz

Wilson

(2019). Self-deception in nonhumananimals: Weak crayfish escalated aggression as if they were strong. Behavioral Ecology, 30(5), 1469–1476. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arz103

Antrobus

J. S.

Singer

J. L.

Greenberg

(1966). Studies in the stream of consciousness: Experimental enhancement and suppression of spontaneous cognitive processes. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 23(2), 399–417. https://doi.org/10.1177/003151256602300212

Bedi

Russell

P. N.

Helton

W. S.

(2023). Go-stimuli probability influences response bias in the sustained attention to response task: A signal detection theory perspective. Psychological Research, 87(2), 509–518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01679-7

Bedi

Russell

P. N.

Helton

W. S.

(2024a). Response uncertainty influences response bias in the sustained attention to response task: A signal detection theory perspective. Psychological Research, 88(1), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-023-01847-3

Bedi

Russell

P. N.

Helton

W. S.

(2024b). Perceptual decoupling or trigger happiness: The effect of response delays and shorter presentation times on a go-no-go task with a high go prevalence. Experimental Brain Research, 242(4), 949–958. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-024-06799-7

Bedi

Russell

P. N.

Helton

W. S.

(2024c). Perceptual decoupling in the sustained attention to response task is unlikely. Experimental Brain Research, 242(8), 2033–2040. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-024-06885-w

Carter

Russell

P. N.

Helton

W. S.

(2013). Target predictability, sustained attention, and response inhibition. Brain and Cognition, 82(1), 35–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2013.02.002

10.

Cheyne

J. A.

Solman

G. J.

Carriere

J. S.

Smilek

(2009). Anatomy of an error: A bidirectional state model of task engagement/disengagement and attention-related errors. Cognition, 111(1), 98–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.12.009

11.

Christoff

Gordon

A. M.

Smallwood

Smith

Schooler

J. W.

(2009). Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(21), 8719–8724. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900234106

12.

Corballis

M. C.

(2017). The evolution of language. In APA handbook of comparative psychology: Basic concepts, methods, neural substrate, and behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 273–297). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000011-014

13.

Corneille

Gawronski

(2024). Self-reports are better measurement instruments than implicit measures. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3(12), 835–846. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-024-00376-z

14.

Dang

Shaw

T. H.

Helton

W. S.

(2025). Does being away with the fairies really matter? The importance of thought content for task performance on a Go-No-Go target detection task. Applied Ergonomics, 129(1), Article 104607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2025.104607

15.

Dang

J. A.

Shaw

T. H.

McKnight

P. E.

Helton

W. S.

(2023). A closer look at warning cues on the sustained attention to response task performance. Human Factors, 65(8), 1793–1803. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187208211060708

16.

Dang

J. S.

Figueroa

I. J.

Helton

W. S.

(2018). You are measuring the decision to be fast, not inattention: The Sustained Attention to Response Task does not measure sustained attention. Experimental Brain Research, 236(8), 2255–2262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-018-5291-6

17.

Denkova

Brudner

E. G.

Zayan

Dunn

Jha

A. P.

(2018). Attenuated face processing during mind wandering. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 30(11), 1691–1703. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01312

18.

Dockree

P. M.

Bellgrove

M. A.

O’Keeffe

F. M.

Moloney

Aimola

Carton

Robertson

I. H.

(2006). Sustained attention in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and healthy controls: Enhanced sensitivity with dual-task load. Experimental Brain Research, 168(1-2), 218–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-0079-x

19.

Haldane

J. B. S.

(1955). Animal communication and the origin of human language. Science Progress (1933-), 43(171), 385–401. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0042

20.

Hancock

N. J.

de Joux

N. R.

Wingreen

S. C.

Kemp

Thomas

Helton

W. S.

(2017). Positive post-disaster images: A daydream machine? British Journal of Psychology, 108(3), 528–543. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12213

21.

Head

Helton

W. S.

(2018). The troubling science of neurophenomenology. Experimental Brain Research, 236(9), 2463–2467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4623-7

22.

Head

Tenan

M. S.

Tweedell

A. J.

LaFiandra

M. E.

Morelli

Wilson

K. M.

Helton

W. S.

(2017). Prior mental fatigue impairs marksmanship decision performance. Frontiers in Physiology, 8(1), 680. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00680

23.

Head

Tenan

M. S.

Tweedell

A. J.

Wilson

K. M.

Helton

W. S.

(2020). Response complexity reduces errors on a response inhibition task. Human Factors, 62(5), 787–799. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018720819852801

24.

Helton

W. S.

(2025). Perceptual decoupling in the sustained attention to response task is indeed unlikely: A reply to Shelat and Geisbrecht (in press). Experimental Brain Research, 243(4), 88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07033-8

25.

Helton

W. S.

Dember

W. N.

Warm

J. S.

Matthews

(1999). Optimism, pessimism, and false failure feedback: Effects on vigilance performance. Current Psychology, 18(4), 311–325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-999-1006-2

26.

Humphrey

B. J.

Nelson

X. J.

Helton

W. S.

(2025). A way forward for sustained attention research: Insights from the deep past. Annual Review of Psychology, 77. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-012125-121408

27.

Kane

M. J.

Smeekens

B. A.

Meier

M. E.

Welhaf

M. S.

Phillips

N. E.

(2021). Testing the construct validity of competing measurement approaches to probed mind-wandering reports. Behavior Research Methods, 53(6), 2372–2411. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01557-x

28.

Lakens

(2013). Calculating and reporting effect sizes to facilitate cumulative science: A practical primer for t-tests and ANOVAs. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(1), 863. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00863

29.

Lange

C. G.

Haupt

I. A.

(1922). The emotions. In The emotions (Vol. 1, pp. 33–90). Williams & Wilkins Co.

30.

Manly

Davison

Heutink

Galloway

Robertson

I. H.

(2000). Not enough time or not enough attention? Speed, error and self-maintained control in the Sustained Attention to Response Test (SART). Clinical Neuropsychological Assessment, 3(January), 167–177.

31.

Manly

Owen

A. M.

McAvinue

Datta

Lewis

G. H.

Scott

S. K.

Rorden

Pickard

Robertson

I. H.

(2003). Enhancing the sensitivity of a sustained attention task to frontal damage: Convergent clinical and functional imaging evidence. Neurocase, 9(4), 340–349. https://doi.org/10.1076/neur.9.4.340.15553

32.

McAvinue

O’Keefe

McMackin

Robertson

I. H.

(2005). Impaired sustained attention and error awareness in traumatic brain injury: Implications for insight. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 15(5), 569–587. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602010443000119

33.

Mensen

J. M.

Holland

S. B.

Helton

W. S.

Shaw

T. H.

Peterson

M. S.

(2024). Prolonging the response movement reduces commission errors in a high-go, low-no-go target detection task and composite metrics of performance miss this effect. Human Factors, 66(4), 1118–1131.

34.

Nisbett

R. E.

Wilson

T. D.

(1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84(3), 231–259. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-295x.84.3.231

35.

Overgaard

(2006). Introspection in science. Consciousness and Cognition, 15(4), 629–633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2006.10.004

36.

Raffaelli

Mills

de Stefano

N. A.

Mehl

M. R.

Chambers

Fitzgerald

S. A.

Wilcox

Christoff

Andrews

E. S.

Grilli

M. D.

O’Connor

M. F.

Andrews-Hanna

J. R.

(2021). The think aloud paradigm reveals differences in the content, dynamics and conceptual scope of resting state thought in trait brooding. Scientific Reports, 11(1), Article 19362. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98138-x

37.

Robertson

I. H.

Manly

Andrade

Baddeley

B. T.

Yiend

(1997). Oops!’: Performance correlates of everyday attentional failures in traumatic brain injured and normal subjects. Neuropsychologia, 35(6), 747–758. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0028-3932(97)00015-8

38.

Ruxton

G. D.

Beauchamp

(2008). Time for some a priori thinking about post hoc testing. Behavioral Ecology, 19(3), 690–693. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arn020

39.

Schooler

J. W.

Smallwood

Christoff

Handy

T. C.

Reichle

E. D.

Sayette

M. A.

(2011). Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(7), 319–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.05.006

40.

Sciaraffa

Borghini

Di Flumeri

Cincotti

Babiloni

Aricò

(2021). Joint analysis of eye blinks and brain activity to investigate attentional demand during a visual search task. Brain Sciences, 28(5), 562. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050562

41.

Šekrst

(2022). Everybody lies: Deception levels in various domains of life. Biosemiotics, 15(2), 309–324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-022-09485-9

42.

Seli

(2016). The attention-lapse and motor decoupling accounts of SART performance are not mutually exclusive. Consciousness and Cognition, 41(1), 189–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2016.02.017

43.

Seli

Cheyne

J. A.

Smilek

(2012). Attention failures versus misplaced diligence: Separating attention lapses from speed-accuracy trade-offs. Consciousness and Cognition, 21(1), 277–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2011.09.017

44.

Seli

Kane

M. J.

Smallwood

Schacter

D. L.

Maillet

Schooler

J. W.

Smilek

(2018). Mind-wandering as a natural kind: A family-resemblances view. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(6), 479–490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.03.010

45.

Shelat

Giesbrecht

(2025). Perceptual decoupling in the sustained attention to response task is likely: Comment on Bedi, Russell, & Helton (2024). Experimental Brain Research, 243(4), 86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07032-9

46.

Smallwood

Davies

J. B.

Heim

Finnigan

Sudberry

O’Connor

Obonsawin

(2004). Subjective experience and the attentional lapse: Task engagement and disengagement during sustained attention. Consciousness and Cognition, 13(4), 657–690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.09.003

47.

Sullivan

G. M.

Feinn

(2012). Using effect size—or why the p value is not enough. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 4(3), 279–282. https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-12-00156.1

48.

Weinstein

(2018). Mind-wandering, how do I measure thee with probes? Let me count the ways. Behavior Research Methods, 50(2), 642–661. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0891-9

49.

Westen

(1999). The scientific status of unconscious processes: Is Freud really dead? Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 47(4), 1061–1106. https://doi.org/10.1177/000306519904700404

50.

White

P. A.

(2000). Causal attribution and Mill’s methods of experimental inquiry: Past, present and prospect. British Journal of Social Psychology, 39(3), 429–447. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466600164589

51.

Wilson

de Joux

N. R.

Finkbeiner

K. M.

Russell

P. N.

Retzler

J. R.

Helton

W. S.

(2018). Prolonging the response movement inhibits the feed-forward motor program in the Sustained Attention to Response Task. Acta Psychologica, 183(1), 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.01.001

52.

Zanesco

A. P.

Denkova

Barry

Jha

A. P.

(2024). Mind wandering is associated with worsening attentional vigilance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 50(11), 1049–1066. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001233