Wandering Minds in Sleep and Wakefulness: Attention, Consciousness, Self

Striking new research shows that a large portion of our conscious lives is spent mind wandering: our attention periodically drifts away from our current tasks, and this often happens without our noticing. This challenges the deep-seated assumption that healthy adults are normally aware of and able to control their thought processes. Drawing from cognitive neuroscience, sleep and dream research, and philosophy of mind, this project aims to develop a novel theory of mind wandering across the sleep-wake cycle together with an interdisciplinary methodology for its investigation. The anticipated benefit is improved understanding of spontaneous thought and its relationship to attention, consciousness, and the self.