Mind Wandering in Learning and Work

Have you ever watched a long lecture or meeting video and found your attention shifting away? We often think that this phenomenon, called mind wandering, is bad. However, there are situations when it can be good, like when you listen to a podcast and develop new and exciting ideas. In this project, led by Dr. Colin Conrad of Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Management, aims to explore how the brain’s ability to sustain attention may become weaker over time and situations when this is either harmful or helpful. This study takes interdisciplinary approaches, though it especially uses NCIL’s electroencephalography (EEG) system.

Overview

Mind wandering is the experience of your attention shifting from your given task and to unrelated thoughts. There are many situations when mind wandering can detract from your task and many situations when it can be helpful, especially when you are doing a task related to information technology. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, universities and workplaces shifted to online work. Researchers later found that Zoom inhibited users’ ability to learn well, by increasing a sense of fatigue and inhibiting their ability to develop new ideas. In this project, we explore the various ways that our cognition comes under strain during prolonged use of remote work and remote collaboration platforms. We are especially interested in the ways that our ability to sustain attention becomes weaker over time, the ways that mind wandering helps idea creation, and the ways that emerging information technologies, such as AI can train people to harness their cognitive processes better. We pursue our research questions using a mixture of methods, including surveys, behavioural studies, and electroencephalography (EEG). This work is led by Dr. Colin Conrad and is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Objectives and ongoing investigations

Our current objectives are described as follows: 1) Create a reliably way of passively measuring mind wandering using physiological data. 2) Use the measure to create a prototype of a mind-wandering adaptive interface. 3) Assess the effective use of the interface for study skills training. 4) Adapt an effective interface for use with a low-cost EEG.

Current state of the project and collaboration opportunities

We completed a series of surveys, behavioral, and EEG studies that can be leveraged to determine measures of mind wandering. In 2026 and 2027 we will explore how to apply the mind wandering measures to create a brain-computer interface that helps people study.