Aspects of acceptance: building a shared conceptual understanding.

Many contemplatives, scientists, and clinicians have pointed to the value of responding to life's difficulties by accepting experiences as they are. A growing body of research also suggests that acceptance contributes to effective coping with adversity, reduced stress, and improved emotional well-being. Yet within the scientific literature, there is little consensus on what acceptance means or how it should be measured. This makes it nearly impossible to synthesize empirical work on acceptance into a cohesive scientific understanding. Our goal in this paper is to clarify four facets of acceptance that are commonly referenced in research: acknowledging, allowing, non-judging, and non-attachment. We do not propose a specific definition of acceptance or even a set of privileged facets that must be included in future frameworks. We instead offer a vocabulary to facilitate productive communication among researchers that will, in turn, enable a more definitive scientific understanding of this important construct to emerge. After defining and explaining these aspects of acceptance, we further clarify these constructs in two ways. First, we illustrate how the four aspects are dissociable from one another. Second, we analyze their correspondence to related constructs from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Finally, we provide a concept worksheet that scholars can utilize to precisely operationalize acceptance in their own work.

Taking charge: Characterizing the rapid development of self-regulation through intensive training.

Self-regulation is widely considered as a relatively stable trait, and the extent to which it can be improved through training is unknown. This randomized controlled investigation found dramatic and enduring increases in self-regulation among college students, as measured by experience sampling, nightly journaling, and questionnaires. Participants encountered stable levels of temptations throughout the intervention but became better at resisting them over time. Increases in self-regulation were accompanied by improvements across a diversity of additional outcomes like mood, stress, focus, mindfulness, emotional regulation, and life satisfaction. Collectively, this points to higher levels of plasticity in self-regulation and wellbeing than is widely assumed.

Mindfulness training reduces stress and amygdala reactivity to fearful faces in middle-school children.

The impact of mindfulness training on stress and associated brain plasticity has been shown in adults, whereas the impact of such training in the developing brain remains unknown. To address this open question, 40 middle-school children were randomized to either mindfulness or coding training (active control) interventions during the school day for eight weeks. Outcome measures were ratings of self-perceived stress and right amygdala activation while viewing fearful, happy, and neutral facial expressions during functional MRI. Prior to intervention, greater stress correlated with greater right amygdala activation in response to fearful versus neutral facial expressions across all children. After intervention, children who received mindfulness training reported lower stress associated with reduced right amygdala activation to fearful faces relative to children in the control condition. Amygdala responses to happy faces were unrelated to either initial stress or mindfulness reduction of stress. Moreover, mindfulness training led to relatively stronger functional connectivity between the right amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex during the viewing of fearful facial expressions. Changes in perceived stress and neuroplasticity occurred in nonmeditative states, indicating that the benefits of mindfulness training generalized beyond the active meditative state. This study provides initial evidence that mindfulness training in children reduces stress and promotes functional brain changes and that such training can be integrated into the school curriculum for entire classes. This study also reveals first evidence that a neurocognitive mechanism for both stress and its reduction by mindfulness training is related specifically to reduced amygdala responses to negative stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The future of mindfulness training is digital, and the future is now.

Digital mindfulness-based interventions (d-MBIs) present a promising path for the scalable dissemination of mindfulness instruction in the 21st century. Smartphone applications and web-based platforms can offer potential advantages over traditional face-to-face formats through enhanced accessibility, standardization, personalization, and efficacy of mindfulness training. A growing body of research has documented that a digital approach to teaching mindfulness can improve measures of attention, stress, depression, and anxiety. However, effective digital mindfulness instruction must overcome a variety of challenges, including the possibility of low engagement, shallow learning, and unaddressed obstacles or frustrations. Fortunately, best practices from multiple fields of research provide strategies to overcome these challenges.

Tracking Distraction.

OBJECTIVE: Although earlier work has shown a link between mind-wandering and ADHD symptoms, this relationship has not been further investigated by taking into account recent advances in mind-wandering research. METHOD: The present study provides a comprehensive assessment of the relationship between mind-wandering and ADHD symptomatology in an adult community sample ( N = 105, 71 females, M age = 23.1) using laboratory measures and experience sampling during daily life. RESULTS: Mind-wandering and detrimental mind-wandering were positively associated with ADHD symptoms. Meta-awareness of mind-wandering mediated the relationship between ADHD symptomatology and detrimental mind-wandering, suggesting that some of the negative consequences can be ameliorated by strategies that facilitate meta-awareness. Interestingly, participants with low ADHD scores showed a positive relationship between detrimental mind-wandering and useful mind-wandering; however, participants with high ADHD scores failed to engage in this type of "strategic" mind-wandering. CONCLUSION: These results provide new insights into the relationship between ADHD symptomatology and mind-wandering that could have important clinical implications.

States of Mind: Characterizing the Neural Bases of Focus and Mind-wandering through Dynamic Functional Connectivity.

During tasks that require continuous engagement, the mind alternates between mental states of focused attention and mind-wandering. Existing research has assessed the functional connectivity of intrinsic brain networks underlying the experience and training of these mental states using "static" approaches that assess connectivity across an entire task. To disentangle the different functional connectivity between brain regions that occur as the mind fluctuates between discrete brain states, we employed a dynamic functional connectivity approach that characterized brain activity using a sliding window. This approach identified distinct states of functional connectivity between regions of the executive control, salience, and default networks during a task requiring sustained attention to the sensations of breathing. The frequency of these distinct brain states demonstrated opposing correlations with dispositional mindfulness, suggesting a correspondence to the mental states of focused attention and mind-wandering. We then determined that an intervention emphasizing the cultivation of mindfulness increased the frequency of the state that had been associated with a greater propensity for focused attention, especially for those who improved most in dispositional mindfulness. These findings provide supporting evidence that mind-wandering involves the corecruitment of brain regions within the executive and default networks. More generally, this work illustrates how emerging neuroimaging methods may allow for the characterization of discrete brain states based on patterns of functional connectivity even when external indications of these states are difficult or impossible to measure.

Pushing the Limits: Cognitive, Affective, and Neural Plasticity Revealed by an Intensive Multifaceted Intervention.

Scientific understanding of how much the adult brain can be shaped by experience requires examination of how multiple influences combine to elicit cognitive, affective, and neural plasticity. Using an intensive multifaceted intervention, we discovered that substantial and enduring improvements can occur in parallel across multiple cognitive and neuroimaging measures in healthy young adults. The intervention elicited substantial improvements in physical health, working memory, standardized test performance, mood, self-esteem, self-efficacy, mindfulness, and life satisfaction. Improvements in mindfulness were associated with increased degree centrality of the insula, greater functional connectivity between insula and somatosensory cortex, and reduced functional connectivity between posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and somatosensory cortex. Improvements in working memory and reading comprehension were associated with increased degree centrality of a region within the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) that was extensively and predominately integrated with the executive control network. The scope and magnitude of the observed improvements represent the most extensive demonstration to date of the considerable human capacity for change. These findings point to higher limits for rapid and concurrent cognitive, affective, and neural plasticity than is widely assumed.

Signal or noise: brain network interactions underlying the experience and training of mindfulness.

A broad set of brain regions has been associated with the experience and training of mindfulness. Many of these regions lie within key intrinsic brain networks, including the executive control, salience, and default networks. In this paper, we review the existing literature on the cognitive neuroscience of mindfulness through the lens of network science. We describe the characteristics of the intrinsic brain networks implicated in mindfulness and summarize the relevant findings pertaining to changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and between these networks. Convergence across these findings suggests that mindfulness may be associated with increased FC between two regions within the default network: the posterior cingulate cortex and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Additionally, extensive meditation experience may be associated with increased FC between the insula and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. However, little consensus has emerged within the existing literature owing to the diversity of operational definitions of mindfulness, neuroimaging methods, and network characterizations. We describe several challenges to develop a coherent cognitive neuroscience of mindfulness and to provide detailed recommendations for future research.

Domain-specific enhancement of metacognitive ability following meditation training.

Contemplative mental practices aim to enable individuals to develop greater awareness of their own cognitive and affective states through repeated examination of first-person experience. Recent cross-sectional studies of long-term meditation practitioners suggest that the subjective reports of such individuals are better calibrated with objective indices; however, the impact of mental training on metacognitive ability has not yet been examined in a randomized controlled investigation. The present study evaluated the impact of a 2-week meditation-training program on introspective accuracy in the domains of perception and memory. Compared with an active control group that elicited no change, we found that a 2-week meditation program significantly enhanced introspective accuracy, quantified by metacognitive judgments of cognition on a trial-by-trial basis, in a memory but not a perception domain. Together, these data suggest that, in at least some domains, the human capacity to introspect is plastic and can be enhanced through training.

Window to the wandering mind: pupillometry of spontaneous thought while reading.

Mind-wandering is both pervasive and detrimental to task performance. As such, identifying covert physiological measures that are associated with this off-task state could inform theories of mind-wandering and lead to interventions that improve task focus. Although previous work suggests that pupil dilation (PD) may vary between on- and off-task states, no studies have examined whether PD systematically varies within a subject as they report becoming disengaged from a task-a key step in developing useful mind-wandering prediction algorithms. In the present study, PD was measured while participants advanced through a passage one word at a time. Spontaneous mind-wandering was assessed during reading using standard thought probe methodology. Results revealed higher PD prior to off-task than prior to on-task reading. This newly discovered relationship between momentary fluctuations of attention and PD offers promise for future innovations that use these systematic changes in PD to predict and better control mind-wandering.

The silver lining of a mind in the clouds: interesting musings are associated with positive mood while mind-wandering.

The negative effects of mind-wandering on performance and mood have been widely documented. In a recent well-cited study, Killingsworth and Gilbert (2010) conducted a large experience sampling study revealing that all off-task episodes, regardless of content, have equal to or lower happiness ratings, than on-task episodes. We present data from a similarly implemented experience sampling study with additional mind-wandering content categories. Our results largely conform to those of the Killingsworth and Gilbert (2010) study, with mind-wandering generally being associated with a more negative mood. However, subsequent analyses reveal situations in which a more positive mood is reported after being off-task. Specifically when off-task episodes are rated for interest, the high interest episodes are associated with an increase in positive mood compared to all on-task episodes. These findings both identify a situation in which mind-wandering may have positive effects on mood, and suggest the possible benefits of encouraging individuals to shift their off-task musings to the topics they find most engaging.

Unnoticed intrusions: dissociations of meta-consciousness in thought suppression.

The current research investigates the interaction between thought suppression and individuals' explicit awareness of their thoughts. Participants in three experiments attempted to suppress thoughts of a prior romantic relationship and their success at doing so was measured using a combination of self-catching and experience-sampling. In addition to thoughts that individuals spontaneously noticed, individuals were frequently caught engaging in thoughts of their previous partner at experience-sampling probes. Furthermore, probe-caught thoughts were: (i) associated with stronger decoupling of attention from the environment, (ii) more likely to occur under cognitive load, (iii) more frequent for individuals with a desire to reconcile, and (iv) associated with individual differences in the tendency to suppress thoughts. Together, these data suggest that individuals can lack meta-awareness that they have begun to think about a topic they are attempting to suppress, providing novel insight into the cognitive processes that are involved in attempting to control undesired mental states.

Young and restless: validation of the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) reveals disruptive impact of mind-wandering for youth.

Mind-wandering is the focus of extensive investigation, yet until recently there has been no validated scale to directly measure trait levels of task-unrelated thought. Scales commonly used to assess mind-wandering lack face validity, measuring related constructs such as daydreaming or behavioral errors. Here we report four studies validating a Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) across college, high school, and middle school samples. The 5-item scale showed high internal consistency, as well as convergent validity with existing measures of mind-wandering and related constructs. Trait levels of mind-wandering, as measured by the MWQ, were correlated with task-unrelated thought measured by thought sampling during a test of reading comprehension. In both middle school and high school samples, mind-wandering during testing was associated with worse reading comprehension. By contrast, elevated trait levels of mind-wandering predicted worse mood, less life-satisfaction, greater stress, and lower self-esteem. By extending the use of thought sampling to measure mind-wandering among adolescents, our findings also validate the use of this methodology with younger populations. Both the MWQ and thought sampling indicate that mind-wandering is a pervasive-and problematic-influence on the performance and well-being of adolescents.

Disentangling decoupling: comment on Smallwood (2013).

Smallwood (2013) made important contributions to the science of mind wandering by distinguishing between 2 aspects of the mind-wandering experience: (a) how the mind wanders, which entails the process of maintaining the continuity of a mind-wandering episode, and (b) why the mind wanders, which refers to those mechanisms that lead to the occurrence of a mind-wandering episode. This new process-occurrence framework offers a way to compare and contrast existing theories of mind wandering and highlights key questions to be addressed in future work; however, we suggest that in characterizing one of the core mechanisms of mind wandering, Smallwood conflated the occurrence of a phenomenon with its explanation. Specifically, the occurrence of perceptual decoupling (i.e., that mind wandering is associated with reduced attention to external stimuli) was conflated with an explanation for its occurrence (i.e., in order to insulate the internal train of thought). Disentangling the theory of perceptual decoupling raises questions regarding both its role in insulating the internal train of thought in mind wandering and its unique theoretical contributions to the how/process of mind wandering.

Mindfulness training improves working memory capacity and GRE performance while reducing mind wandering.

Given that the ability to attend to a task without distraction underlies performance in a wide variety of contexts, training one's ability to stay on task should result in a similarly broad enhancement of performance. In a randomized controlled investigation, we examined whether a 2-week mindfulness-training course would decrease mind wandering and improve cognitive performance. Mindfulness training improved both GRE reading-comprehension scores and working memory capacity while simultaneously reducing the occurrence of distracting thoughts during completion of the GRE and the measure of working memory. Improvements in performance following mindfulness training were mediated by reduced mind wandering among participants who were prone to distraction at pretesting. Our results suggest that cultivating mindfulness is an effective and efficient technique for improving cognitive function, with wide-reaching consequences.

Inspired by distraction: mind wandering facilitates creative incubation.

Although anecdotes that creative thoughts often arise when one is engaged in an unrelated train of thought date back thousands of years, empirical research has not yet investigated this potentially critical source of inspiration. We used an incubation paradigm to assess whether performance on validated creativity problems (the Unusual Uses Task, or UUT) can be facilitated by engaging in either a demanding task or an undemanding task that maximizes mind wandering. Compared with engaging in a demanding task, rest, or no break, engaging in an undemanding task during an incubation period led to substantial improvements in performance on previously encountered problems. Critically, the context that improved performance after the incubation period was associated with higher levels of mind wandering but not with a greater number of explicitly directed thoughts about the UUT. These data suggest that engaging in simple external tasks that allow the mind to wander may facilitate creative problem solving.

The role of mind-wandering in measurements of general aptitude.

Tests of working memory capacity (WMC) and fluid intelligence (gF) are thought to capture variability in a crucial cognitive capacity that is broadly predictive of success, yet pinpointing the exact nature of this capacity is an area of ongoing controversy. We propose that mind-wandering is associated with performance on tests of WMC and gF, thereby partially explaining both the reliable correlations between these tests and their broad predictive utility. Existing evidence indicates that both WMC and gF are correlated with performance on tasks of attention, yet more decisive evidence requires an assessment of the role of attention and, in particular, mind-wandering during performance of these tests. Four studies employing complementary methodological designs embedded thought sampling into tests of general aptitude and determined that mind-wandering was consistently associated with worse performance on these measures. Collectively, these studies implicate the capacity to avoid mind-wandering during demanding tasks as a potentially important source of success on measures of general aptitude, while also raising important questions about whether the previously documented relationship between WMC and mind-wandering can be exclusively attributed to executive failures preceding mind-wandering (McVay & Kane, 2010b).

Insulation for daydreams: a role for tonic norepinephrine in the facilitation of internally guided thought.

Although consciousness can be brought to bear on both perceptual and internally generated information, little is known about how these different cognitive modes are coordinated. Here we show that between-participant variance in thoughts unrelated to the task being performed (known as task unrelated thought, TUT) is associated with longer response times (RT) when target presentation occurs during periods when baseline Pupil Diameter (PD) is increased. As behavioral interference due to high baseline PD can reflect increased tonic activity in the norepinephrine system (NE), these results might implicate high tonic NE activity in the facilitation of TUTs. Based on these findings, it is hypothesised that high tonic mode NE leads to a generalised de-amplification of task relevant information that prioritses internally generated thought and insulates it from the potentially disruptive events taking place in the external environment.

Mindfulness and mind-wandering: finding convergence through opposing constructs.

Research into both mindfulness and mind-wandering has grown rapidly, yet clarification of the relationship between these two seemingly opposing constructs is still absent. A first study addresses the relationship between a dispositional measure of mindfulness (Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale, MAAS) and converging measures of both self-reported and indirect markers of mind-wandering. Negative correlations between dispositional mindfulness and 4 measures of mind-wandering confirm the opposing relationship between the 2 constructs and further validate the use of the MAAS as a dispositional measure of mindfulness. A second study demonstrated that 8 minutes of mindful breathing reduces behavioral indicators of mind-wandering during a Sustained Attention to Response Task compared with both passive relaxation and reading. Together these studies clarify the opposition between the constructs of mindfulness and mind-wandering and so should lead to greater convergence between what have been predominately separate, yet mutually relevant, lines of research.