Mind-Wandering

GLOSSARY

A special case of spontaneous thought that tends to be more deliberately constrained than dreaming, but less deliberately constrained than creative thinking and goal-directed thought. Distinguished from rumination and other types of thought that are marked by a high degree of automatic constraints, such as obsessive thought.

Flat design illustration of colorful overlapping speech bubble icons representing communication and messaging.
Flat design illustration of colorful overlapping speech bubble icons representing communication and messaging.

Reference:

Christoff, K., Irving, Z. C., Fox, K. C., Spreng, R. N., & Andrews-Hanna, J. R. (2016). Mind-wandering as spontaneous thought: A dynamic framework. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17(11), 718-731. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2016.113