Revisiting consciousness: Distinguishing between states of conscious focused attention and mind wandering with EEG.
Consciousness and Cognition April 19, 2022 M. R. Dias da Silva, Ó. Gonçalves, D. Branco et al.
Mind wandering, the natural shift from external focus to internal thoughts, alters brain activity in specific ways. During a visuomotor tracking task, participants showed reduced P3 brainwave responses to external targets just before reporting mind wandering, indicating less conscious processing of external stimuli. Alpha brainwave power increased globally, signaling an internal mental state, while theta power rose in centroparietal areas and beta power decreased in right frontal and centroparietal regions. Additionally, individuals prone to mind wandering had higher delta and gamma power but a lower theta-beta ratio. These findings reveal distinct neural signatures of mind wandering at both momentary and trait levels.