Successful learning requires that individuals integrate information from the external environment with their own internal representations. In this article, we consider the role that mind wandering plays in education. Mind wandering represents a state of decoupled attention because, instead of processing information from the external environment, our attention is directed toward our own private ...

OBJECTIVE To characterize wandering, or elopement, among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability. STUDY DESIGN Questions on wandering in the previous year were asked of parents of children with ASD with and without intellectual disability and children with intellectual disability without ASD as part of the 2011 Survey of Pathways to Diagnosis and Services. The...

Successful learning requires that individuals integrate information from the external environment with their own internal representations. In this paper we consider the role that mind-wandering plays in education. Mind-wandering represents a state of decoupled attention because instead of processing information from the external environment our attention is directed to our own private thoughts ...

Humans mind-wander quite intensely. Mind wandering is markedly different from other cognitive behaviors because it is spontaneous, self-generated, and inwardly directed (inner thoughts). However, can such an internal and intimate mental function also be modulated externally by means of brain stimulation? Addressing this question could also help identify the neural correlates of mind wandering i...

We examined whether different encounters of reading material influence the likelihood of mind wandering, memory for the material, and the ratings of interest in the material. In a within-subjects design participants experienced three different reading encounters: (1) reading a passage aloud, (2) listening to a passage being read to them, and (3) reading a passage silently. Throughout each readi...

BACKGROUND/RATIONALE Guided by the need-driven dementia-compromised behavior (NDB) model, this study examined influences of the physical environment on wandering behavior. METHODS Using a descriptive, cross-sectional design, 122 wanderers from 28 long-term care (LTC) facilities were videotaped 10 to 12 times; data on wandering, light, sound, temperature and humidity levels, location, ambiance...

Insofar as mind wandering has been linked to poor learning, finding ways to reduce the propensity to mind wander should have implications for improving learning. We investigated the possibility that studying materials at an appropriate level of difficulty with respect to the individual's capabilities-that is, studying in the region of proximal learning (RPL)-might reduce mind wandering. In Expe...

See related article, p 1982. Law No. 10 in the satirical book House of God states, “If you don’t take a temperature, you can’t find a fever.” In essence, do not go looking for problems. However, what if finding that fever led to ordering a limb ultrasound, discovering a deep vein thrombosis, prescribing anticoagulation, and averting life-threatening pulmonary emboli? Similar logic now applies f...

The effect of different sources of nitrogen as well as their concentrations on the bioconversion of carbon monoxide to metabolic products such as acetic acid and ethanol by Clostridium autoethanogenum was studied. In a first set of assays, under batch conditions, either NH4Cl, trypticase soy broth or yeast extract (YE) were used as sources of nitrogen. The use of YE was found statistically sign...