ArticleBehavior research methods2024
Measuring mind wandering with experience sampling during task performance: An item response theory investigation.
Article in Behavior research methods, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Attentional lapses and mind wandering during the maintenance of visual attention over varying durations.Attention, perception & psychophysics · 2026Article
- Not all task-unrelated thoughts (TUT) are created equal - TUT characteristics as predictors of affective states and heart-rate variability.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The chain mediation effect of rumination and worry between the intentionality and content dimensions of mind wandering and internalizing symptoms of depression and anxiety.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
The tendency for individuals to mind wander is often measured using experience sampling methods in which probe questions embedded within computerized cognitive tasks attempt to catch episodes of off-task thought at random intervals during task performance. However, mind-wandering probe questions and response options are often chosen ad hoc and vary between studies with extant little guidance as to the psychometric consequences of these methodological decisions. In the present study, we examined the psychometric properties of several common approaches for assessing mind wandering using methods from item response theory (IRT). IRT latent modeling demonstrated that measurement information was generally distributed across the range of trait estimates according to when probes were presented in time. Probes presented earlier in time provided more information about individuals with greater tendency to mind wandering than probes presented later. Furthermore, mind-wandering ratings made on a continuous scale or using multiple categorical rating options provided more information about individuals' latent mind-wandering tendency - across a broader range of the trait continuum - than ratings dichotomized into on-task and off-task categories. In addition, IRT provided evidence that reports of "task-related thoughts" contribute to the task-focused dimension of the construct continuum, providing justification for studies conceptualizing these responses as a kind of task-related focus. Together, we hope these findings will help guide researchers hoping to maximize the measurement precision of their mind wandering assessment procedures.
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