ArticleiScience2025
Mind wandering enhances statistical learning.
Article in iScience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Coupling between statistical learning and interference suppression.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Spontaneous emergence of context-dependent statistical learning in humans and neural networks.iScience · 2026Article
- Obsessive-compulsive tendencies shift the balance between competitive neurocognitive functions.iScience · 2026Article
- No gender differences in predictive processing.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The veil of distraction: Mind-wandering and memorability jointly shape visual recognition and recall.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Post-Learning Offline Pauses Support Consolidation Beyond the Mind-Wandering State.Clocks & sleep · 2026Article
- Attentional lapses and mind wandering during the maintenance of visual attention over varying durations.Attention, perception & psychophysics · 2026Article
- The default mode network: where spontaneous thought meets memory consolidation.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2026Article
- Social mind at rest: resting-state connectivity associated with social thought relates to friendship quality.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Article
- The Effects of Cognitive Fatigue and Articulatory Suppression on Statistical Language Learning Depend on the Strength of Cognitive Resources.Cognitive science · 2026Article
- Autistic traits relate to speed/accuracy trade-off but not statistical learning and updating.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Mind Wandering during Implicit Learning Is Associated with Increased Periodic EEG Activity and Improved Extraction of Hidden Probabilistic Patterns.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The human brain spends 30-50% of its waking hours engaged in mind-wandering (MW), a common phenomenon in which individuals either spontaneously or deliberately shift their attention away from external tasks to task-unrelated internal thoughts. Despite the significant amount of time dedicated to MW, its underlying reasons remain unexplained. Our pre-registered study investigates the potential adaptive aspects of MW, particularly its role in predictive processes measured by statistical learning. We simultaneously assessed visuomotor task performance as well as the capability to extract probabilistic information from the environment while assessing task focus (on-task vs. MW). We found that MW was associated with enhanced extraction of hidden, but predictable patterns. This finding suggests that MW may have functional relevance in human cognition by shaping behavior and predictive processes. Overall, our results highlight the importance of considering the adaptive aspects of MW, and its potential to enhance certain fundamental cognitive abilities.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.