@article{SoemerSchiefele2019,
  author    = {Soemer, Alexander and Schiefele, Ulrich},
  title     = {Text difficulty, topic interest, and mind wandering during reading},
  series = {Learning and instruction : the journal of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction},
  volume    = {61},
  journal   = {Learning and instruction : the journal of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0959-4752},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.12.006},
  pages     = {12 -- 22},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {The present article deals with the question of how the difficulty of a text affects a reader's tendency to engage in task-unrelated thinking (mind wandering) during reading, and the potential role of topic interest as a mediator of the relation between text difficulty and mind wandering. Two-hundred and sixteen participants read three texts with each text either being easy, moderate, or difficult in terms of readability and cohesion. From time to time during reading, participants were interrupted and required to indicate whether they were voluntarily or involuntarily engaging in mind wandering. After reading each text, they rated their interest in and familiarity with the topic, and subsequently answered a number of comprehension questions. The results revealed that reading difficult texts increased both voluntary and involuntary mind wandering and this increase partially explained the negative relation between text difficulty and comprehension. Furthermore, topic interest fully mediated the effect of text difficulty on both forms of mind wandering.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SoemerIdsardiMinnaertetal.2019,
  author    = {Soemer, Alexander and Idsardi, Hilda Marije and Minnaert, Alexander and Schiefele, Ulrich},
  title     = {Mind wandering and reading comprehension in secondary school children},
  series = {Learning and individual differences},
  volume    = {75},
  journal   = {Learning and individual differences},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {1041-6080},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.lindif.2019.101778},
  pages     = {11},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {This study investigated predictors of mind wandering during reading and their effects on comprehension in a sample of secondary school children. One hundred and twenty-five eighth-graders read either an easy, moderately difficult, or difficult version of an expository text and subsequently answered a number of comprehension questions. Students were asked about their thoughts during reading, their propensity to mind wander in various life situations, as well as their interest in the topics of the text. Overall, the results were consistent with the general mind wandering literature: More difficult texts were associated with lower topic interest, more mind wandering during reading, and worse comprehension. Topic interest was negatively related to mind wandering during reading. Furthermore, the propensity to mind wander in daily life had both a positive effect and a negative effect on comprehension, the latter being mediated by mind wandering during reading. Based on these results, it is argued that mind wandering may benefit school children's reading comprehension if it is applied in appropriate situations and for activities that promote comprehension.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{Soemer2019,
  author    = {Soemer, Alexander},
  title     = {Task-unrelated thoughts and forgetting in working memory},
  series = {Journal of memory and language},
  volume    = {106},
  journal   = {Journal of memory and language},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {San Diego},
  issn      = {0749-596X},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jml.2019.03.004},
  pages     = {118 -- 134},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {The present article reports four experiments that investigated the effects of task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) on forgetting in non-verbal working memory. Participants had to remember three non-verbal stimuli over unfilled retention intervals (RIs) and then judge whether or not a subsequently presented probe stimulus matched one of the to-be-remembered stimuli. Participants additionally responded to randomly appearing probes that measured different aspects of their TUT engagement during the RI of the preceding trial. Forgetting over unfilled RIs was observed in three of four experiments and reliably associated with the proportion of time spent on TUTs. In contrast, the visual and auditory nature of the TUTs and the number of different TUTs did not reliably predict forgetting. The results support the view that TUTs block attention-based processes that are needed for restoring decaying memory representations rather than an alternative account in terms of interference caused by the content of the TUTs.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchadNuthmannEngbert2012,
  author    = {Schad, Daniel and Nuthmann, Antje and Engbert, Ralf},
  title     = {Your mind wanders weakly, your mind wanders deeply - objective measures reveal mindless reading at different levels},
  series = {Cognition : international journal of cognitive science},
  volume    = {125},
  journal   = {Cognition : international journal of cognitive science},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0010-0277},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.cognition.2012.07.004},
  pages     = {179 -- 194},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {When the mind wanders, attention turns away from the external environment and cognitive processing is decoupled from perceptual information. Mind wandering is usually treated as a dichotomy (dichotomy-hypothesis), and is often measured using self-reports. Here, we propose the levels of inattention hypothesis, which postulates attentional decoupling to graded degrees at different hierarchical levels of cognitive processing. To measure graded levels of attentional decoupling during reading we introduce the sustained attention to stimulus task (SAST), which is based on psychophysics of error detection. Under experimental conditions likely to induce mind wandering, we found that subjects were less likely to notice errors that required high-level processing for their detection as opposed to errors that only required low-level processing. Eye tracking revealed that before errors were overlooked influences of high- and low-level linguistic variables on eye fixations were reduced in a graded fashion, indicating episodes of mindless reading at weak and deep levels. Individual fixation durations predicted overlooking of lexical errors 5 s before they occurred. Our findings support the levels of inattention hypothesis and suggest that different levels of mindless reading can be measured behaviorally in the SAST. Using eye tracking to detect mind wandering online represents a promising approach for the development of new techniques to study mind wandering and to ameliorate its negative consequences.},
  language  = {en}
}