2 Intentionality of Self-Generated Thought: Contributions of Mind Wandering to Creativity

Orwig, William; Schacter, Daniel L · 2023 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1017/s1355617723003077

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates the relationship between the intentionality of self-generated thought, specifically mind wandering, and creative performance. The research is motivated by the understanding that internally oriented cognitive processes are central to creativity, yet the distinct contributions of intentional versus unintentional mind wandering remain unclear. The authors aim to distinguish between these two forms of mind wandering, explore their specific contributions to creativity, and identify the associated resting-state connectivity profiles within the brain’s default mode network (DMN). The researchers utilized a sample of 155 healthy adults from the mind-brain-body dataset, all of whom underwent resting-state functional MRI scans and completed trait-level self-report measures of mind wandering. To assess creativity, participants performed a divergent thinking task. The analysis employed graph theory, specifically weighted degree functional connectivity analysis, to examine the relationship between mind wandering tendencies and creativity. The study hypothesized that general mind wandering would correlate with increased connectivity in key DMN nodes, such as the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, and that intentional and unintentional mind wandering would exhibit distinct connectivity patterns across DMN core regions. Behavioral results demonstrated a significant positive association between creativity and both intentional and unintentional mind wandering. Neuroimaging analysis revealed that both forms of mind wandering were associated with higher weighted degree connectivity, implicating core regions of the default network and the left temporal pole. However, topological connectivity differences were observed within the default network: intentional mind wandering was associated with degree connectivity in posterior regions, whereas unintentional mind wandering showed greater involvement of prefrontal areas. These findings provide novel evidence linking specific patterns of resting-state network connectivity to the intentionality of mind wandering and its contribution to creative thinking. The significance of this work lies in its detailed characterization of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying productive mind wandering. By distinguishing the neural correlates of intentional and unintentional mind wandering, the study offers a promising step toward understanding how spontaneous cognition supports creative processes. The results demonstrate the relevance of these distinctions for the study of creative thinking and suggest that the intentionality of self-generated thought plays a crucial role in the neural architecture of creativity. This research contributes to the broader field of cognitive neuroscience by refining models of the default mode network and its role in internally directed cognition.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-nvidia on 2026-08-10; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• mind wandering