Mind Wandering and Online Learning: How Working Memory, Interest, and Mind Wandering Impact Learning from Videos

Mind Wandering and Online Learning: How Working Memory, Interest, and Mind Wandering Impact Learning from Videos Richard Ben Hollis (rbhollis@kent.edu) Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences, 405 White Hall Kent, OH 44242, USA Christopher A. Was (cwas@kent.edu) Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences, 405 White Hall Kent, OH 44242, USA Abstract findings: online education. This study evaluated individual differences in mind wandering while subjects watch video lectures in an online course and analyzed how these factors influenced academic performance. This study investigated mind wandering during video lectures in an online course. Working memory capacity and interest were also considered. Higher mind wandering predicted lower performance. Lower working memory capacity predicted higher mind wandering. Higher interest predicted lesser mind wandering. Social media and technology accounted for 29% of off-task thinking. Keywords: Mind-wandering; working memory task unrelated Mind Wandering and Working Memory The relationship between WMC and mind wandering has long been researched due to the principle that those with a higher WMC were less prone to distraction (mind wandering) during a demanding task. Working memory refers to attentional control used to maintain a goal and avoid distraction; greater WMC means greater attentional capacity used to avoid distraction and maintain a goal (Engle, 2002; McVay & Kane, 2010). Subjects who performed poorly on WMC tasks were unable to maintain task goals and therefor experienced more goal-neglect errors (McVay & Kane, 2010). WMC predicted performance on higher-order cognitive tasks, such as reading comprehension tasks and general fluid intelligence tests (Engle, 2002). Complex span tasks used to measure WMC were related to goal maintenance and competition resolution. These characteristics of assessment lend to evaluating individual differences in mind wandering, as both referred to mechanisms that keep access to a primary goal intact when faced with distracting or irrelevant information (McVay & Kane, 2010). Mrazek et al. (2012) evaluated if WMC tests were confounded by mind wandering; that is, if mind wandering during WMC tests diminished results on those measures. They also evaluated mind-wandering correlations to WMC, general aptitude and SAT scores. In the first experiment, subjects were probed for on-task or off-task thoughts (ranging from 1 = completely on-task to 5 = completely on unrelated concerns) at unpredictable intervals while completing operation span (OSPAN), reading span (RSPAN) and spatial span (SSPAN) tasks, as measures of WMC. Performance on individual tasks and across tasks was negatively related with the number of mind wandering instances, meaning subjects with lower WMC had greater instances of off-task thoughts. Results were replicated in a second study; additional measurements of anxiety and task- thoughts; Introduction Wandering minds often lead to performance and accuracy errors on the primary activity, especially if the activity was demanding and required concentration (e.g. McVay & Kane, 2009; McVay & Kane, 2012b; Unsworth & McMillian, 2012). Given the propensity for the mind to wander and related performance deficits, investigating individual differences in mind wandering and the impact on performance seemed particularly relevant in an educational setting. As Unsworth, Brewer and Spillers (2012) and Lindquist and McLean (2011) provided evidence of mind wandering in the traditional classroom context. Technology use in the same setting can also contribute to distraction; interactions with Facebook, laptop-use and mobile devices during in- class lectures created deficits in academic performance (Fried, 2008; Junco, 2012; Wood et al., 2012). Additionally, self-reported, heavy media multitaskers had difficulty filtering non-essential information and lower task- switching accuracy than non-multitasking counterparts; Ophira, Nassb and Wagner (2009) proposed these multitaskers were also unaware of the determents of multitasking to attentional accuracy. Interactions with media and technology multitasking can distract and create deficits in performance; as such, the current study expanded the existing set of off-task thinking probes to include: thinking about or using another technology. (ex) texting; checking Facebook. Given the research on mind wandering in a variety of contexts, steps to advance mind wandering research forward should be taken at the intersection of these