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Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering in Older Adults: An Examination of Contextual Factors

Fountain-Zaragoza, Stephanie M

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Psychology.
The examination of mind-wandering is an emerging field of study that has provided convincing evidence that older adults experience less mind-wandering than young adults despite experiencing age-related cognitive declines. Dispositional mindfulness, or the ability to non-judgmentally attend to the present moment, may play a role in the ability to sustain attention during cognitive tasks. Mind-wandering and mindfulness are opposing constructs, but both contribute to task completion as they represent the allocation of attentional resources to either on- or off-task processing. The current study investigated the relationships between trait mindfulness, task-related and task-unrelated thought, and cognitive control in the context of a Go/No-Go and Continuous Performance task in older adults. Extending previous literature, we found a negative association between trait mindfulness and the proportion of task-unrelated thoughts during both tasks. Mindfulness was associated with higher reactive control, but not inhibitory control or proactive control. Though we did not find an association between mind-wandering and behavioral performance on either task, we found that task-unrelated thought mediated the association between mindfulness and proactive control. Contrary to our hypotheses, more task-unrelated thought was associated with higher proactive control, and this effect was moderated by working memory capacity such that there was a positive association between task-unrelated thought and proactive control for those with average and low working memory, but not high working memory. These results add to the existing literature examining the unique functioning of mind-wandering in older adult cohorts.
Ruchika Prakash, Dr. (Advisor)
Andrew Leber, Dr. (Committee Member)
Charles Emery, Dr. (Committee Member)
74 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fountain-Zaragoza, S. M. (2015). Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering in Older Adults: An Examination of Contextual Factors [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437408880

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fountain-Zaragoza, Stephanie. Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering in Older Adults: An Examination of Contextual Factors. 2015. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437408880.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fountain-Zaragoza, Stephanie. "Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering in Older Adults: An Examination of Contextual Factors." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437408880

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)