My research examines the relationship between attentional performance, mind wandering, and well-being in undergraduate students across the academic year 2020-2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is known that while attention is key for academic achievement, it can also be degraded in stressful circumstances. Prior evidence suggests that this degradation can be related to mind wandering, broadly defined as off-task thought, and poor wellbeing. Given that this evidence comes from separate lines of research, the relationship between attentional performance, mind wandering and well-being, especially during particularly challenging times, as the covid-19 pandemic is not well understood. The present research project examines the following two research questions: 1. Does cognitive performance relate to mind wandering? And 2. Does cognitive performance and mind wandering relate to well-being? Participants are composed of 349 undergraduate University of Miami students taking an introduction to psychology course (Psy 110) during 2020-2021 academic year. Participants completed a 1-hour online testing battery which included a sustained attentional task with embedded mind wandering questions and metrics of emotional well-being (e.g. affect and perceived stress). Correlational analyses revealed that lower attentional performance is associated with more mind wandering and more mind wandering is associated with greater negative affect and perceived stress. These findings have potential relevance for proposing training programs, such as mindfulness training, that can specifically decrease mind wandering and negative affect to avoid negative consequences on attentional performance in undergraduate students.
