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. 2024 Jan 30;70(5):271-284.
doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000599. Online ahead of print.

The Effects of Mind-Wandering, Cognitive Load, and Task Engagement on Working Memory Performance in Remote Online Experiments

Kelly Cotton  1 , Joshua Sandry  2 , Timothy J Ricker  3
Affiliations

The Effects of Mind-Wandering, Cognitive Load, and Task Engagement on Working Memory Performance in Remote Online Experiments

Kelly Cotton et al. Exp Psychol. .

Abstract

Recent changes in environments from in-person to remote present several issues for work, education, and research, particularly related to cognitive performance. Increased distraction in remote environments may lead to increases in mind-wandering and disengagement with tasks at hand, whether virtual meetings, online lectures, or psychological experiments. The present study investigated mind-wandering and multitasking effects during working memory tasks in remote and in-person environments. In two experiments, participants completed a working memory task with varied cognitive load during a secondary task. After each working memory trial, participants reported their mind-wandering during that trial. Some participants completed the procedures in-person, while others completed the procedures remotely. Overall, remote participants reported significantly more mind-wandering and poorer secondary task performance than in-person participants, but this pattern was not reflected in working memory accuracy. Both groups exhibited similar multitasking effects on performance. Additional analyses found that for remote participants, task engagement better predicted working memory performance than either cognitive load or mind-wandering rates but did not indicate a tradeoff in resources between tasks. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of considering multiple metrics when assessing performance and illustrate that making assumptions about the equivalence of remote and in-person work is a risky proposition.

Keywords: complex span; mind-wandering; multitasking; short-term memory; working memory.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Procedure for a typical trial in Experiment 1.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Working memory accuracy across cognitive load conditions for in-person and online participants. Small points represent individual participant performance, and the large points represent the group performance. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Reported mind-wandering across cognitive load conditions for in-person and online participants. Small points represent individual participant performance, and the large points represent the group performance. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Secondary task accuracy across span conditions for in-person and online participants. Small points represent individual participant performance, and the large points represent the group performance. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Procedure for a typical trial in Experiment 2.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Performance across cognitive load conditions. Small points represent individual participant performance, and the large points represent the group performance. Error bars represent standard error of the mean. A. Working memory accuracy. B. Reported mind-wandering. C. Secondary task accuracy.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Performance comparing online secondary task performance groups and in-person participants. Small points represent individual participant performance, and the large points represent the group performance. Error bars represent standard error of the mean. A Working memory accuracy. B Reported mind-wandering.
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