When there is noise on Sherlock Holmes: mind wandering increases with perceptual processing difficulty during reading and listening

Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications

Table 2 Pearson correlations across conditions between the mind-wandering and comprehension variables and with the motivational variables

	Mind wandering	Fact-based comprehension	Inference-based comprehension
Mind wandering	–
Fact-based comprehension	− 0.58***	–
Inference-based comprehension	− 0.27***	0.48***	–
Motivation (beginning)	− 0.17*	0.07	0.04
Motivation (middle)	− 0.55***	0.44***	0.21**
Motivation (end)	− 0.64***	0.49***	0.27***
Exhaustion (beginning)	0.13	0.03	0.12
Exhaustion (middle)	0.40***	− 0.20**	− 0.01
Exhaustion (end)	0.38***	− 0.22**	− 0.06

All values were aggregated across all experimental conditions. Mind-wandering values were further aggregated across all assessment points. Motivational values (motivation and exhaustion) are displayed separately for the three assessment points at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the story. For inference-based comprehension (a three-level variable), Spearman’s Rho correlations were almost identical to the reported Pearson correlations, both in magnitude and p values
^***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05