Does your mind wander while performing daily tasks?

From CBC News:

If you’re having trouble reading the entirety of this article without your mind wandering off, it might actually be a good thing.

Just stay with us for a moment. According to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science, people whose minds wander during minor tasks have a greater amount of working memory.

University of Wisconsin-Madison News describes working memory as “a sort of a mental workspace that allows you to juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously.”

The report was written by the university’s Daniel Levinson and Richard Davidson, as well as Dr. Jonathan Smallwood of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany.

Working memory allows you to plan your day in the morning while simultaneously doing everyday tasks such as brushing your teeth, making coffee and breakfast and picking what to wear.

Researchers measured test subjects’ working memories by asking them to perform simple tasks such as pressing a button when a certain letter appears on a screen. Researchers checked in periodically to ask the subjects how often their minds began to wander off from these menial tasks.

Read the whole story: CBC News