Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

When one wanders in nature, the mind follows the feet and the senses. But at times the mind drifts
elsewhere, traveling great distances or to totally different time periods. These episodes may depict
memories of things that have happened in the past, but they can also invent something new, far into
the future. Crossing a brackish canal over a footbridge, the color of the water catches the eye, and,
perhaps without awareness, the thoughts take flight.
That human thought embarks on such spontaneous “mental time travel” of mind wandering is
intriguing and raises questions about cognitive experience. Advances in methodology investigating
this state have yielded evidence linking mind wandering with creative thinking, involuntary
memory, complex social cognition, mood, and environmental dynamics. Recent work in the field of
environmental psychology has theorized that mind wandering might explain creativity benefits of
nature contact. Other recent evidence has associated mind wandering in outdoor nature with mood
improvements. Yet the phenomenon remains under studied in outdoor contexts.
The primary aim of this study was to develop an ecologically valid methodology to track and
measure moments of mind wandering as they occurred during outdoor nature contact. Its secondary
aim was to test that methodology by describing the unfolding of mind wandering (MW) in one urban
blue-green space. This explorative second phase of the study used qualitative and quantitative data
to understand the phenomenon as it occurred in the space and to assess validity of the new
methodology.
Results revealed that a broad array of mind wandering data could be systematically collected and
assessed using the new methodology. The mind wandered readily for most subjects, spread across
much of the study area. Participants reported that the largest percentage of thought content related
to the present, followed by the past, then the future. Participants reported both verbal and imagerybased
MW episodes concerning both the self and others. Possible relationships between the physical
characteristics of the blue-green space and mind wandering content were identified and discussed.
So too was the relationship between duration of nature contact and frequency of mind wandering.
In-depth qualitative analysis of one participant’s experience illustrated the diversification of
thoughts during the short span of the study period, especially via spontaneous memories. Effects of
thought diversification on emotional valence was highlighted. Finally, methodological reflections
and suggestions for future research are discussed.