Effects of Mood Induction and Depression on Mind Wandering Tendencies in Older and Younger Adults

Introduction: Mind wandering is a pervasive experience in which attention is focused on self-generated thoughts rather than an ongoing task. Prior research found that mind wandering decreases with age, but the reasons are unclear. The present study investigated the influence of mood induction on this phenomenon. Methods: We compared older and younger adults’ mind wandering tendencies during a choice reaction time (CRT) task, after exposing them to one of three mood induction conditions (positive, negative, neutral). We measured participants’ reaction times and accuracy during the CRT, as well as depression levels. Results: We found that older adults reported less mind wandering, and younger adults reported specifically more future-oriented mind wandering. Additionally, while both positive and negative mood inductions significantly shifted all participants’ moods, we did not replicate a prior study of younger adults that found negative mood induction increased mind wandering. Mood induction also did not alter reaction times or accuracy on the CRT. Conclusion: These findings show an age-related reduction in mind wandering, but indicate that the causes of that reduction need further investigation. The results also suggest that prior mood induction studies warrant further careful replication attempts, and that the role of emotion in age differences in mind wandering needs further emphasis.