Mind wandering during creative incubation predicts increases in creative performance in a writing task

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 24629 - 13
• Main Authors: McDaniel, Colin, Habibi, Assal, Kaplan, Jonas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09.07.2025; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/477; 631/477/2811; Adult; Attention - physiology; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive load; Creative writing; Creativity; Distraction; Female; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hypotheses; Incubation; Male; Mind wandering; Mindfulness; multidisciplinary; Problem solving; Problem Solving - physiology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Task Performance and Analysis; Writing; Young Adult; Problem solving; Distraction; Mind wandering; Incubation; Creativity

Previous studies suggest that taking breaks from creative problem solving (i.e., incubation periods) enhances subsequent performance, possibly due to mind wandering during these breaks. The present preregistered study investigated whether different types of incubation periods, designed to either pro...