States of mind: Towards a common classification of mental states.
Consciousness and cognition March 1, 2025 Charlotte Van den Driessche, Clotilde Chappé, Mahiko Konishi et al.
The stream of thought can be partitioned into five distinct mental states: focus, task-related interference, external distraction, daydream, and blank. This classification, called the Classification of Mental States (CoMS-5T), was tested for validity. Participants gave free verbal reports of their mental contents, which external raters then classified, supporting the construct validity and neutrality of the system. A reanalysis of a large dataset from Beikmohamadi and Meier (2022) found distinct behavioral signatures for four of the five states, providing criterion validity. The work offers a systematic way to describe and measure the ongoing stream of thought in cognitive psychology.