The disentanglement of the neural and experiential complexity of self-generated thoughts: A users guide to combining experience sampling with neuroimaging data.

People spend a lot of time engaged in internally generated thoughts like mind-wandering, but studying these private experiences is methodologically difficult because they are not directly observable. This review argues that combining self-reports with neuroimaging techniques—such as EEG, ERP, and MRI—provides a more rigorous way to investigate patterns of ongoing thought. Imaging methods reveal the presence of covert mental states and help distinguish different aspects of experience, offering critical information that purely psychological approaches cannot. Triangulating brain data with subjective reports is essential for building an empirically grounded account of the stream of consciousness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Human cognition is not limited to the processing of events in the external environment, and the covert nature of certain aspects of the stream of consciousness (e.g. experiences such as mind-wandering) provides a methodological challenge. Although research has shown that we spend a substantial amount of time focused on thoughts and feelings that are intrinsically generated, evaluating such internal states, purely on psychological grounds can be restrictive. In this review of the different methods used to examine patterns of ongoing thought, we emphasise how the process of triangulation between neuroimaging techniques, with self-reported information, is important for the development of a more empirically grounded account of ongoing thought. Specifically, we show how imaging techniques have provided critical information regarding the presence of covert states and can help in the attempt to identify different aspects of experience.