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Recent advances in the neuroscience of spontaneous and off-task thought: implications for mental health

Nature Mental Health volume 1, pages 827–840 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

People spend a remarkable 30–50% of their awake life thinking about something other than what they are currently doing. These experiences of being ‘off-task’ can be described as spontaneous thought when mental dynamics are relatively flexible. Here we review recent neuroscience developments in this area and consider implications for mental well-being and illness. We provide updated overviews of the roles of the default mode network and large-scale network dynamics, and we discuss emerging candidate mechanisms involving hippocampal memory (sharp-wave ripples, replay) and neuromodulatory (noradrenergic and serotonergic) systems. We explore how distinct brain states can be associated with or give rise to adaptive and maladaptive forms of thought linked to distinguishable mental health outcomes. We conclude by outlining new directions in the neuroscience of spontaneous and off-task thought that may clarify mechanisms, lead to personalized biomarkers and facilitate therapy developments toward the goals of better understanding and improving mental health.

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Fig. 1: Number of publications on spontaneous thought and mental health over the past two decades.
Fig. 2: Linking spontaneous thought and off-task thought phenomenology to neural measures with experience sampling.
Fig. 3: Large-scale brain network predictive models of spontaneous fluctuations in experience-sampling ratings.

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Data availability

The dataset that was generated for Fig. 1 is available at https://github.com/DynamicBrainMind/NatMentHealth2023.

Code availability

The code that was used to generate Fig. 1 is available at https://github.com/DynamicBrainMind/NatMentHealth2023.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award numbers R21MH127384 (to A.K.), R21MH129630 (to A.K. and S.W.-G.) and R01MH125414 (J.R.A.-H.). J.W.Y.K. was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) discovery grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Aaron Kucyi

  2. Department of Psychology and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Julia W. Y. Kam

  3. Department of Psychology, Cognitive Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Jessica R. Andrews-Hanna

  4. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Kalina Christoff

  5. Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli

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A.K. completed the initial draft. J.W.Y.K., J.R.A.-H., K.C. and S.W.-G. contributed to the writing, conceptualization and editing.

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Kucyi, A., Kam, J.W.Y., Andrews-Hanna, J.R. et al. Recent advances in the neuroscience of spontaneous and off-task thought: implications for mental health. Nat. Mental Health 1, 827–840 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-023-00133-w

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