Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167

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Learning and Individual Differences

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / l i n d i f

Daydreaming and its correlates in an educational environment☆

Sophie I. Lindquist ⁎, John P. McLean 1
School of Psychology, McElwain Building, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The experience of daydreaming is familiar to all, yet daydreaming and its correlates in an educational context
Received 12 May 2010 have yet to be adequately explored. This study investigated academic and other potential correlates of task-
Received in revised form 4 December 2010 unrelated images and thoughts (TUITs) during lectures. 463 undergraduate psychology students participated
Accepted 23 December 2010
across three lecture sessions. During lectures, an auditory probe was sounded five times; alerting participants
to record whether they were experiencing a TUIT at that moment. Results revealed significant negative
Keywords:
Daydreaming
correlations between TUIT frequency and age, detail of notes taken and course interest. Also, those seated in
Mind wandering the front third of the lecture experienced significantly fewer TUITs. Furthermore, as TUIT frequency increased,
Seating position there was a trend towards poorer performance in course examinations, which measure the learning of
Note taking lecture-based content.
Academic performance © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thoughts unrelated to sensory input or the task at hand have been
defined in a number of ways, including daydreaming (Singer, 1966),
task-unrelated images and thoughts (Giambra, 1995), task-unrelated
thoughts (e.g. Filler & Giambra, 1973; Shaw & Giambra, 1993) and
mind wandering (e.g. Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). Daydreaming is
regarded as one of the most fascinating phenomena in the vast range
of human behaviour (Singer, 1975, 1976). Singer (1966) argues that
daydreaming represents a shift of attention away from some primary
physical or mental task or from a perceptual response to external
stimulation towards a response to some internal stimulus. Consider-
able data has documented the apparent universality of daydreaming
and the acknowledgement by large numbers of people that day-
dreaming is a general phenomenon in their daily lives (Klinger, 1987;
Singer, 1968, 2003) and generally reflect an individual's ‘current
concerns’ (Klinger, 1987).
The validity of subjective self-reports of daydreaming has been
demonstrated in experimental studies. For example, daydreaming has
been found to vary as a function of stimulus presentation rate (e.g.
Antrobus, 1968; Antrobus, Singer, & Greenberg, 1966; Filler &
Giambra, 1973; Giambra, 1995; Grodsky & Giambra, 1990–1991)
memory load (Smallwood et al., 2004; Teasdale et al., 1995) and mood
induction (Seibert & Ellis, 1991; Smallwood, Fitzgerald, Miles, &
Phillips, 2009). Individual differences in daydreaming also persist
☆ This work has not been published elsewhere and has not been submitted
simultaneously for publication elsewhere.
⁎ Corresponding author. 8 Bendora Crescent, Palmerston, ACT 2913, Australia.
Tel.: + 61 2 6240 2726.
E-mail addresses: s.lindquist@psy.uq.edu.au (S.I. Lindquist), john@psy.uq.edu.au
(J.P. McLean).
1
Tel.: + 61 7 3365 6394.
across laboratory and everyday life experiences (McVay, Kane, &
Kwapil, 2009). Furthermore, errors on the sustained attention to
response task (SART; see Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, &
Yiend, 1997) are considered to be behavioural markers of day-
dreaming (e.g. Christoff, Gordon, Smallwood, Smith, & Schooler, 2009;
Smallwood, Beach, Schooler, & Handy, 2008; Smallwood et al., 2004;
Smallwood et al., 2009). Recently, Smallwood, Beach et al. (2008)
demonstrated a reduction in the P300 event-related potential for non-
targets prior to both behavioural and subjective reports of mind
wandering relative to periods of being ‘on-task’. Furthermore,
subjective reports of daydreaming are associated with activity in a
default network of cortical regions that are active when the brain is ‘at
rest’ (Mason et al., 2007) and more recently, activity in the default and
executive networks, two systems that have been assumed to work in
opposition, suggesting that daydreaming may evoke a unique mental
state allowing these systems to work in cooperation (Christoff et al.,
2009).
Research has revealed a number of important demographic correlates
related to daydreaming frequency. For instance, questionnaire and
laboratory studies of daydreaming have revealed that daydreaming
frequency fluctuates as a function of age, such that as age increases,
frequency of daydreaming decreases (Giambra, 1974, 1977–1978, 1979–
1980, 1989, 1993, 1999–2000; Grodsky & Giambra, 1990–1991; Parks,
Klinger, & Perlmutter, 1988–1989). Several studies have found no gender
differences in daydreaming frequency (Giambra, 1989, 1995; Goldstein &
Baskin, 1988; Singer, 1968; Singer & McCraven, 1961). However, in a
study by Giambra (1979–1980) involving 1200 participants, females at
every age group experienced significantly more daydreams and signifi-
cantly more absorption in daydreaming than males.
In terms of academic correlates, Wagman (1968) found that scores
on the School and College Ability Test (SCAT) did not correlate with self-

1041-6080/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2010.12.006
 S.I. Lindquist, J.P. McLean / Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167
reported daydreaming frequency, however a strong negative correlation
was observed for Grade Point Average (GPA; an averaged indicator of
academic achievement over a range of courses within a fixed time
period), but only for women. However, in a study by Gold, Andrews, and
Minor (1985–86), students were asked to record all school-related
daydreams experienced over a 14 day period. No differences were found
on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) between students who experi-
enced five or more daydreams or less than five over the recording period,
however students recording five or more daydreams over the two week
period had better GPAs at the end of the semester than students
reporting less than five daydreams (Gold et al., 1985–86). These findings
indicate that daydreaming frequency may have important and poten-
tially complex implications in the educational domain.
One reason why daydreaming may have implications within the
educational domain can be gleaned from experimental evidence
indicating that when daydreaming occurs, performance on a primary
task tends to suffer (McVay & Kane, 2009; McVay et al., 2009; Smallwood,
Baracaia, Lowe, & Obonsawin, 2003; Smallwood, Obonsawin, & Heim,
2003; Smallwood et al., 2004). According to Smallwood and Schooler
(2006) when the mind wanders, attention becomes divided between
internal and external information, known as a decoupling of attention.
According to Smallwood and Schooler (2006) “mind wandering can be
viewed as a state of decoupled attention, because instead of monitoring
online sensory information, attention shifts inward and focuses on one's
thoughts and feelings” (p 951). Smallwood, Fishman, and Schooler
(2007) argue that “in principle, because mind wandering is a state of
decoupled attention, it represents a fundamental breakdown in the
individual's ability to attend, and therefore integrate, information from
the external environment” (p 230). If attention is decoupled from the
task at hand during episodes of mind wandering, representations of the
task may be less detailed than during periods of time when attention is
focused on the task (Smallwood, O'Connor, Sudbery, & Obonsawin, 2007;
Smallwood & Schooler, 2006).
A recent review by Smallwood, Fishman et al. (2007) introduces
the argument that mind wandering is a phenomenon of interest in the
educational domain. Smallwood, Fishman et al. (2007) argue that mind
wandering is relevant to education because it represents a breakdown in
the normal coupling between the internal and external environments.
Smallwood, Fishman et al. (2007) contend that “mind wandering
prevents the successful encoding of information from the environment
and this relative absence of facts puts the individual at a disadvantage
when forming the more general models needed for reading” (p 231). If
mind wandering interferes with the encoding of information, the
absence of factual information could lead to a disadvantage when
formulating both the propositional and situational models required for a
deep understanding of text (see Smallwood, Fishman et al., 2007). The
consequences of impaired encoding could “cascade downward through
the cognitive system, so that simple deficits in superficial processing
could lead to more obvious deficits at a deeper level of analysis”
(Smallwood, Fishman et al., 2007, p 233). Evidence of this encoding
deficit can be found in an unpublished study by Schooler, Smallwood,
McSpadden and Reichle (2007; as cited in Smallwood, Fishman et al.,
2007) where participants often failed to immediately notice when text
had turned to gibberish approximately 30% of the time, and continued
reading for a significant number of words before coming to this
realisation (Smallwood, Fishman et al., 2007). Furthermore, probe-
caught mind wandering was predictive of the likelihood of failing to
detect when the text had become gibberish (Smallwood, Fishman et al.,
2007).
Earlier work by Schooler, Reichle, and Halpern (2004) provides
insights into the impact of daydreaming on reading comprehension.
Participants read text and responded whenever they caught them-
selves zoning out and were also randomly probed for zone outs.
Zoning out was defined as a situation in which readers realised they
had no idea what they had just read and were thinking about
something else altogether (see Schooler et al., 2004). Text recognition
159
on responses where participants indicated zoning out revealed poorer
comprehension levels than the baseline performance of those
participants who were randomly given text recognition probes,
indicating that zoning out was associated with low levels of attention
to the text (Schooler et al., 2004). Furthermore, on a final
comprehension test and intermittent recognition tests, negative
correlations between reading comprehension and both self-caught
and probe-caught zone outs were observed. (Schooler et al., 2004).
More recently, Smallwood, McSpadden, and Schooler (2008)
examined whether inattention during reading impairs the ability to
construct a mental model of ongoing events in a narrative, referred to as
the “situation model of the narrative” (p 1144). Participants read a
Sherlock Holmes novella, and provided reports of their mental state at
both random and inference critical points (when a clue to the identity of
the villain was revealed). Results revealed that the frequency of off-task
episodes was associated with poorer text comprehension (Smallwood,
McSpadden et al., 2008). When awareness was taken into account,
reports of off-task thoughts without awareness (zoning out) were a
reliable predictor of text comprehension while reports with awareness
(tuning out) were not, indicating that the consequences of inattention
during reading may depend on lacking awareness of being off-task
(Smallwood, McSpadden et al., 2008). It was also found that zoning out
prevented the retrieval of information from a specific interval in the text
and prohibited the linking of events to establish the identity of the
villain, with lapses occurring early in the narrative having the greatest
influence (Smallwood, McSpadden et al., 2008). Smallwood, McSpad-
den et al. (2008) contend that these results confirm that zoning out
during reading is an indication that the construction of a situation model
of the narrative has not been adequately formulated. These findings
provide evidence that understanding ongoing events in everyday life
depends on the ability to pay attention at critical points in time
(Smallwood, McSpadden et al., 2008).
These studies provide evidence that daydreaming during reading
interferes with text comprehension, suggesting that attention
becomes decoupled and leads to superficial representations of the
task. This is an important concept to investigate in a widely used
teaching methodology — the lecture.
An earlier study by Grodsky and Giambra (1990–1991) also
investigated daydreaming during reading. Participants were required to
read passages of pre-determined high or low difficulty and high or low
personal interest. The factor that determined TUIT frequency during
reading was not passage difficulty, but interest: TUITs were more frequent
when the text was uninteresting to participants (Smallwood & Schooler,
2006). This indicates that in the context of semantically meaningful tasks
such as reading, rather than resource-driven factors such as task difficulty,
interest appears to play an integral role in determining the frequency of
daydreaming (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006).
This study will address a gap in the literature by investigating the
academic and demographic correlates of daydreaming within a real
world educational environment — the lecture. Previous research has
investigated student attentiveness in classroom environments. Early
work by Cameron and Giuntoli (1972) utilised consciousness
sampling in college classes to investigate attentiveness in undergrad-
uate classes. A bell was sounded at random intervals during the
classes, signaling students to respond to questionnaire items assessing
whether they were paying attention at that moment, as well as items
requesting information about the nature of their thoughts. It was
found that approximately 46% of students were paying attention at
any given time during class, suggesting that the college classroom
environment focuses less than half of the students' attention on the
content of the class (Cameron & Giuntoli, 1972). A more recent study
by Geerligs (1995) investigated the content of students' thoughts who
were engaged in problem-based small group discussions. Students
were asked to report their thoughts at regular interruptions during
the group discussion, signaled by an auditory probe. Thoughts were
later classified into categories reflecting on-task and off-task thoughts.
160 S.I. Lindquist, J.P. McLean / Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167
Results revealed that 26% of students' thoughts were off-task during
the small group discussions, the majority of these regarding current
concerns about daily matters (Geerligs, 1995).
In a study of relevance to this investigation, Klinger (1984)
explored the inter-relationships between test anxiety, preparation,
thought content and academic performance during a college exam.
During a course exam, students were signaled by auditory probe to
stop work and record the content of their thoughts and respond to an
item regarding their state anxiety. Thought content was classified by
two independent judges into categories, including thoughts unrelated
to the exam (see Klinger, 1984). A non-significant negative associa-
tion was found between examination performance and the frequency
of “other unhelpful to performance thoughts” (Klinger, 1984, p 1382).
While this study possesses the advantage of ecological validity and
if taken at face value suggests that daydreaming frequency may have
no influence on academic performance, there are a number of
methodological considerations that need to be taken into account.
Firstly, this study took place during an exam, meaning the effects of
daydreaming during the learning phase and the subsequent impact of
this on academic performance were not addressed. Importantly, due
to low frequencies of thoughts unrelated to the examination, this
category was added to a second category containing unhelpful
thoughts related to the exam, forming the other unhelpful to
performance thoughts category (Klinger, 1984). As such, this is not
a pure measure of thoughts unrelated to the exam, and accordingly
conclusions regarding daydreaming frequency and examination
performance cannot be drawn from this study.
A potential shortcoming of these consciousness sampling studies is
the requirement of participants to report their thoughts in detail, which
may have led to censorship as well as experimental demand
characteristics (Ericsson & Simon, 1980; Geerligs, 1995). In the present
study, daydreaming will be operationalised as task-unrelated images
and thoughts (TUITs), and will be measured using the probe-caught
self-classification technique, in which individuals are interrupted during
task performance and asked to report whether they were experiencing a
TUIT at the moment that the probe occurred, recorded by a yes/no
response (see Giambra, 1995; Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). An
advantage of this method is that individuals are not required to disclose
the personal content of their thoughts, reducing the potential influence
of demand characteristics (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006).
While not directly examined in the daydreaming literature, factors
related to student learning have been found to influence achievement
and are of interest to this investigation. Several studies have found that
academic achievement is influenced by seating position, with students
sitting towards the front of the room exhibiting higher levels of
academic performance (e.g. Brooks & Rebeta, 1991; Stires, 1980).
However, other studies have found no effects (e.g. Millard & Stimpson,
1980; Wulf, 1977). Studies investigating the effects of seating position
on behaviours such as eye gaze, note taking and participation have
found that these behaviours are greatest among those sitting in the front
or center of the room (Breed & Colaiuta, 1974; Levine, O'Neal, Garwood,
& McDonald, 1980; Sommer, 1969). Breed and Colaiuta (1974) argue
that all of these behaviours can be thought of as indicative of
attentiveness. The environmental hypothesis, which suggests that
students seated near the front of the room fall under the direct
surveillance of the instructor and are obliged to pay attention out of
courtesy, while students towards the back are more able to daydream or
talk, supports these findings (Stires, 1980). Potentially then, it is possible
that seating position may also influence student attention.
Reviews of the note taking literature have revealed the beneficial
effects of note taking during lessons on recall (e.g. Bligh, 2000; Hartley
& Davies, 1978; Kiewra, 1985). The process function of note taking
suggests that the activity of note taking is beneficial independent of
review, because it increases attention during the lecture and
facilitates encoding of lecture ideas into long term memory (Kiewra,
1985). For instance, Peper and Mayer (1978) claim that note taking
increases attention and results in greater concentration on the
material to be learned. Bligh (2000) further argues that note taking
is an activity that maintains a slightly higher level of arousal because it
is self-stimulating. Bligh (2000) supports this proposition by arguing
that enthusiastic, stimulating lectures often lead to increased note
taking. However, half of students surveyed by Hartley and Davies
(1978) reported that note taking sometimes interfered with their
understanding of the lecture content. Furthermore, studies have
found that fewer notes are recorded as lectures proceed (Lloyd, 1968;
Scerbo, Warm, Dember, & Grasha, 1992).
Benefits of handouts have also been reported. Northcraft and
Jernstedt (1975) found that the provision of lecture outlines resulted
in better performance on subsequent objective examinations com-
pared to full lecture transcripts. Furthermore, students who received
no handouts experienced the lowest levels of performance in the
examinations (Northcraft & Jernstedt, 1975). Furthermore, studies
have found that the provision of skeletal handouts to students results
in better performance on subsequent recall tests when compared to
standard handouts (Hartley, 1976) and full lecture transcripts
(Morgan, Lilley, & Boreham, 1988). A recent study also found that
the provision of guided handouts resulted in significantly higher
outcomes on daily content quizzes when compared to no handouts
(Austin, Lee, Thibeault, Carr, & Bailey, 2002). It is possible that
handouts, particularly incomplete or guided handouts, capture
student attention as vigilance is necessary in order to record
information omitted from these handouts.
With reference to the literature reviewed, a number of potential
academic and demographic correlates of TUITs will be investigated.
This study will investigate whether TUIT frequency differs as a
function of age and gender, and whether Overall Position (OP) score, a
measure of high school level academic ability used to assess a
student's suitability to study university courses in Queensland, is
associated with TUIT frequency in first year university lectures. The
relationship between TUIT frequency and future academic achieve-
ment will be investigated, indexed by examination marks, assignment
marks and overall course marks. This study will also investigate
whether student interest, as indexed by self-reported interest in the
course content and degree program, leads to a lower TUIT frequency.
Finally, this study will explore the effect of seating position on TUIT
frequency, whether note taking is associated with a decrease in TUIT
frequency, and the effects of having lecture notes during the lecture
on TUIT frequency.
1. Method
1.1. Participants
Participants were 463 (138 males and 325 females) undergraduate
psychology students attending an Introduction to Psychology lecture
on consciousness at the University of Queensland. The average age of
the participants was 19.27 years with an age range of 17–53 years.
Eight participants were excluded from all further analyses due to not
recording responses to all five TUIT probes. This study was conducted
as part of an in-class demonstration of the empirical recording of
daydreaming frequency, with data collection being incorporated into
the lecture in a non-invasive manner. This study was designed to
collect data from an in-class demonstration developed by John
McLean and run during his lecture on consciousness. Participants
gave informed voluntary consent to taking part in the study during
the lecture. The data collection technique was designed to demon-
strate a method of collecting data on daydreaming, and does so by
indexing the frequency of self-reported daydreaming. Due to the large
number of students enrolled in this course, the one lecture on
consciousness was repeated three times, enabling data to be collected
from three individual groups of students.
 S.I. Lindquist, J.P. McLean / Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167
1.2. Materials
1.2.1. TUIT frequency recording sheet
This measure consisted of a table with five sections for each probe on
which participants were able to report whether they had experienced a
TUIT (see Appendix). On this sheet, participants were able to record
whether or not they had been experiencing a TUIT at the moment that
the probe occurred by circling either YES or NO. Instructions of how to
recognise a TUIT were provided on this measure:
During the course of this lecture, you may find yourself thinking
about things other than the material being presented by your
lecturer. These thoughts may simply pop into your head, or you may
choose to think about something other than the lecture content. In
this demonstration, we are interested in both of these instances of
daydreaming. For the purposes of this demonstration, daydreaming is
defined as any thoughts or images that are experienced throughout
the lecture that are not related to the course material being presented
during the lecture. Examples of daydreams include ‘What will I have
for dinner?’, ‘I wonder what my friends are doing now?’ and ‘I hope
the bus home isn't too crowded’.
1.2.2. Demographic sheet
Written response items requested included age, gender, OP score
(typically ranging from 1 to 15), and degree program being studied
(see Appendix). OP scores are Queensland University entry ranking
scores and run in reverse numerical order, such that 1 represents the
highest possible academic ranking, 2 represents the second best
ranking and so forth. Likert scale response items addressed interest in
the lecture series and degree of note taking. Examples of these items
include ‘How interesting have you found John McLean's lectures and
cognitive psychology so far?’ with responses ranging from (1) not
interesting to (5) extremely interesting and ‘How many notes on average
do you record in addition to those provided on your lecture notes, or
overall if you do not have lecture notes?’ with responses ranging from
(1) no notes to (5) very detailed notes. Option-based response items
requested information regarding seating position in the lecture
theatre and whether notes had been printed out prior to the lecture.
Examples of these items include ‘Have you downloaded and printed the
lecture notes in advance for today's lecture (Yes/No)?’ and ‘Approxi-
mately where are you sitting in the lecture theatre (front third, middle
third, back third)?’ This sheet also included an option for students to
provide their student number if they wished for their data to be used
in the academic performance analyses.
1.3. Procedure
The undergraduate Introduction to Psychology: Physiological and
Cognitive Psychology lecture on the topic of consciousness took place
during the seventh week of semester 1, 2008 at the University of
Queensland, Australia. This was the seventh lecture in the series of
twelve lectures for this course. The participants had recently completed
their mid-semester examination for this course. Participants entered the
lecture theatre and were given a demographic sheet and a TUIT
frequency recording sheet. Once seated, participants were asked to
complete the demographic sheet. Following this, participants were
oriented to the topic of the lecture and then debriefed regarding the
nature of the demonstration and informed of how to recognise when a
TUIT occurs by the lecturer. Participants were informed that an alarm
would sound around five times during the lecture, and when they heard
this alarm, to report whether they were experiencing a TUIT at the
moment that the alarm occurred. Following this a demonstration of the
alarm was provided. Participants were not informed of when the
auditory probes would be sounded. Participants were also informed that
if they did not wish to take part in the demonstration, to leave all
161
handouts completely blank, or if they specifically did not want their data
included in the academic performance analyses to not fill in their
student number on the demographic sheet. Access to students' course
results was only granted by the inclusion of a student number on the
demographic sheet.
Following this discussion, the lecturer began the lecture. During
the fifty minute lecture, at the specific intervals of 8, 15, 25, 34 and
40 min, the auditory probe was sounded. When the probe sounded,
participants recorded by dichotomous yes/no response whether at the
moment that the probe occurred they had been experiencing a TUIT or
attending to the material being presented. Following each probe,
participants were given 15 s to record their responses. The lecturer
would then resume the lecture. At the completion of the lecture,
participants returned both measures to the experimenters. At the
completion of the academic semester, participants who provided their
student number, thereby giving permission for access to their course
results, had their data included in the analysis of the relationship
between academic achievement and TUIT frequency. In order to
directly assess the effects of TUIT frequency on lecture content, scores
from mid-semester and final exams, based solely on lecture content,
were combined and weighted, with the same procedure applied to
assignment marks for the purposes of comparison. Total course mark
and overall course grade were also included in the academic analyses.
2. Results
2.1. Demographic analyses
Descriptive statistics for the demographic analyses are displayed in
Table 1.
The association between TUIT frequency and the independent
variables of age, course interest, note taking and OP score were
examined via a non-parametric Kendall's Tau statistic. Significant
negative associations were observed between TUIT frequency and age
τ = −.110, p = .004, course interest τ = −.114, p = .005, and note
taking, τ = −.172, p b .001. These findings indicate that TUIT frequen-
cy decreases as age, course interest and note taking increase.
Furthermore, a positive association was found between TUIT
frequency and OP scores, τ = .094, p = .017, suggesting that as OP
scores increase (indicating lower levels of academic ability), TUIT
frequency also tends to increase. Course interest was also found to
have a positive association with both age, τ = .080, p = .045, and note
taking, τ = .144, p = .001. These findings indicate that as age increases,
interest in the course content also tends to increase and as course
interest increases, more notes are taken during lectures.
A t-test for independent groups was conducted in order to test the
possibility that TUIT frequency may differ as a function of gender.
Analyses revealed that on average, males experienced TUITs more
frequently (M = 1.73, SE = .107) than females (M = 1.61, SE = .067).
However, this difference was not significant t (461) = 1.012, p = .312
(equal variances assumed) and represents a very small effect r = .047.
To determine whether student interest in course content as indexed
by degree program leads to differences in TUIT frequency, a t-test for
Table 1
Descriptive statistics for the demographic analyses.
Mean Standard Standard TUITs
deviation error of
Percent
mean
TUITing
TUIT frequency 1.64 1.222 .057 Overall 32.9
OP score 5.61 3.412 .174
Course interest 3.49 .710 .033 Probe 1 25.1
Note taking 3.11 .808 .038 Probe 2 35.9
Probe 3 27.9
Probe 4 31.7
Probe 5 43.8
162 S.I. Lindquist, J.P. McLean / Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167

independent groups was conducted. On average, there was very little Table 2
difference in TUIT frequency between psychology (M = 1.64, SE= .176) Descriptive statistics for the academic performance analyses.

and non-psychology majors (M = 1.65, SE= .059), t (85.333) = −.036, Mean Standard Standard TUITs
p = .971 (equal variances not assumed) with virtually no effect r = .004. deviation error of
Percent
A t-test for independent groups was conducted to discern whether mean
TUITing
having lecture notes during the lecture led to differences in TUIT
TUIT frequency 1.61 1.200 .066 Overall 32.2
frequency. On average, those with lecture notes (M = 1.58, SE= .069) OP score 5.41 3.266 .193
reported fewer TUITs than those without lecture notes (M = 1.80, Course interest 3.51 .693 .038 Probe 1 25.1
SE= .101).2 This difference did not reach significance, t (456) = 1.829, Note taking 3.08 .808 .044 Probe 2 36.5
p = .068 (equal variances assumed), and represents a very small effect Weighted exam mark 50.242 7.001 .383 Probe 3 24.9
Weighted assignment mark 27.604 4.202 .230 Probe 4 29.3
r = .085. Final exam mark 52.988 8.770 .480 Probe 5 44.9
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted in order to Weighted total mark 77.846 9.630 .527
determine whether seating position within the lecture theatre during a Course grade 5.35 .927 .051
lecture has an effect on TUIT frequency. A significant effect of seating
position on TUIT frequency was found, F (2, 458)= 10.539, p b .001,
r = .210. Post hoc comparisons using the Gabriel method for slightly 1974, 1977–1978, 1989, 1993, 1999–2000; Grodsky & Giambra, 1990–
unequal sample sizes revealed that those seated in the front third of the 1991; Parks et al., 1988–1989), particularly the findings of Giambra
lecture theatre (M = 1.30) experienced significantly fewer TUITs than (1979–1980), which indicated that age groups separated by only a few
those seated in the middle third (M = 1.69, p = .010) and in the back years exhibit this relationship. While the association between TUIT
third (M = 1.95, p b .001). However those seated in the middle third did frequency and age was just outside of significance in the academic
not differ significantly from those seated in the back third. performance analyses, this can be attributed to the 28% reduction in
sample size and corresponding reduced variation in student age and does
2.2. Academic performance analyses not invalidate the significant negative association observed in the
demographic analyses. Giambra (1989) suggested that the existence of
There were 334 participants (99 males and 235 females; average this relationship may be due to TUIT likelihood being proportional to the
age = 19.19, age range 17–53) who gave permission for their data to amount of non-conscious processing in the cerebral cortex or in the brain
be included in the academic performance analyses. A further 15 as a whole (Giambra, 1989). With this in mind, the finding of this
participants were excluded from this analysis due to not having relationship within a lecture environment indicates that non-conscious
completed all assessment items for the course. One more participant processing may begin to decline as early as in the mid 20s. However, this
was excluded from the following analyses due to incorrect data entry. theory was tested using a wide range of ages, from late teens to the
Descriptive statistics for the academic performance analyses are elderly (e.g. Giambra, 1989; Grodsky & Giambra, 1990–1991). In the
displayed in Table 2. lecture environment however, the majority of students are in their late
The association between TUIT frequency and academic perfor- teens, with the majority of mature age students not representing ages
mance was investigated via a non-parametric Kendall's Tau statistic proportionate to that of the main student cohort, or of these previous
and is displayed in Table 3. studies. An alternative explanation of these findings is that older students
Significant negative associations were observed between TUIT may have more invested in their degree, or have more dedication to their
frequency and weighted exam mark, final exam mark, weighted total studies than younger students who have just left school, thus tend to
mark, and overall course grade. These results indicate that as TUIT focus more on the lecture content. This explanation is somewhat
frequency during lectures increases, there is a trend towards poorer supported by the positive association between age and course interest
performance in terms of the final exam, and mid-semester and final observed in this study. However, further research into this assumption is
exams combined, all of which measure the learning of lecture-based important in further understanding the mechanisms operating behind
content. Furthermore, a greater TUIT frequency during lectures also the inverse relationship between TUIT frequency and age.
results in a trend towards a lower total course mark and overall course The positive association between TUIT frequency and OP score in this
grade. Interestingly, TUIT frequency had a non-significant negative study contradicts previous studies demonstrating no relationship
association with weighted assignment mark, indicating that the effects between TUIT frequency and measures of academic ability (Gold et al.,
of TUIT frequency on academic performance were exclusive to 1985–86; Wagman, 1968). However, Gold et al. (1985–86) relied on the
assessments based on lecture content. For weighted exam mark, the recording of daydreams over a two week period, while the study by
only other significant correlation worth noting other than TUIT Wagman (1968) involved a questionnaire requesting ratings of how
frequency is the negative association observed with OP. Neither course frequent daydreams related to a number of motivational and interper-
interest, nor note taking had significant associations with weighted sonal aspects of behaviour were experienced by participants. These
exam mark. In contrast to the demographic analyses, the correlations approaches can be inaccurate due to factors such as forgetting and
between TUIT frequency and age and TUIT frequency and OP score were reconstruction errors and censorship (Geerligs, 1995). By using the
just outside of significance (p = .058; p = .059, respectively). extensively validated probe method that does not require the reporting
of the contents of consciousness, the present study may have captured an
3. Discussion effect that these prior studies were not able to tap in to. As a higher OP
score indicates poorer academic ability, this result suggests that increased
The purpose of this study was to investigate the demographic and TUIT frequency is related to lower levels of academic ability. This
academic correlates of daydreaming within an ecologically valid lecture relationship was just outside of significance in the academic performance
environment. The finding of an inverse association between TUIT analyses, however as previously mentioned this can be attributed to the
frequency and age is in agreement with previous research (e.g. Giambra, reduced sample size in comparison to the demographic analyses.
It is important to note however, that OP score is not only ranked on
the individual student's ability, but also on the ability of all students
2
The anonymous reviewers raised the possibility that having/not having lecture within their school and district. Therefore, OP score is not a holistic
notes may reflect differences in student interest, and thus represent a confounding
variable in this analysis. A t-test for independent groups confirmed that there was no
reflection of an individual's academic ability. Furthermore, not all
effect of having/not having lecture notes on student interest, t (453) = .091, p = .928, participants reported OPs, which is likely to be due to different
r = .004. Australian states using different university entry score calculation
 S.I. Lindquist, J.P. McLean / Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167 163

Table 3
Correlation matrix of TUIT frequency and academic variables.

TUIT Weighted exam Weighted assignment Weighted total Final exam Grade Age OP Course Note
frequency mark mark mark mark interest taking

τ
TUIT frequency 1.000 −.136⁎⁎ −.056 −.119⁎⁎ −.119⁎⁎ −.134⁎⁎ −.084 .087 −.143⁎⁎ −.164⁎⁎
N 334 334 334 334 334 334 333 286 331 332
Weighted exam mark 1.000 .316⁎⁎ .755⁎⁎ .880⁎⁎ .734⁎⁎ .040 −.405⁎⁎ .038 .017
Weighted assignment mark 1.000 .568⁎⁎ .312⁎⁎ .607⁎⁎ .004 −.307⁎⁎ −.127⁎⁎ −.067
Weighted total mark 1.000 .730⁎⁎ .838⁎⁎ .038 −.426⁎⁎ −.027 −.012
Final exam mark 1.000 .714⁎⁎ .057 −.398⁎⁎ .018 .007
Grade 1.000 .038 −.449⁎⁎ −.036 −.033
Age 1.000 .066 .127⁎⁎ −.060
OP 1.000 .090 .038
Course interest 1.000 .139⁎⁎
Note taking 1.000
⁎⁎ Significant at the .01 level (2-tailed).

systems, compounded by international students enrolled in first year
psychology. While administering a standardised test of academic ability
to participants directly prior to a similar study could be of value, the
potentially onerous and impractical nature of such a test could make it
difficult to undertake within a lecture setting without interfering with
the ecological validity of the study. Therefore, the influence of academic
ability on TUIT frequency is in need of further investigation.
The lack of a significant gender difference is in conflict with the
findings of Giambra (1979–1980), where females at every age group
experienced significantly more daydreams and significantly more
absorption in daydreaming than males. In the present study the inverse
trend was present: males daydreamed slightly more frequently than
females. However, the study by Giambra (1979–1980) was retrospective
in nature; therefore it is possible that the greater levels of absorption in
daydreaming for females may lead to better recall of daydreaming
experiences in retrospective questionnaires. Furthermore, the lack of a
gender difference is in agreement with a number of retrospective studies
(e.g. Goldstein & Baskin, 1988; Singer, 1968; Singer & McCraven, 1961)
and laboratory studies (Giambra, 1989, 1995). However, the gender split
in this study was very uneven, with more than two-thirds of participants
being female. It is possible that with a larger number of males, a
significant difference may emerge. Indeed, Giambra's (1979–1980) study
involved 1200 participants. However if a sample as large as that of
Giambra's (1979–80) is required to detect a significant difference, then
the value of any observed gender effect in a practical sense is trivial and
inconsequential. In light of this possibility and findings of previous
research, it does not seem likely that gender has any reliable effect on
TUIT frequency.
In the present study student interest was indexed by degree program
and self-reported interest in the course content. The observed negative
association between course interest and TUIT frequency is suggestive of
an effect similar to that observed by Grodsky and Giambra (1990–1991),
however the strength of this effect is marginal, and must be interpreted
with caution. It is possible that the five item measure used was not
sensitive enough to capture the influence of course interest on TUIT
frequency. No difference between those enrolled in a psychology degree
program with those not enrolled emerged, possibly suggesting that in a
lecture environment student interest has no effect on TUIT frequency.
However, degree program may not be an accurate reflection of students
who are engaged in psychological studies. For instance, the Bachelor of
Arts and Bachelor of Science degree programs offer majors in
psychology, and students engaged in these degree programs would
not have been captured by the measure in the present study.
Furthermore, the sample sizes of the two groups were vastly uneven,
with only seventy participants being enrolled in a psychology degree
program. If any differences do exist, the sheer number of students who
were not enrolled in psychology degree programs may have suppressed
any potential effect. Therefore, it is possible that interest has an influence
on TUIT frequency, but at this stage the results remain equivocal.
The effects of seating position on student attention as postulated by
Breed and Colaiuta (1974) have been confirmed in the present study.
Students seated in the front third of the lecture theatre experienced
significantly fewer TUITs than those seated elsewhere. This adds support
to the environmental hypothesis, where students sitting in the front
portion of the lecture theatre are under the direct observation of the
lecturer, and thus are more obliged to be attentive (e.g. Stires, 1980).
This explanation is in agreement with a number of studies indicating
that seating location influences participation (e.g. Levine et al., 1980;
Montello, 1988), but up until now, no study has found evidence that
seating location has an impact on student attention during lectures.
The significant negative association between TUIT frequency and
note taking is in agreement with a number of authors who have
postulated this mechanism, but have not provided direct evidence in
support of this function (e.g. Bligh, 2000; Kiewra, 1987; Peper &
Mayer, 1978). This finding also provides further support to the
process function of note taking, whereby the activity of note taking is
beneficial independent of review, because it increases attention
during the lecture and facilitates encoding into long term memory
(Kiewra, 1985). The decrease in TUIT frequency observed with more
detailed note taking suggests that the activity of note taking requires
students to focus their attention on the lecture in order to record the
key points. Furthermore, Piolat, Olive, and Kellogg (2005) argue that
the time urgency of selecting key points and recording them while
also comprehending new information places significant demands on
the central executive and other components of working memory. This
suggests that note taking as a complex activity may not increase
attention to the lecture content per se, but rather redirect resources to
the manipulation of information in working memory. Therefore, it
would appear that one method of curtailing student inattention
during lectures is through the active encouragement of students to
participate in note taking during the lesson.
Although this effect did not reach significance, the finding of reduced
TUIT frequency in students who had lecture notes is intriguing. The
handouts provided in this study consisted of the lecturers' PowerPoint
slides, and as such a lot of information was delivered in the lecture that
was not included in these handouts. While several studies have found
performance benefits associated with skeletal and guided handouts (e.g.
Austin et al., 2002; Hartley, 1976; Morgan et al., 1988; Northcraft &
Jernstedt, 1975), this is the first study to provide some evidence to
suggest that the provision of lecture handouts may help students
maintain attention to the lesson, possibly by requiring vigilance in order
to record important information omitted from such handouts.
This study provides evidence that TUIT frequency during lectures is
reduced when: i) the course content is interesting to the student, ii)
students are seated at the front of the lecture theatre, iii) students are
actively engaged in note taking and iv) students have a copy of the
lecture notes. In a study of task-unrelated thought while encoding
information, Smallwood, Baracaia et al. (2003) found that when
164 S.I. Lindquist, J.P. McLean / Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167
participants were instructed to encode categorically organized lists of
words for future retrieval, a lower frequency of task-unrelated thought
was observed relative to a random list condition and a categorical
condition in which participants were instructed to merely shadow the
words. This led Smallwood, Baracaia et al. (2003) to postulate that the
effects of stimulus organization on the frequency of task-unrelated
thought be considered as an interaction between the presentation of a
stimulus set providing an “affordance” (p 456) for information to be
readily encoded and whether active engagement with the task is
required. More recently, Smallwood, McSpadden, and Schooler (2007)
investigated the influence of mind wandering on encoding during a task
where participants were required to encode words for future retrieval
and detect targets with either high or low probability. Of particular
interest, it was found that high probability targets increased the
automatic aspects of memory (retrieval via familiarity), indicating that
the frequent interruptions provided by the targets provided exogenous
support to attention by enabling participants to sustain their attention
on the task (Smallwood, McSpadden et al., 2007). This can be
conceptualised as an affordance, as it provided a task environment in
which the features of the external environment mitigated the negative
consequences of mind wandering (Smallwood, McSpadden et al., 2007).
Interest, seating position, note taking and lecture notes can potentially be
viewed as affordances in the lecture environment. Interest in the content
of the lecture focuses student attention, suppressing TUITs and
potentially creating an affordance so that the lecture content can be
readily encoded and understood. Furthermore, sitting towards the front
of the lecture theatre places the student directly in view of the lecturer,
increasing attentiveness (Breed & Colaiuta, 1974; Stires, 1980), while
lecture handouts afford students with a guide to the organization of the
lecture. In addition, the activity of note taking requires students to be
actively engaged during the lecture, again suppressing TUITs by focusing
attention on the task at hand and potentially facilitating the encoding of
information (Kiewra, 1985). These findings provide strategies to
educators that have the ability to reduce the frequency of TUITs within
the classroom, focusing student attention on the content of the class and
also having an influence on academic outcomes. Further research into
the effects of affordance and active engagement within the classroom
and whether these are contingent upon one another in both ecologically
valid and simulated classroom settings would be of benefit.
The significant negative associations observed between TUIT
frequency and weighted exam mark, final exam mark, total course
mark and overall course grade suggest that increased TUIT frequency
during lectures has a negative impact on academic performance. Of
particular importance is the negative association observed between
TUIT frequency and weighted exam mark, an academic performance
measure based solely on the lecture content. What makes this
association even more fascinating is the lack of association between
TUIT frequency and weighted assignment mark, which suggests that
TUIT frequency during lectures has a selective effect on material
learned during lectures only. This finding adds support to the
contention that when TUITs occur attention becomes decoupled
between the internal and external environments leading to superficial
representations of the task at hand (Smallwood, Fishman et al., 2007;
Smallwood & Schooler, 2006), and is also in agreement with the
contention of Smallwood, Fishman et al. (2007) that TUITs have
important implications in education due to the deficits in encoding
associated with TUITs and the absence of factual information that
results from this. These deficits in encoding may be due to a failure in
the ability to create and maintain a situation model of the lecture
narrative (Smallwood, McSpadden et al., 2008), leading to poorer
academic outcomes. The findings of this study also extend on the
reading comprehension work of Schooler et al. (2004), and Small-
wood, McSpadden et al. (2008) by demonstrating that in real world
educational environments, increases in TUIT frequency have a
negative impact on the learning and comprehension of information
from lectures.
While the association between TUIT frequency and weighted exam
mark is of a relatively small magnitude, it needs to be placed in the
correct context. Lecture content in this course was examined by
recognition-based multiple choice exams. Students also had the
opportunity to revise prior to these exams. With these factors in
mind, the fact that a significant negative association still exists suggests
that in the lecture environment daydreaming may indeed lead to a
decoupling of attention, leading to poorer representations of the lecture
material and resulting in poorer performance on lecture-based assess-
ments. Would this effect be more pronounced if there was no
opportunity for revision and if assessment was recall-based? An
investigation is currently underway to examine this proposition
(Lindquist & McLean, in preparation).
A number of limitations within the present study are worthy of
scrutiny. To begin with, in order to conduct an ecologically valid
investigation of TUIT frequency within a real lecture environment,
elements of experimental control were forfeited. However, despite
this trade-off the findings of the present study provide important
insights into the academic and educational correlates of TUIT
frequency, and set the agenda for further investigation. Furthermore,
imposing experimental conditions upon a lecture environment is not
only impractical, but would also severely limit the ecological validity
of the investigation. While in principle this investigation was
ecologically valid, it is possible that the demonstration itself may
have influenced the number of TUITs experienced, perhaps by making
participants more attuned to these episodes or even having
participants spend time thinking about the concept of TUITs.
However, this demonstration has been conducted over a number of
years during the consciousness lecture, and there has been no
indication or feedback from students that this has inflated the
frequency of TUITs, and some suggestion that the self-monitoring
stemming from TUIT measurement may reduce TUITs (J. McLean,
personal communication, 15 October, 2010). It is possible that the
timing of the consciousness lecture during the semester may have had
an effect on exam performance; however this is not likely given that
students were able to revise the course content prior to the final exam.
The present study provides valuable insights into the educational
correlates of TUIT frequency, and an obvious direction for future
research is the investigation of other factors that may influence
student attention within the lecture environment, particularly
alertness (e.g. Versace, Cavallero, De Min Tona, Mozzato, & Stegagno,
2006) and caffeine consumption (e.g. Smith, Sturgess, & Gallagher,
1999) in order to rule out these potential influences on the relation-
ships observed in this study.
3.1. Summary and future directions
The purpose of the present study was to investigate TUIT frequency
within an ecologically valid educational setting. A number of important
associations were discovered, all of which have important implications
for current educational practices. Further studies should attempt to
conduct similar studies within other educational environments; such as
in tutorials, discussion groups, and even within schools, in order to fully
examine the impact of attentional lapses across all educational realms.
Further studies should also attempt to disentangle some of the more
pertinent findings, such as the effect of note taking on TUIT frequency
and the impact of TUIT frequency on the learning of lecture-based
content, within a controlled laboratory environment in order to provide
a more solid basis upon which to justify the design of educational
environments to counteract the effects of attentional lapses on
classroom learning. While some of the individual findings reported
here may seem intuitive, the value of undertaking an empirically sound,
quantitative examination of attention within the educational domain
provides the potential to enhance the quality of teaching and learning
environments.
 S.I. Lindquist, J.P. McLean / Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167 165

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for
their comments and ideas on earlier drafts of the manuscript. The authors
would also like to thank the students of the University of Queensland
enrolled in PSYC1020, semester 1 2008, for being good sports and
participating in this study.
occur. When you hear the alarm, please indicate on this sheet whether at
the exact moment that the alarm occurred you were experiencing a
daydream by circling YES. If when you heard the alarm you were not
experiencing any thoughts or images unrelated to the material being
presented and were paying attention to the lecture, please indicate by
circling NO. Information regarding the specific content of your thoughts
is not required. If you have questions please raise your hand.

Appendix A. Consciousness: In-class demonstration of daydream

frequency recording Probe Daydream experienced

During the course of this lecture, you may find yourself thinking about
things other than the material being presented by your lecturer. These
thoughts may simply pop into your head, or you may choose to think
about something other than the lecture content. In this demonstration,
we are interested in both of these instances of daydreaming. For the
purposes of this demonstration, daydreaming is defined as any thoughts
or images that are experienced throughout the lecture that are not
related to the course material being presented during the lecture.
Examples of daydreams include ‘What will I have for dinner?’, ‘I wonder
what my friends are doing now?’ and ‘I hope the bus home isn't too crowded’.
Today's demonstration involves the daydream self-classification
probe method, a method that has the ability to index the frequency of
self-reported daydreaming. This method involves the instruction of what
constitutes a daydream, the sounding of auditory probes (e.g. a beep or
alarm) during the lecture and the recording of whether a daydream was
being experienced at the point in time when the probe sounded. On this
sheet you are able to record whether you are daydreaming or not
whenever you hear the alarm during the course of this lecture. A total of
around five alarms will sound during this fifty minute lecture. However,
you will have no prior knowledge of the times at which these alarms will
Probe 1 YES/NO
Probe 2 YES/NO
Probe 3 YES/NO
Probe 4 YES/NO
Probe 5 YES/NO
Participation in this demonstration is voluntary. If you do not wish
to take part, simply leave your handouts blank. In addition, with your
permission the results will be used in the PhD research of Sophie
Lindquist. For research purposes, it would be valuable to know some
of the correlates of daydreaming, so if you could please fill out the
demographic sheet in addition to this recording sheet we will be able
to investigate these potential correlates. If you specifically do not want
to be included in analyses involving examination scores and course
grades, please leave the student number field on your demographic
sheet blank. If you take part in the demonstration but at the end of the
lecture decide that you no longer wish to participate, do not return
your handouts at the end of the lecture. Please be advised that the
coordinators of PSYC1020 will not be able to identify you from the
data recorded in this demonstration.

Consciousness: In-class Demonstration of Daydream Frequency Recording

Demographic Information Sheet

1. Age:.....................................

2. Gender:................................

3. Degree Program (e.g. B.A., B.Sc., B.Psy.Sc.):........................................

4. Overall Position (OP) Score (or alternative entry score):.......................................

Please circle your response for the following questions

5. How interesting have you found John McLean’s lectures and cognitive psychology so far?

1 2 3 4 5

(not interesting) (slightly interesting) (moderately interesting) (very interesting) (extremely interesting)

6. Have you downloaded and printed the lecture notes in advance for today’s lecture? Yes / No.

7. How many notes on average do you record in addition to those provided on your lecture notes, or overall if you do
not have lecture notes:

1 2 3 4 5

(no notes) (minimal notes) (moderate notes) (detailed notes) (very detailed notes)

8. Approximately where are you sitting in the lecture theatre?

Front third Middle third Back third

9. Student Number (optional: see below):.........................................................

(8 digit number as shown on student card)

166 S.I. Lindquist, J.P. McLean / Learning and Individual Differences 21 (2011) 158–167
In addition to the above potential correlates, it will be interesting
to see if academic performance correlates with daydreaming
frequency. If you wish to contribute to this analysis, please include
your student number in the field above. All analyses will be conducted
after data is de-identified, that is, student numbers will be replaced
with anonymous numerical labels. Thus, your identity will be
completely anonymous.
(Please be aware that by providing your student number [please
provide student number as shown on your student card, i.e. the number
should be 8 digits long and should not have an ‘s’ at the beginning], you
are allowing permission to access your examination and overall course
grade. Be advised that the PSYC1020 course coordinators will not have
the ability to identify you by the information you provide on this
demographic sheet).
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