THE SPONTaNEOuS THOuGHTS Of THE NiGHT: HOW fuTurE TaSKS BrEEd iNTruSivE COGNiTiONS

Everyone has had the experience of trying to clear one's mind before going to sleep, only to have intrusive cognitions about future tasks (e.g., giving a speech, solving a financial conundrum) perturb consciousness. Similar cognitions can interfere with other goals (e.g., to concentrate while driving). We propose that intrusive cognitions are far from indeterminate and reflect the ‘prospective’ nature of the brain. We hypothesize that they are triggered automatically by future tasks that may benefit from forethought. Accordingly, during a meditation-like exercise requiring one to clear the mind of excess thought and focus on just one thing (breathing), participants reported more intrusive cognitions about a future task that could benefit from forethought than when they anticipated no future task or anticipated a task that, though of comparable difficulty and content, could not benefit from forethought. This finding illuminates conditions such as rumination and the prospective nature of the brain.