A Wandering Mind is Not Always a Creative Mind: How Thought Dynamics Explain the Relationship between Mind Wandering and Creativity

A wandering mind is not always a creative mind. Anecdotes about ideas spontaneously entering awareness during walks, showers and other off-task activities are plenty. The science behind it, however, is still inconclusive. Creativity might result from how thought context—whether thoughts are on-task or off-task—relates to thought dynamics—the manner in which thoughts unfold. While spontaneity and free movement of thoughts in particular can be linked to creativity, little is known about their relationship with mind wandering. To explore this open scientific problem, study 1 (n = 85) surveyed creative professionals about a single idea they had earlier on the day. Spontaneity of thoughts positively correlated with creativity, whereas off-task thoughts or doing something else did not. Study 2 (n = 180) tested the conjectures in a student sample during an idea generation task. The results replicated the findings from study 1, and added that free movement of thoughts also predicts originality during idea generation. The results also showed that the found correlations are limited to individual, rather than domain-wide, creativity. In all studies, the correlations between thought dynamics and creativity were no different for when people engaged in on-task or off-task thought. Given that our findings suggest that a wandering mind is not always necessarily a creative mind, understanding the mind wandering-creativity link requires further research into the causes and characteristics of spontaneous and freely moving off-task thought. Herewith, this study contributes evidence for a new emerging perspective on the relationship between mind wandering and creativity.