Back to the Beginning: Mind Wandering, Self-Regulated Learning, and the Role of Goals

Mind wandering is a normal experience, yet it can negatively impact learning. Because both awareness of mind wandering and self-regulated learning (SRL) are grounded in metacognition, mind wandering can be seen as part of the SRL process, specifically learners’ reactions to it. This perspective led to integrating mind wandering awareness into the COPES model, providing the theoretical foundation for the following research agenda. Two studies examined how students’ SRL aptitudes relate to their mind wandering frequency and whether students react to mind wandering by rewinding the video they were learning from. In both studies, effort regulation was negatively associated with mind wandering frequency. Metacognition was negatively associated with mind wandering frequency in one study but unrelated in the other. In both studies, students rarely reacted to their mind wandering. That leads to the question of why. One explanation is that such reactions are habitual and learners are unaware of them. Another route is to go back to the beginning, both of this research agenda and the learning process: goal setting. Could learners’ reactions, or lack thereof, relate to the goals they set for a learning session? While previous research indicates that learners recognise the negative effects of mind wandering, the current findings suggest this awareness alone is insufficient to prompt adjustments. The next steps therefore pursue mind wandering in relation to learner-set goals, through a systematic literature review and an observational study of students’ regular study sessions while they report their mind wandering. Ultimately, this work speaks to the broader question: how do students adjust their learning process ad hoc, and how do their session goals inform those adjustments?

05/2026

EARLI SIG 16 Spotlight Series