Next speaker: Jonathan Schooler, Ph.D.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
University of California, Santa Barbara
When: Monday, May 6, 2013
3:00 - 4:30 PM, Classroom & Office Building, Room 110
Title: Mindfulness and Mind-wandering:
An Ancient Solution to an Age Old Problem

Mind-wandering (engaging in thoughts unrelated to the task at hand) is a ubiquitous mental state that is known to be disruptive in many contexts. This talk first reviews the disruptive effects of mind-wandering and then discusses several recent findings that suggest that mindfulness training involving practice focusing on the here and now, can help to ameliorate some of the disruptive effects of mind wandering. This simple story (i.e., mind-wandering-bad, mindfulness-good) will then be complicated by several recent studies that suggest that under some circumstances mind-wandering can also have beneficial consequences, such as enhancing mood and enabling creative incubation.

Dr. Schooler earned his BA at Hamilton College in 1981 and his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1987. He held faculty appointments at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of British Columbia before joining the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is now Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Dr. Schooler is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and an Osher Fellow at the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco. He pursues research on consciousness, memory, the relationship between language and thought, problem-solving, and decision-making. He is particularly interested in exploring phenomena that intersect between the empirical and the philosophical, such as how fluctuations in people’s awareness of their experience mediate mind-wandering and how exposing individuals to philosophical positions alters their behavior. Dr. Schooler is the author of more than one hundred papers published in scientific journals or edited volumes and was the editor (with J. C. Cohen) of Scientific Approaches to Consciousness (1997, Lawrence Erlbaum).

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2/11/13: Fermin Moscoso Del Prado Martin (UCSB)
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2/25/13: YangQuan Chen (UCM)
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3/4/13: Jennifer Trueblood (UCI)
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3/11/13: Stephanie Huette (UCM)
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3/18/13: Jonathan Wallis (UCB)
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4/1/13: Bradley Doll (New York University)
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4/8/13: Vikaas Sohal (UCSF)
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4/15/13: Mikhail Rabinovich (UCSD)
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4/25/13: Helen Neville (University of Oregon)
2013 Distinguished Cognitive Scientist Award Presentation
(Thursday at 5:00 PM, Lakireddy Auditorium)

4/29/13: Marjorie Solomon (UCD)
Higher Cognition in Autism

5/6/13: Jonathan Schooler (UCSB)
The Wandering Mind

8/27/12: Keith Johnson, UC Berkeley *Willow Room, COB 322

9/2/12: Labor Day Holiday

9/10/12: Michael Goldstein, Cornell University

9/17/12: Abeer Alwan, UCLA

9/24/12: James Fowler, UCSD

10/1/12: Sarah Creel, UCSD

10/8/12: Kajsa Dalrymple, University of Iowa

10/15/12: Eugene Buder, University of Memphis

10/22/12: Riccardo Fusaroli, Aarhus University

10/26/12: (Friday) Dan Mirman, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute

10/29/12: Bart de Boer, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

11/5/12: Sherman Wilcox, University of New Mexico

11/12/12 Veterans Day Holiday

11/19/12 Greg Bryant, UCLA

11/26/12 Peter Vanderschraaf, UC Merced

12/3/12 Jeff Gilger, UC Merced

12/10/12 Exam Period

1/23/12: Natasha Kirkham, Birkbeck College *Willow Room

1/30/12: Tony Chemero, Franklin and Marshall College

2/6/12: Deborah Tollefsen, The University of Memphis

2/21/12: Vittorio Gallese, University of Parma
      *4:30pm, COB 102; co-hosted with CRHA

2/27/12: James Fowler, UCSD canceled due to illness

3/5/12: Sidney D’Mello, University of Notre Dame

3/12/12: Lauren Silbert, Princeton University

3/19/12: Sarah Brown-Schmidt, UI Urbana-Champaign

4/9/12: Chen Yu, Indiana University *Willow Room

4/16/12: Tom Schoenemann, Indiana University

4/23/12: Michael Frank, Stanford University

4/30/12: Michael Turvey, University of Connecticut
      Distinguished Cognitive Scientist award winner
      rescheduled below

5/7/12: Susan Brennan, SUNY Stony Brook *Willow Room

***5/10/12: Michael Turvey, University of Connecticut
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8/29/11: Barry Smith, University at Buffalo SUNY

9/12/11: Max Louwerse, University of Memphis

9/19/11: Dennis Proffitt, University of Virginia

9/26/11: Karen Emmorey, San Diego State University

10/3/11: Emily Grossman, UC Irvine

10/10/11: Jeff Yoshimi, UC Merced

10/17/11: Larry Barsalou, Emory University

10/24/11: Jeremy Bailenson, Stanford University

11/3/11: Eric Riggs, Purdue University [Thursday, noon]

11/7/11: David Mark, University at Buffalo SUNY

11/14/11: Rafael Nunez, UC San Diego

11/21/11: Shawn Newsam, UC Merced

11/28/11: Benjamin Bergen, UC San Diego

12/5/11: Nick Davidenko, Stanford University