Abstract I seek an explanation for the etiology and the function of mind wandering episodes. My proposal—which I call the cognitive control proposal—is that mind wandering is a form of non-conscious guidance due to cognitive control. When the agent’s current goal is deemed insufficiently rewarding, the cognitive control system initiates a search for a new, more rewarding goal. This search is the process of unintentional mind wandering. After developing the proposal, and relating it to the literature on mind wandering and on cognitive control, I discuss explanations the proposal affords, testable predictions the proposal makes, and philosophical implications the proposal has.

中文翻译：

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头脑为什么会漂移？

摘要我寻求对精神徘徊发作的病因和功能的解释。我的建议（我称为认知控制建议）是，由于认知控制，精神徘徊是一种无意识指导。当认为代理人的当前目标没有足够的回报时，认知控制系统会开始寻找新的，更有回报的目标。这种搜索是无意识的精神徘徊的过程。在提出建议之后，将其与关于思想游荡和认知控制的文献联系起来，我将讨论该建议提供的解释，该建议做出的可验证的预测以及该建议具有的哲学含义。