Mind wandering is a prevalent and ubiquitous phenomenon. Several studies suggest that mind wandering benefits creativity if it occurs in the incubation period of a creative problem-solving task. However, it could be impairing real-time expression of creative behavior if it occurs during the course of a creative task. This dissociation between incubation and performance suggests that mind wandering poses a double-edged sword to creative cognition. Jazz improvisation provides an ecologically useful framework for studying the effects of mind wandering on creativity. Here we hypothesized that mind wandering during a musical improvisation task would be associated with higher levels of musical creativity, compared with on-task attention. Nine experienced musicians performed several jazz improvisation tasks interleaved with the presentation of random thought probes. The results showed that musical improvisation during unintentional mind wandering was associated with higher musical creativity when compared with improvisation during on-task attention. However, mind wandering did not impact overall improvisational quality. Altogether, these data suggest that the positive relationship between mind wandering and creativity also extends to artistic performance domains.

走神是一种普遍存在的现象。几项研究表明，如果发生在创造性解决问题任务的潜伏期，走神会有益于创造力。但是，如果它发生在创造性任务的过程中，则可能会影响创造性行为的实时表达。孵化和表现之间的这种分离表明，走神对创造性认知来说是一把双刃剑。爵士乐即兴创作为研究走神对创造力的影响提供了一个生态上有用的框架。在这里，我们假设与任务中的注意力相比，在音乐即兴任务中走神会与更高水平的音乐创造力相关联。九位经验丰富的音乐家表演了几项爵士乐即兴创作任务，并与随机思想探针的呈现交织在一起。结果表明，与任务注意力集中期间的即兴创作相比，无意走神期间的音乐即兴创作与更高的音乐创造力相关。然而，走神并没有影响整体的即兴创作质量。总而言之，这些数据表明走神和创造力之间的正相关关系也延伸到艺术表演领域。