The Effects of Mind-Wandering, Cognitive Load and Task Engagement on Working Memory Performance in Remote Online Experiments

Recent events have led to a change in environments from in-person to remote work for many people. This change presents several issues for work, education, and research, particularly related to cognitive performance, as the remote environment may have more distractors. An increase in distraction is one factor that may lead to increases in mind-wandering and disengagement with the task at hand, whether it is a virtual meeting, an online lecture or a psychological experiment. The present study investigated effects of mind-wandering and multitasking during working memory tasks in remote and in-person environments. In two experiments, participants completed a working memory task with varied cognitive load during a secondary task. After each working memory trial, we asked participants about their mind-wandering during that trial. Some participants completed the procedures in-person, while others completed the procedures remotely. While overall remote participants reported significantly more mind-wandering and poorer secondary task performance than the in-person participants, this pattern was not reflected in their working memory accuracy and both groups exhibited similar multitasking effects on memory performance. Additional analyses found that for remote participants the level of engagement with the task was a better predictor of working memory performance than either cognitive load or mind-wandering rates, but in a manner that did not indicate a tradeoff in resources between tasks. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of considering multiple metrics when assessing performance and illustrate that making assumptions about the equivalence of remote and in person work is a risky proposition.