Often described as daydreaming, mind wandering is a cognitive state where thoughts shift spontaneously from one idea to another.
Recalling your childhood pet while jogging, daydreaming about a vacation instead of listening in class, or running through your to-do list on your commute—these are all examples of mind wandering.
But what exactly is mind wandering? How is this experience different for an Autistic person? These are the questions Dr. Leilani Forby explores in a documentary Where Do You Roam: Autism and the Wandering Mind. Forby, a former doctoral student in UBC’s department of psychology, was drawn to the connection between autism and the wandering mind through her research on cognition and attention, as well as her family’s experiences.
While mind wandering has been widely studied in neurotypical populations, far less is known about how Autistic individuals experience it. This gap led Forby to seek a better understanding of Autistic people’s inner experiences by inviting them to describe, in their own words, their experiences of daydreaming, reflection, and spontaneous thought.
“Prior work had found that Autistic people may have complex and vivid inner experiences. I became interested in whether these internal processes are experienced differently by Autistic people and how they could be better captured in research.”
With a background in film, Forby used her research to shape the documentary’s approach and to challenge common misconceptions. Participants diagnosed with autism were invited to sit quietly for five minutes with their eyes closed and then describe what they were thinking about. And some of the findings were unexpected.
Forby hopes viewers will develop a more nuanced understanding of autism—one that looks beyond outward behaviour to consider internal thoughts and experiences.
“The film is an opportunity for Autistic people to share what their experiences are like day-to-day. Hearing directly from people with lived experience may help clinicians and researchers think more broadly about how Autistic inner experiences are studied and understood,” says Forby. “It also invites us to reflect on the different ways people experience their inner worlds and why understanding those differences matter.”
This documentary is based on research Mind wandering during five minutes of rest: Autistic traits, visual thought, and thinking about others, led by Leilani Forby and co-authored by Dr. Alan Kingstone, a professor in UBC’s department of psychology, and Gabriel Groba Porto, a psychology student at UBC.
It was conducted in Dr. Kingstone’s Brain, Attention, and Reality (BAR Lab). The BAR Lab’s multidisciplinary research program includes work with children, patients, and healthy adults using a variety of techniques including natural observation, eye tracking, brain imaging, and body motion tracking—all aimed at answering questions ranging from basic aspects of visual attention to more complex aspects of social cognition.
