Boredom: Under-aroused and restless

James Danckert; Tina Hammerschmidt; Jeremy Marty-Dugas; Daniel Smilek

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2018.03.014

Boredom: Under-aroused and restless

Conscious Cogn. 2018 May:61:24-37. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.03.014. Epub 2018 Apr 7.

Authors

James Danckert¹, Tina Hammerschmidt², Jeremy Marty-Dugas², Daniel Smilek²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: jdancker@uwaterloo.ca.
² Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 29631194
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.03.014

Abstract

Boredom is a common experience associated with a range of negative outcomes. Debate remains as to whether boredom should be considered a high or low arousal state. We employed passages of text to induce either boredom or interest and probed self-reported levels of boredom, arousal, and restlessness. Results replicated known associations between mind-wandering and state boredom (i.e., mind-wandering was highest for the boredom mood induction). Reports of sleepiness (a proxy for arousal level) were highest for the boring induction. While restlessness was not different for the boring and interesting inductions when they were performed first, restlessness was significantly higher for the boredom induction when it was experienced last. We discuss these results within the context of the debate regarding boredom and arousal.

Keywords: Arousal; Attention; Boredom; Mind-wandering; Restlessness.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Arousal / physiology*
Attention / physiology
Boredom*
Ecological Momentary Assessment
Female
Humans
Male
Psychomotor Agitation / physiopathology*
Reading
Sleepiness*
Young Adult