Variations of autonomic arousal mediate the reportability of mind-blanking occurrences

Mind-blanking (MB) is the inability of reporting mental events during unconstraint thinking. Previous work shows that MB is linked to decreased levels of cortical arousal, indicating dominance of cerebral mechanisms when reporting mental states. What remains inconclusive is whether MB can also ensue from autonomic arousal manipulations, pointing to the implication of peripheral physiology to mental events. Using experience-sampling, neural and physiological measurements, we expect that MB reports will be more frequent in low and high autonomic arousal conditions, respectively elicited through sleep deprivation and intense physical exercise. Using classification schemes, we further hypothesize that MB will be predicted by patterns combining brain and physiological markers. If our hypotheses fail, it will imply that cortical and autonomic arousal are distinct pathways for mental state reportability. If our hypotheses get confirmed, the results will indicate an embodied approach to mental events in place of a solely neurocentric that currently prevails.