The Structure and Function of Mind-Wandering in Chinese Regulated Verse

The aesthetics of poetry is intricately intertwined with the cognitive process of mind-wandering, where attention shifts from the current task and spontaneous thoughts emerge. While mind-wandering has been extensively studied in psychology and neuroscience, its potential relationship to poetry remains underexplored. This study investigates the experience of mind-wandering associated with traditional Chinese regulated verse (律詩), which effectively enables the exploration of inner emotions and perceptions within its concise form. Typically, the first couplet of a regulated verse poem describes how mind-wandering is triggered by a place or event rich in semantic information. The second and third couplets use parallelism to create two distinct mental spaces, with the primary goal of encouraging the mind to wander between them. By meditating on parallel words in these two couplets, readers can reflect upon their essence through creative thinking and sensory imagery. Finally, the fourth couplet serves as a metacognitive endpoint, revealing the self’s position in the universe by evaluating the content of mind-wandering. This study demonstrates how the structure of regulated verse artfully represents the poet’s experience of mind-wandering, providing readers with the opportunity to re-experience this process with spontaneous and controlled cognitive activity.