Authors: Elizabeth DuPre & R. Nathan Spreng
Abstract
Although there has been extensive interest in rumination as a trait-level contributor to psychopathology, research on the neural correlates of ongoing rumination is relatively recent. In this chapter, we examine rumination as a unique mode of thought capable of arising in both normative and pathological contexts. Viewed through the lens of spontaneous thought, we consider rumination as a spontaneously occurring form of thought that becomes “stuck” in a repetitive, highly constrained context. In considering the implications of this viewpoint, we explore the contexts in which rumination has been identified as well as its relationship to other forms of spontaneous thought such as mind-wandering.
