Jennifer Windt

Through my research, I seek to understand what our minds do when left to their own devices, for example when we fall asleep and dream, or when our thoughts and attention wander away from what we are doing and the here and now. What do we think about and how does experience change when we dream or daydream? And what do those changes tell us not just about our individual minds and our personal concerns, but also more generally about consciousness and about what it is to be awake and asleep?
I am a senior research fellow in philosophy at Monash University. My research lies at the intersection of philosophy, cognitive science, and research on sleep, dreaming, and mind wandering. My current research on spontaneous experience in waking
and sleep is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.