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Our attention frequently shifts from ongoing tasks to internal content such that we find ourselves mind wandering (MW). Recent research has revealed that increasing age in adulthood is associated with a decrease in the frequency of MW, but the factors that contribute to this age-related effect are unclear. Thus, in the present study we conducted a meta-analysis of age differences in MW that aimed to analyze (a) the size and consistency of the age-related decrease in MW frequency, and (b) the moderating impact of methodological and sociodemographic factors. We analyzed studies comparing MW frequency in healthy younger and older groups and found a large effect in older adults. The age-related decrease in MW was more pronounced for probe compared to self-caught procedures, when task-related interfering thoughts were measured separately, when visual masks were presented, as the proportion of targets …