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Given that the ability to attend to a task without distraction underlies performance in a wide variety of contexts, training one's ability to stay on task should result in a similarly broad enhancement of performance. In a randomized controlled investigation, we examined whether a 2-week mindfulness-training course would decrease mind wandering and improve cognitive performance. Mindfulness training improved both GRE reading-comprehension scores and working memory capacity while simultaneously reducing the occurrence of distracting thoughts during completion of the GRE and the measure of working memory. Improvements in performance following mindfulness training were mediated by reduced mind wandering among participants who were prone to distraction at pretesting. Our results suggest that cultivating mindfulness is an effective and efficient technique for improving cognitive function, with wide-reaching consequences.
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Psychological Science
24(5) 776 –781
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/0956797612459659
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Millions of college and graduate-school applicants take
standardized tests of academic ability such as the SAT and
GRE each year on the premise that these tests capture
variability in a stable cognitive capacity that is predictive
of educational and professional success. Although these
tests are designed to be minimally coachable (Powers
& Rock, 1999), their role in gating access to competitive
schools has generated a multibillion-dollar test-prep
industry. In a similar fashion, although on a smaller scale,
broadly predictive psychological measures such as work-
ing memory capacity (WMC) have traditionally been
thought to capture fixed abilities but have recently become
the focus of training studies aimed at testing plasticity in
fundamental cognitive capacities (Klingberg, 2010).
As research into enhancing cognitive function pro-
ceeds, it is important to address not only which specific
capacities can be improved, but also which mechanisms
underlie observed changes in cognitive capacities.
Although it is unsurprising that practicing for the GRE or
a WMC task could improve performance on these tests,
rigorous demonstrations of enhanced capacity require
mechanistic accounts of improvements that cannot be
explained by task-specific learning or strategies (Jaeggi,
Buschkuehl, Jonides, & Perrig, 2008).
Training studies frequently target a single ability
(Klingberg, 2010), yet performance might be enhanced
more generally by interventions that target a cognitive
process underlying performance in a variety of contexts
(Slagter, Davidson, & Lutz, 2011). The ability to attend to
a task without distraction constitutes one such ability.
Indeed, mind wandering—defined as a shift of attention
from a task to unrelated concerns—is associated with
impaired performance on a wide variety of measures,
including WMC, fluid intelligence, and SAT performance
(Mrazek, Smallwood, Franklin, et al., 2012). Unfortunately,
little progress has been made in establishing empirically
validated strategies that dampen mind wandering’s dis-
ruptive influence. A notable exception is the recent find-
ing that mind wandering during a vigilance task can be
Corresponding Author:
Michael D. Mrazek, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences,
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
E-mail: mrazek@psych.ucsb.edu
Performance
2013
Mindfulness Training Improves Working
Memory Capacity and GRE Performance
While Reducing Mind Wandering
Michael D. Mrazek, Michael S. Franklin, Dawa Tarchin Phillips,
Benjamin Baird, and Jonathan W. Schooler
University of California, Santa Barbara
Abstract
Given that the ability to attend to a task without distraction underlies performance in a wide variety of contexts,
training one’s ability to stay on task should result in a similarly broad enhancement of performance. In a randomized
controlled investigation, we examined whether a 2-week mindfulness-training course would decrease mind wandering
and improve cognitive performance. Mindfulness training improved both GRE reading-comprehension scores and
working memory capacity while simultaneously reducing the occurrence of distracting thoughts during completion
of the GRE and the measure of working memory. Improvements in performance following mindfulness training were
mediated by reduced mind wandering among participants who were prone to distraction at pretesting. Our results
suggest that cultivating mindfulness is an effective and efficient technique for improving cognitive function, with wide-
reaching consequences.
Keywords
mindfulness, mind wandering, working memory capacity, reading comprehension, attention, cognitive ability, reading,
memory
Received 4/4/12; Revision accepted 7/16/12
Research Report
Mindfulness Improves Cognitive Performance 777
reduced by brief mindfulness exercises (Mrazek,
Smallwood, & Schooler, 2012), which suggests that mind-
fulness training may be a promising strategy for improv-
ing task focus and performance.
Sages have long advocated the value of cultivating an
ability to mindfully focus on the here and now, and con-
verging scientific evidence has begun to corroborate this
view. Mindfulness training prevents the deterioration of
WMC during periods of high stress (Jha, Stanley, Kiyonaga,
Wong, & Gelfand, 2010), enhances attention (Brefczynski-
Lewis, Lutz, Schaefer, Levinson, & Davidson, 2007; MacLean
et al., 2010; Slagter et al., 2007), improves visuospatial pro-
cessing efficiency (Kozhevnikov, Louchakova, Josipovic, &
Motes, 2009), increases backward digit memory span
(Chambers, Lo, & Allen, 2008), and serves as a useful treat-
ment for a large and growing list of medical conditions
(Ludwig & Kabat-Zinn, 2008). In this randomized con-
trolled investigation, we examined whether mindfulness
training was more effective than a control program (nutri-
tion training) in (a) improving reading comprehension,
which is among the most important skills in modern soci-
ety; (b) enhancing performance on the WMC measure most
highly predictive of performance across a range of con-
texts; and (c) reducing distracting thoughts during the
completion of both a reading-comprehension measure
(based on the GRE) and the WMC measure. We also
hypothesized that improvements in WMC and GRE perfor-
mance would be mediated by a reduction in mind
wandering.
Method
Forty-eight undergraduate students (14 male, 34 female;
mean age = 20.83 years, SD = 2.05) were randomly
assigned to either a mindfulness class (n = 26) or a nutri-
tion class (n = 22) using a mixed factorial pretest-posttest
design. Classes met for 45 min four times a week for 2
weeks and were taught by professionals with extensive
teaching experience in their respective fields.
The mindfulness class emphasized the physical posture
and mental strategies of focused-attention meditation
(Dorje, 2009; Lutz, Slagter, Dunne, & Davidson, 2008). It
required participants to integrate mindfulness into their
daily activities and to complete 10 min of daily meditation
outside of class. During class, participants sat on cushions
in a circle. Each class included 10 to 20 min of mindful-
ness exercises requiring focused attention to some aspect
of sensory experience (e.g., sensations of breathing, tastes
of a piece of fruit, or sounds of an audio recording).
Participants shared their experiences with the class
and received personalized feedback from the instructor.
Class content was designed to provide a clear set of strate-
gies for and a conceptual understanding of how to
practice mindfulness. Classes focused on (a) sitting in
an upright posture with legs crossed and gaze lowered,
(b) distinguishing between naturally arising thoughts and
elaborated thinking, (c) minimizing the distracting quality
of past and future concerns by reframing them as mental
projections occurring in the present, (d) using the breath
as an anchor for attention during meditation, (e) repeat-
edly counting up to 21 consecutive exhalations, and (f)
allowing the mind to rest naturally rather than trying to
suppress the occurrence of thoughts.
This training has many similarities to, but also some key
differences from, the widely researched Mindfulness Based
Stress Reduction (MBSR) program (Grossman, Niemann,
Schmidt, & Walach, 2004). For instance, both programs
introduce a secular version of mindfulness over the course
of eight small-group sessions, require participants to prac-
tice mindfulness outside of class, and cultivate mindfulness
of multiple sensory modalities. However, the mindfulness
training used in this study differed from MBSR in that it
occurred over 2 weeks rather than 8, required considerably
less time spent in formal daily practice outside of class, and
involved a slightly different presentation of techniques for
developing mindfulness.
The nutrition program covered fundamental topics in
nutrition science and applied strategies for healthy eating.
To match the time commitment of the daily meditation
requirement, we required participants assigned to the
nutrition program to log their daily food intake, but they
were not required to make any specific dietary changes.
Within a week before and within a week after classes,
participants completed in a counterbalanced order a WMC
task and a verbal-reasoning section from the GRE (20 min
allotted for completion), which we modified by excluding
vocabulary-focused questions. Given this modification,
the GRE measure is best interpreted as an assessment of
reading comprehension. Accuracy on the GRE was calcu-
lated as the proportion of total questions answered cor-
rectly. We used two versions of the verbal GRE measure
that were matched for difficulty and counterbalanced
within each condition. There was no significant difference
in accuracy on the two versions at pretesting, F(1, 46) =
0.114, p = .737, which indicated that the two versions
were well-matched for difficulty.
WMC was assessed via the widely used operation span
task (OSPAN). Relative to other measures of WMC, com-
plex span tasks such as the OSPAN are highly predictive
of an individual’s performance across a range of contexts
(Unsworth, Heitz, Schrock, & Engle, 2005). In this com-
plex span task, presentations of to-be-remembered stimuli
were alternated with an unrelated processing task (i.e.,
participants had to verify the accuracy of presented equa-
tions). In each of 15 trials, the to-be-remembered items
were sets of 3 to 7 letters chosen from a pool of 12 letters
and presented for 250 ms each. At the end of each trial,
participants selected the presented items in the order in
which they had appeared. Stimuli for the OSPAN were
chosen randomly from a list of letters and equations,
778 Mrazek et al.
which ensured that participants would not encounter the
same pattern of stimuli across the two testing sessions.
Following standard procedures, we defined accuracy rates
less than 85% on the unrelated processing task as an
exclusion criterion (counting as errors any responses that
exceeded the mean latency for 15 practice items by more
than 2.5 standard deviations; Unsworth et al., 2005); how-
ever, no participants met this criterion and had to be
excluded. WMC was calculated as the proportion of total
letters recalled across all trials.
Mind wandering during the OSPAN was measured with
a widely used retrospective measure of task-unrelated
thought administered after the OSPAN (Matthews et al.,
1999). During the GRE, mind wandering was measured
with both thought sampling and participants’ self-reports
of instances of mind wandering. Eight thought-sampling
probes were presented at unpredictable quasirandom
intervals and asked participants to indicate the extent to
which their attention was focused on the task or on task-
unrelated concerns, using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = com-
pletely on task; 2 = mostly on task; 3 = both on the task and
on unrelated concerns; 4 = mostly on unrelated concerns;
5 = completely on unrelated concerns). Participants also
used a written form to count instances in which they
caught their minds wandering independently of thought
probes. Detailed descriptions of these methodologies are
available in prior work (Mrazek et al., 2011; Schooler
et al., 2011).
Several aspects of the methodological design, particu-
larly the control group, allow for confidence that any
observed improvements in task focus and performance
were a direct result of the mindfulness training rather than
a confounding element of the mindfulness program or the
research design. All participants understood that they
would be randomly assigned to a training program, which
eliminated any self-selection effects between conditions.
Both classes were taught by expert instructors, were com-
posed of similar numbers of students, were held in com-
parable classrooms during the late afternoon, and used a
similar class format, including both lectures and group dis-
cussions. Furthermore, all participants were recruited
under the pretense that the study was a direct comparison
of two equally viable programs for improving cognitive
performance, which minimized motivation and placebo
effects. Finally, we minimized experimenter expectancy
effects by testing participants in mixed-condition groups
in which nearly all task instructions were provided by
computers.
Results
Accuracy on the verbal GRE measure at pretesting was
correlated with participants’ SAT reading-comprehension
scores from when they had applied to college (r = .446,
p = .003), which provided support for the ecological
validity of this laboratory measure. For each performance
and mind-wandering variable, a mixed-model analysis of
variance (ANOVA) was conducted with condition (mind-
fulness training vs. nutrition training) entered as a
between-subjects factor and testing session (before train-
ing vs. after training) entered as a within-subjects factor.
Prior to training, there were no significant differences in
GRE accuracy (p = .98), in WMC (p = .48), or in probe-
caught (p = .41), self-caught (p = .34), or retrospectively
self-reported (p = .07) mind wandering. We found a sig-
nificant main effect of session only for WMC, F(1, 46) =
17.102, p < .001 (all other ps > .05).
More important, the condition-by-session interaction
was significant for each of the performance and mind-
wandering variables. Relative to the nutrition program,
mindfulness training led to improved accuracy on the
GRE, F(1, 46) = 5.609, p = .02; higher WMC, F(1, 46) =
3.954, p = .05; and less probe-caught mind wandering,
F(1, 46) = 8.241, p = .006; self-caught mind wandering,
F(1, 46) = 3.956, p = .05; and retrospectively self-reported
mind wandering during testing, F(1, 46) = 5.337, p = .03.
Follow-up t tests indicated that the mindfulness training
led to significant improvements in performance and
reductions in mind wandering across all variables (ps <
.05; Fig. 1). Using standardized score conversion proce-
dures for the GRE test, the change in GRE accuracy from
mindfulness training led to an average improvement anal-
ogous to 16 percentile points.
Given that only participants whose minds had wan-
dered at pretesting could measurably improve their focus,
we next examined whether improvement in WMC and
GRE performance following mindfulness training was
mediated by reduced mind wandering specifically among
participants who were prone to mind wandering at pre-
testing. Following Preacher, Rucker, and Hayes (2007), we
ran a test of moderated mediation examining whether the
effect of condition on change in performance (an average
of changes in the proportion of correct responses on the
WMC and GRE measures) was mediated by change in
mind wandering (an average of z-score-standardized
changes in probe-caught and retrospectively self-reported
mind wandering) specifically for participants with high
levels of baseline mind wandering (an average of z-score-
standardized probe-caught and retrospectively self-
reported mind wandering at pretesting; see Table 1).
Following standard procedures, we examined the indi-
rect effect of condition on change in performance through
change in mind wandering at three conditional values of
baseline mind wandering (corresponding to the mean, 1
SD above the mean, and 1 SD below the mean). The indi-
rect effect was significant only at 1 standard deviation
above the mean (Table 2). Change in mind wandering
therefore significantly mediated the effect of mindfulness
training on change in performance among participants
who exhibited a tendency to mind-wander at pretesting.
Mindfulness Improves Cognitive Performance 779
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Nutrition Mindfulness
Accuracy on Verbal GRE
*
Pretest
Posttest
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
Nutrition Mindfulness
Working Memory Capacity
*
Pretest
Posttest
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
Nutrition Mindfulness
Probe-Caught TUTs
*
Pretest
Posttest
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Nutrition Mindfulness
Self-Caught TUTs
*
Pretest
Posttest
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
Nutrition Mindfulness
Self-Reported TUTs
*
Pretest
Posttest
ab
c
e
d
Fig. 1. Results. The graphs show results for each of the following study variables as a func-
tion of condition and testing session: (a) accuracy (proportion of correct responses) on the GRE,
(b) working memory capacity (WMC), (c) probe-caught TUTs (task-unrelated thoughts), (d) retro-
spectively self-reported TUTs during performance of the WMC measure, and (e) self-caught TUTs
during performance of the GRE. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean. Asterisks indicate
significant differences between the two testing sessions (p < .05).
780 Mrazek et al.
This finding demonstrates that, relative to nutrition train-
ing, which did not cause changes in performance or mind
wandering, the mindfulness training led to an enhance-
ment of performance that was mediated by reduced mind
wandering among participants who had been prone to
mind wandering at pretesting.
Discussion
The present study demonstrates that a 2-week mindfulness-
training program can elicit increased WMC and superior
reading comprehension on the GRE. The practice of
mindfulness encouraged in our intervention entailed pro-
moting a persistent effort to maintain focus on a single
aspect of experience, particularly sensations of breathing,
despite the frequent interruptions of unrelated percep-
tions or personal concerns. The present findings suggest
that when this ability to concentrate is redirected to a
challenging task, it can prevent the displacement of cru-
cial task-relevant information by distractions. At least for
people who struggle to maintain focus, our results suggest
that the enhanced performance derived from mindfulness
training results from a dampening of distracting thoughts.
Our findings of reduced mind wandering are consis-
tent with recent accounts that mindfulness training leads
to reduced activation of the default network, a collection
of brain regions that typically show greater activation at
rest than during externally directed cognitive tasks. Both
long-term meditators and individuals who have com-
pleted 2 weeks of mindfulness training show reduced
activation of the default network (Brefczynski-Lewis et al.,
2007; Brewer et al., 2011; Tang et al., 2009). Given that the
default network has been repeatedly associated with
markers of mind wandering (Christoff, Gordon, Smallwood,
Smith, & Schooler, 2009; Mason et al., 2007), future
research should directly test whether mindfulness training
reduces mind wandering by dampening activation of the
default network.
Training studies typically involve extensive practice of
a task that targets a specific cognitive ability. Often, the
goal of these studies is to demonstrate a transfer of
improvement beyond the trained task to an unpracticed
task measuring the same ability, thereby ruling out expla-
nations based on task-specific learning or strategies
(Klingberg, 2010). In principle, the strongest evidence for
enhanced cognitive ability is therefore derived from stud-
ies that use a training task with little resemblance to the
outcome measure. From this perspective, our use of mind-
fulness training in the present investigation allowed us to
provide a rigorous demonstration of cognitive enhance-
ment that cannot be attributed to overlap between train-
ing and testing contexts.
Counter to the long-standing assumption that mental
aptitude is largely fixed across the life span, recent work
has indicated that extensive practice on tests of WMC can
generalize to improvements in IQ (Jaeggi et al., 2008) and
that IQ can either improve or deteriorate throughout ado-
lescence (Ramsden et al., 2011). Although it is likely that
a variety of mechanisms contribute to these changes, the
present demonstration that mindfulness training improves
cognitive function and minimizes mind wandering sug-
gests that enhanced attentional focus may be key
to unlocking skills that were, until recently, viewed as
immutable.
Table 1. Moderated-Mediation Results
Predictor βSE Statistical test p
Predicting the mediator
Constant 1.124 0.363 t(46) = 3.097 .003
Condition −0.734 0.225 t(46) = −3.257 .002
Predicting the outcome variable
Constant −0.177 0.196 z = −0.899 .374
Condition 0.183 0.123 z = 1.490 .144
TUT change −0.126 0.080 z = 1.566 .125
TUT baseline 0.027 0.077 z = 0.352 .727
TUT Change × TUT Baseline −0.178 0.058 z = −3.079 .004
Note: In the moderated-mediation model, change in mind wandering (task-unrelated thought,
or TUT) was the mediator variable, baseline mind wandering was the moderator variable, and
change in performance was the outcome variable.
Table 2. Mediation Effects According to Baseline Levels of
Mind Wandering
TUT baseline
Indirect
effect SE z p
–0.820 (1SD below the mean) –0.015 0.071 –0.208 .8356
0.000 (mean) 0.092 0.068 1.360 .1740
0.820 (1 SE above the mean) 0.200 0.095 2.108 .0351
Note: The table presents results from the model of the effect of condi-
tion on performance as mediated by mind wandering (task-unrelated
thought, or TUT).
Mindfulness Improves Cognitive Performance 781
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with
respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.
Funding
M. D. Mrazek, M. S. Franklin, D. T. Phillips, and J. W. Schooler
are supported through U.S. Department of Education Grant
R305A110277 awarded to J. W. Schooler. B. Baird is supported
by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
under Grant DGE-0707430. The content of this article does not
necessarily reflect the position or policy of the U.S. government,
and no official endorsement should be inferred.
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... Others associated mindfulness with a range of beneficial psychological health outcomes, such as treating symptoms of depression, anxiety disorder and pain (Brown et al., 2007;Hofmann and Gómez, 2017;Sharma and Kumra, 2022;London et al., 2023), as well as reducing binge eating, emotional eating, and intrusive thoughts about food (van Aalderen et al., 2012;Woolhouse et al., 2014;Van De Veer et al., 2015;Warren et al., 2017;Vanzhula and Levinson, 2020;Muñoz-Vilches et al., 2020). Mindfulness training improves attention management, resulting in better focus and working memory (Jha et al., 2007;Mrazek et al., 2013;Mattingly and Kraiger, 2019;Feruglio et al., 2021;Bunjak et al., 2022). It increases awareness of bodily feelings, making it easier to respond to physiological cues like hunger and satiety (Daubenmier et al., 2011). ...
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Purpose This paper aims to evaluate the links between health importance, mindfulness aspects and positive mental health outcomes in consumers. It uses both symmetric and asymmetric methods to study these complex relationships. Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire was distributed to obtain data from consumers, and 721 completed the questionnaire considering our research objectives. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the links between the constructs, whereas Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) was used to find sets of conditions associated with beneficial mental health outcomes. Findings The study found substantial positive correlations between health importance and all aspects of mindfulness, including attention to one’s body, environment and emotions. Furthermore, attention to one’s body is identified as a strong predictor of positive mental health, highlighting the relevance of bodily awareness in promoting well-being. However, causal asymmetry is evident, implying that diverse combinations of causes result in higher or lower levels of positive mental health. Research limitations/implications While the study sheds light on the relationship between health importance, mindfulness and healthy mental health, it is not without limits. The survey-based methodology of the research may create biases, and the sample is predominantly made up of customers, limiting the generalisability of the results. Future study could investigate these correlations in more diverse groups, using longitudinal designs to gain a better grasp of causality. Practical implications The findings have practical implications for programmes designed to promote positive mental health. Individuals’ well-being and resilience can be improved by emphasising the value of health and fostering mindfulness activities. Targeted therapies can use these findings to create successful strategies for improving mental health outcomes. Originality/value This study fills a gap in the literature by adopting a holistic approach to examine the interplay between health importance, mindfulness and positive mental health. Unlike prior research focusing on isolated mindfulness aspects or singular methods, it uniquely integrates symmetric and asymmetric analyses. This approach reveals novel pathways and causal configurations contributing to well-being. Highlighting mindfulness’s mediating role and multidimensional nature, the study offers actionable insights that bridge theory and practice, advancing mental health promotion and guiding more comprehensive interventions.
... From an Indian perspective, mindfulness-based therapies improved sleep and depression among physicians followed by alleviating pain in menopausal women and mitigating anxiety and distress in GERD patients. This highlights the multifaceted role of mindfulness along with the diverse applications of mindfulness among healthcare professionals (13)(14)(15)(16)(17). In today's evidence-based medicine medical world, the relationship between physicians and patients is crucial for effective treatment. ...
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This study aims to assess parental perceptions of physician mindfulness in their daily practice in the Indian context. After conducting an in-depth analysis of the existing publications, literature, physicians' mindfulness was assessed by administering the MAAS questionnaire, and parental perceptions were evaluated using the 21-item general communication subscale of the Personal Processes of Care Instrument. The MAAS was selected for its extensive use and validated efficacy in measuring mindfulness, particularly on moment-to-moment awareness of self-related experiences. This study involved 40 paediatricians and 40 parents, sampled conveniently, to assess internal consistency, covariate analysis, and descriptive statistics. Mindfulness was analysed via chi-square tests, while parental perceptions were examined through t-tests; both executed using Microsoft Excel 2011. Our analysis revealed that paediatricians, regardless of age or gender, demonstrated mindfulness. From the parents' perspective, there are significant areas for improvement, particularly in the physicians' explanations of diagnosis, medications, and responsiveness to parents' concerns. Additionally, addressing disrespectful behaviour by clinic assistants toward the parents emerged as a primary concern, highlighting the need for efforts toward improvement. Our research underscores the critical importance of mindfulness in paediatric practice and identifies key areas for improvement to enhance trust in physician-patient-centred disease management. It scrutinized the effects of physicians’ mindfulness on parental satisfaction during their child's medical condition consultations. The findings have further deepened our comprehension of mindfulness’s pivotal role and impact on well-being, ultimately seeking to expedite the healing process among children while nurturing positive engagements with physicians and clinic staff.
... For instance, Jack Miller, a holistic educator at the University of Toronto, has been requiring students to practise mindfulness and present in his almost 30-year-long holistic education classes [50] [74]. Researchers have suggested integrating mindfulness meditation into stress reduction tools for college students to help them better cope with stress and increase academic motivation and resilience [77] [112] [114]. A recent book co-edited by Miller includes essays by his graduate students who practice positive thinking in his courses [75]. ...
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The main objective of this article was to explore in depth the subjective experiences of higher education students in their mindfulness meditation practice, with a particular focus on the mental and emotional changes they perceive through their mindfulness practice in their daily academic life, as well as the specific challenges they encountered in the process. The study adopted a qualitative research methodology through semi-structured interviews in order to collect detailed personal narratives from students about their mindfulness meditation practice for thematic analysis. The study was conducted with nine higher education students who were undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as students in the gap year between their undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, and all participants had either short- or long-term experience of mindfulness meditation. Interviews centred on how students began their mindfulness practice, the impact of mindfulness on their daily lives, and the challenges they encountered in their mindfulness practice. The results of the study revealed that students experienced two main themes in mindfulness meditation: the benefits of mindfulness and the challenges of mindfulness practice. The study showed that mindfulness meditation has significant positive effects among higher education students, such as reducing stress and anxiety, enhancing present moment awareness, and promoting self-reflection and emotional regulation. However, despite the multiple benefits of mindfulness, students still face many challenges in their practice, such as difficulties in sustaining a long-term practice, interference from environmental factors, and negative emotions arising from meditation. These challenges suggest that effective integration of mindfulness practices in higher education settings still needs to be further explored. The study suggests that future mindfulness intervention programmes should be more personalised, taking into account the actual experiences and feelings of students in mindfulness practice, and designing mindfulness programmes that can meet the needs of different students. In addition, future research should further explore gender and ethnicity differences in mindfulness experiences to improve the applicability and effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for different student populations.
... In the study, students who took part in highly stressful learning processes-including preparation courses for university entrance examinations-showed a distinct reduction in test anxiety as high as 20%. The consequence of such a reduction was an improvement in test results, especially in reading comprehension and mathematics, which generally require deeper cognitive involvement and attention in conditions of stress (Mrazek et al., 2013). This does indeed show that reduced mental stress can provide conditions that would be favourable for improved cognitive function and, in turn, good academic performance. ...
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This research explore how the implementation of mindfulness and stress management can affect the behaviour and performance of students, in light of the emergent mental health issues affecting learners at school. Based on secondary data, it examines existing and secondary data sources and related research and literature in various educational settings. In the research, it is clearly illustrated how academic demands, peer relations, and personal development issues cause stress and reduce academic outcomes and behaviours among students. Mindfulness programs, defined by promoting the direct experience of the current moment and completion of emotional self-regulation, appear as effective tools for boosting cognition, diminishing behavioural concerns, and optimising quality of life. Research shows that there are modest and meaningful changes in educational outcomes like CGPA scores, test scores and some sort of positive behavioural changes like decrease in misconducts within classroom and cases of student discipline. Additionally, such programs contribute to maintaining high emotional stability, relieved stress levels, and life satisfaction. However, the study notes deficiencies in the evaluation of the nature and extent of variability in program effect and implementation, moderated by such factors as socioeconomic status. Both discuss the timeliness of culturally sensitive treatments and the importance of methodologically sound, controlled, and powered research designs that support causal claims. They also present the issue of ethical issues and discussing how future research needs to incorporate informed consent and other cultural appropriateness in its framework whilst following careful methodological processes and guidelines. Finally, the study points out attention and stress reduction programs as suitable models for promoting personal development therefore urging education stakeholders to incorporate into the curricula for improved student performance.
... Jarunratanakul and Jinchang (2018) conducted the only experimental study of this review, among Thai women students. They probed whether mindfulness practice facilitates reasoning performance by offsetting the depleting effect of stereotype threat due to sexism, given that exposure to stereotype threat can drain working memory resources (Mrazek et al., 2013). They used a 2 (Sexist vs. Nonsexist Cue) × 2 (Mindfulness Practice vs. ...
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Objectives: The health repercussions of intergroup bias on members of minoritized groups are massive. This scoping review examines the available peer-reviewed evidence on mindfulness as a moderator of associations between intergroup bias and psychological health indicators. Method: Peer-reviewed studies of mindfulness moderating associations between intergroup bias and psychological health indicators through May 2024 were surveyed, with no limitations in terms of intergroup bias variety, study context, participants’ characteristics, or date of publication. Sixteen articles were eligible and reviewed. Results: Trait mindfulness moderated negative associations between intergroup bias and psychological health indicators in most studies reviewed, such that the associations are reduced or disappear at high, compared to low, levels of trait mindfulness. Conclusions: Important caveats of this protective role of mindfulness are discussed, such as the lack of diversity in mindfulness research and interventions, and the potentially silencing effect of mindfulness as construed in mainstream Western contexts.
... Previous work has identified a connectome-based model that predicts mind-wandering ratings within-and across-individuals (MW-CPM; Kucyi et al. 2021). As individuals who report higher MW may report less mindfulness (Mrazek, Smallwood, and Schooler 2012;Mrazek et al. 2013), we tested whether overall network strengths from the MW-CPM model when computed on the current datasets correlated with overall network strengths from our mindfulness models. ...
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Trait mindfulness refers to one's disposition or tendency to pay attention to their experiences in the present moment, in a non‐judgmental and accepting way. Trait mindfulness has been robustly associated with positive mental health outcomes, but its neural underpinnings are poorly understood. Prior resting‐state fMRI studies have associated trait mindfulness with within‐ and between‐network connectivity of the default‐mode (DMN), fronto‐parietal (FPN), and salience networks. However, it is unclear how generalizable the findings are, how they relate to different components of trait mindfulness, and how other networks and brain areas may be involved. To address these gaps, we conducted the largest resting‐state fMRI study of trait mindfulness to‐date, consisting of a pre‐registered connectome‐based predictive modeling analysis in 367 meditation‐naïve adults across three samples collected at different sites. In the model‐training dataset, we did not find connections that predicted overall trait mindfulness, but we identified neural models of two mindfulness subscales, Acting with Awareness and Non‐judging. Models included both positive networks (sets of pairwise connections that positively predicted mindfulness with increasing connectivity) and negative networks, which showed the inverse relationship. The Acting with Awareness and Non‐judging positive network models showed distinct network representations involving FPN and DMN, respectively. The negative network models, which overlapped significantly across subscales, involved connections across the whole brain with prominent involvement of somatomotor, visual and DMN networks. Only the negative networks generalized to predict subscale scores out‐of‐sample, and not across both test datasets. Predictions from both models were also negatively correlated with predictions from a well‐established mind‐wandering connectome model. We present preliminary neural evidence for a generalizable connectivity models of trait mindfulness based on specific affective and cognitive facets. However, the incomplete generalization of the models across all sites and scanners, limited stability of the models, as well as the substantial overlap between the models, underscores the difficulty of finding robust brain markers of mindfulness facets.
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Factors that predict mind wandering in the laboratory and in daily life differ (Kane et al., 2007, 2017). However, it is unknown how these predictors may vary when considering two identified dimensions of mind wandering—intentionality and emotional valence. We examined this with a 1-week daily-life experience sampling study with laboratory-based measures of working memory, personality, anxiety, and dispositional mindfulness predicting mind wandering in daily life. Overall, our results suggest that predictors of mind wandering in daily life vary based on both the intentionality and emotional valence dimension of the off-task thought. Dispositional mindfulness was predictive of neutral, intentional, and overall rates of mind wandering. Interactions between working memory and concentration level were observed for some but not all dimensions of mind wandering. The current findings suggest that is it critical to consider both intentionality and emotional valence dimensions to understand individual differences in mind wandering in daily life.
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Mind wandering (MW) encompasses both a deliberate and a spontaneous disengagement of attention from the immediate external environment to unrelated internal thoughts. Importantly, MW has been suggested to have an inverse relationship with mindfulness, a state of nonjudgmental awareness of present-moment experience. Although they are, respectively, associated with increased and decreased activity in the default mode network (DMN), the specific contributions of deliberate and spontaneous MW, and their relationships with mindfulness abilities and resting-state macro networks remain to be elucidated. Therefore, resting-state MRI scans from 76 participants were analyzed with group independent component analysis to decompose brain networks into independent macro-networks and to see which of them predicted specific aspects of spontaneous and deliberate MW or mindfulness traits. Our results show that temporal variability of the resting-state DMN predicts spontaneous MW, which in turn is negatively associated with the acting with awareness facet of mindfulness. This finding shows that the DMN is not directly associated with overall mindfulness, but rather demonstrates that there exists a close relationship between DMN and MW, and furthermore, that the involvement of mindfulness abilities in this dynamic may be secondary. In sum, our study contributes to a better understanding of the neural bases of spontaneous MW and its relationship with mindfulness. These results open up the possibility of intervening on specific aspects of our cognitive abilities: for example, our data suggest that training the mindfulness facet acting with awareness would allow lessening our tendency for MW at inopportune times.
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To evaluate the impact of an intensive period of mindfulness meditation training on cognitive and affective function, a non-clinical group of 20 novice meditators were tested before and after participation in a 10-day intensive mindfulness meditation retreat. They were evaluated with self-report scales measuring mindfulness, rumination and affect, as well as performance tasks assessing working memory, sustained attention, and attention switching. Results indicated that those completing the mindfulness training demonstrated significant improvements in self-reported mindfulness, depressive symptoms, rumination, and performance measures of working memory and sustained attention, relative to a comparison group who did not undergo any meditation training. This study suggests future directions for the elucidation of the critical processes that underlie the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness-based interventions.
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Tests of working memory capacity (WMC) and fluid intelligence (gF) are thought to capture variability in a crucial cognitive capacity that is broadly predictive of success, yet pinpointing the exact nature of this capacity is an area of ongoing controversy. We propose that mind-wandering is associated with performance on tests of WMC and gF, thereby partially explaining both the reliable correlations between these tests and their broad predictive utility. Existing evidence indicates that both WMC and gF are correlated with performance on tasks of attention, yet more decisive evidence requires an assessment of the role of attention and, in particular, mind-wandering during performance of these tests. Four studies employing complementary methodological designs embedded thought sampling into tests of general aptitude and determined that mind-wandering was consistently associated with worse performance on these measures. Collectively, these studies implicate the capacity to avoid mind-wandering during demanding tasks as a potentially important source of success on measures of general aptitude, while also raising important questions about whether the previously documented relationship between WMC and mind-wandering can be exclusively attributed to executive failures preceding mind-wandering (McVay & Kane, 2010b). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
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Research into both mindfulness and mind-wandering has grown rapidly, yet clarification of the relationship between these two seemingly opposing constructs is still absent. A first study addresses the relationship between a dispositional measure of mindfulness (Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale, MAAS) and converging measures of both self-reported and indirect markers of mind-wandering. Negative correlations between dispositional mindfulness and 4 measures of mind-wandering confirm the opposing relationship between the 2 constructs and further validate the use of the MAAS as a dispositional measure of mindfulness. A second study demonstrated that 8 minutes of mindful breathing reduces behavioral indicators of mind-wandering during a Sustained Attention to Response Task compared with both passive relaxation and reading. Together these studies clarify the opposition between the constructs of mindfulness and mind-wandering and so should lead to greater convergence between what have been predominately separate, yet mutually relevant, lines of research.
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Many philosophical and contemplative traditions teach that "living in the moment" increases happiness. However, the default mode of humans appears to be that of mind-wandering, which correlates with unhappiness, and with activation in a network of brain areas associated with self-referential processing. We investigated brain activity in experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls as they performed several different meditations (Concentration, Loving-Kindness, Choiceless Awareness). We found that the main nodes of the default-mode network (medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices) were relatively deactivated in experienced meditators across all meditation types. Furthermore, functional connectivity analysis revealed stronger coupling in experienced meditators between the posterior cingulate, dorsal anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (regions previously implicated in self-monitoring and cognitive control), both at baseline and during meditation. Our findings demonstrate differences in the default-mode network that are consistent with decreased mind-wandering. As such, these provide a unique understanding of possible neural mechanisms of meditation.
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Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a standardized measure of human intellectual capacity that takes into account a wide range of cognitive skills. IQ is generally considered to be stable across the lifespan, with scores at one time point used to predict educational achievement and employment prospects in later years. Neuroimaging allows us to test whether unexpected longitudinal fluctuations in measured IQ are related to brain development. Here we show that verbal and non-verbal IQ can rise or fall in the teenage years, with these changes in performance validated by their close correlation with changes in local brain structure. A combination of structural and functional imaging showed that verbal IQ changed with grey matter in a region that was activated by speech, whereas non-verbal IQ changed with grey matter in a region that was activated by finger movements. By using longitudinal assessments of the same individuals, we obviated the many sources of variation in brain structure that confound cross-sectional studies. This allowed us to dissociate neural markers for the two types of IQ and to show that general verbal and non-verbal abilities are closely linked to the sensorimotor skills involved in learning. More generally, our results emphasize the possibility that an individual's intellectual capacity relative to their peers can decrease or increase in the teenage years. This would be encouraging to those whose intellectual potential may improve, and would be a warning that early achievers may not maintain their potential.
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Although the adult brain was once seen as a rather static organ, it is now clear that the organization of brain circuitry is constantly changing as a function of experience or learning. Yet, research also shows that learning is often specific to the trained stimuli and task, and does not improve performance on novel tasks, even very similar ones. This perspective examines the idea that systematic mental training, as cultivated by meditation, can induce learning that is not stimulus or task specific, but process specific. Many meditation practices are explicitly designed to enhance specific, well-defined core cognitive processes. We will argue that this focus on enhancing core cognitive processes, as well as several general characteristics of meditation regimens, may specifically foster process-specific learning. To this end, we first define meditation and discuss key findings from recent neuroimaging studies of meditation. We then identify several characteristics of specific meditation training regimes that may determine process-specific learning. These characteristics include ongoing variability in stimulus input, the meta-cognitive nature of the processes trained, task difficulty, the focus on maintaining an optimal level of arousal, and the duration of training. Lastly, we discuss the methodological challenges that researchers face when attempting to control or characterize the multiple factors that may underlie meditation training effects.
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A College Board-sponsored survey of a nationally representative sample of 1995-96 SAT takers yielded a data base for more than 4,000 examinees, about 500 of whom had attended formal coaching programs outside their schools. Several alternative analytical methods were used to estimate the effects of coaching on SAT I: Reasoning Test scores. The various analyses produced slightly different estimates. All of the estimates, however, suggested that the effects of coaching are far less than is claimed by major commercial test preparation companies. The revised SAT does not appear to be any more coachable than its predecessor.
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Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the threat of a negative stereotype increases the frequency of mind-wandering (i.e., task-unrelated thought), thereby leading to performance impairments. Study 1 demonstrated that participants anticipating a stereotype-laden test mind-wandered more during the Sustained Attention to Response Task. Study 2 assessed mind-wandering directly using thought sampling procedures during a demanding math test. Results revealed that individuals experiencing stereotype threat experienced more off-task thoughts, which accounted for their poorer test performance compared to a control condition. These studies highlight the important role that social forces can have on mind-wandering. More specifically, these results serve as evidence for task-unrelated thought as a novel mechanism for stereotype threat-induced performance impairments.
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A College Board-sponsored survey of a nationally representative sample of 1995–96 SAT takers yielded a data base for more than 4, 000 examinees, about 500 of whom had attended formal coaching programs outside their schools. Several alternative analytical methods were used to estimate the effects of coaching on SAT I: Reasoning Test scores. The various analyses produced slightly different estimates. All of the estimates, however, suggested that the effects of coaching are far less than is claimed by major commercial test preparation companies. The revised SAT does not appear to be any more coachable than its predecessor.
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Mind wandering (i.e. engaging in cognitions unrelated to the current demands of the external environment) reflects the cyclic activity of two core processes: the capacity to disengage attention from perception (known as perceptual decoupling) and the ability to take explicit note of the current contents of consciousness (known as meta-awareness). Research on perceptual decoupling demonstrates that mental events that arise without any external precedent (known as stimulus independent thoughts) often interfere with the online processing of sensory information. Findings regarding meta-awareness reveal that the mind is only intermittently aware of engaging in mind wandering. These basic aspects of mind wandering are considered with respect to the activity of the default network, the role of executive processes, the contributions of meta-awareness and the functionality of mind wandering.