Abstract
This chapter reviews evidence that practicing meditation positively impacts attention. Functional and structural enhancements in parts of the salience and executive networks are described. At the behavioral level, the effect of meditation on tasks of controlled attention (such as Stroop and go/no-go tasks) is found to be about 0.4 SD; a similar effect is noted on sustained attention; there are also consistent effects on different aspects of nonjudgmental alerting (such as attentional blink and error processing), with an effect size of 0.65 SD for attentional blink studies. Meditation also lowers perceptual thresholds. Dose–response relationship studies underscore the importance of frequency or amount of recent meditation practice rather than accumulated hours of practice.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
All effect sizes are reported such that a positive effect indicates that the hypothesis of better attention in meditators is confirmed; in the case of Stroop, a positive effect size would thus indicate that meditators have a smaller Stroop effect.
References
Allen, M., Dietz, M., Blair, K. S., van Beek, M., Rees, G., Vestergaard-Poulsen, P., & Roepstorff, A. (2012). Cognitive-affective neural plasticity following active-controlled mindfulness intervention. The Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 15601–15610.
Anderson, N. D., Lau, M. A., Segal, Z. V., & Bishop, S. R. (2007). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and attentional control. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 14, 449–463.
Banks, J. B., Welhaf, M. S., & Srour, A. (2015). The protective effects of brief mindfulness meditation training. Consciousness and Cognition, 33, 277–285.
Brewer, J. A., Worhunsky, P. D., Gray, J. R., Tang, Y. Y., Weber, J., & Kober, H. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108, 20254–20259.
Carter, O. L., Presti, D. E., Callistemon, C., Ungerer, Y., Liu, G. B., & Pettrigrew, J. D. (2005). Meditation alters perceptual rivalry in Tibetan Buddhist monks. Current Biology, 15, R412–R413.
Chan, D., & Woollacott, M. (2007). Effects of level of meditation experience on attentional focus: Is the efficiency of executive or orientation networks improved? Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 13, 651–658.
Fox, K. C., Nijeboer, S., Dixon, M. L., Floman, J. L., Ellamil, M., Rumak, S. P., & Christoff, K. (2014). Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 43, 48–73.
Froeliger, B., Garland, E. L., Kozink, R. V., Modlin, L. A., Chen, N. K., McClernon, F. J., & Sobin, P. (2012). Meditation-state functional connectivity (msFC): Strengthening of the dorsal attention network and beyond. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine: eCAM, 2012, 680407.
Grant, J., Courtemanche, J., Duerden, E. G., Duncan, G. H., & Rainville, P. (2010). Cortical thickness and pain sensitivity in zen meditators. Emotion, 10, 43–53.
Hasenkamp, W., Wilson-Mendenhall, C. D., Duncan, E., & Barsalou, L. W. (2012). Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation: A fine-grained temporal analysis of fluctuating cognitive states. NeuroImage, 59, 750–760.
Heeren, A., Van Broeck, N., & Philippot, P. (2009). The effects of mindfulness on executive processes and autobiographical memory specificity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 403–409.
Hodgins, H. S., & Adair, K. C. (2010). Attentional processes and meditation. Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal, 19, 872–878.
Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., et al. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191, 36–43.
Jensen, C., Vangkilde, S., Frokjaer, V., & Hasselbalch, S. G. (2012). Mindfulness training affects attention—Or is it attentional effort? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141, 106–123.
Jha, A. P., Krompinger, J., & Baime, M. J. (2007). Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7, 109–119.
Jha, A. P., Morrison, A. B., Dainer-Best, J., Parker, S., Rostrup, N., & Stanley, E. A. (2015). Minds “at attention”: Mindfulness training curbs attentional lapses in military cohorts. PLoS One, 10, e0116889.
Josipovic, Z., Dinstein, I., Weber, J., & Heeger, D. J. (2012). Influence of meditation on anti-correlated networks in the brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5, 183.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophe living: The program of the stress reduction clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. New York: Delta.
Karbach, J., & Kray, J. (this volume). Executive functions. In T. Strobach, J. Karbach (Eds.), Cognitive training: An overview of features and applications. New York: Springer.
Kozasa, E. H., Sato, J. R., Lacerda, S. S., Barreiros, M. A., Radvany, J., Russell, T. A., & Amaro, E. (2012). Meditation training increases brain efficiency in an attention task. NeuroImage, 59, 745–749.
Luders, E., Kurth, F., Mayer, E. A., Toga, A. W., Narr, K. L., & Gaser, C. (2012). The unique brain anatomy of meditation practitioners: alterations in cortical gyrification. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 34.
Lykins, E. L. B., & Baer, R. A. (2009). Psychological functioning in a sample of long-term practitioners of mindfulness meditation. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23, 226–241.
MacLean, K. A., Ferrer, E., Aichele, S. R., Bridwell, D. A., Zanesco, A. P., Jacobs, T. L., et al. (2010). Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention. Psychological Science, 21, 829–839.
Makris, N., Kennedy, D. N., McInerney, S., Sorensen, A. G., Wang, R., Caviness, V. S., & Pandya, D. N. (2005). Segmentation of subcomponents within the superior longitudinal fascicle in humans: A quantitative, in vivo, DT-MRI study. Cerebral Cortex, 15, 854–869.
Moore, A. W., Gruber, T., Derose, J., & Malinowski, P. (2012). Regular, brief mindfulness meditation practice improves electrophysiological markers of attentional control. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 18.
Moore, A., & Malinowski, P. (2009). Meditation, mindfulness and cognitive flexibility. Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal, 18, 176–186.
Morrison, A. B., Goolsarran, M., Rogers, S. L., & Jha, A. P. (2013). Taming a wandering attention: Short-form mindfulness training in student cohorts. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7.
Mrazek, M. D., Franklin, M. S., Phillips, D. T., Baird, B., & Schooler, J. W. (2013). Mindfulness training improves working memory capacity and GRE performance while reducing mind wandering. Psychological Science, 24, 776–781.
Sahdra, B. K., MacLean, K. A., Ferrer, E., Shaver, P. R., Rosenberg, E. L., Jacobs, T. L., & Saron, C. D. (2011). Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning. Emotion, 11, 299–312.
Sedlmeier, P., Eberth, J., Schwarz, M., Zimmermann, D., Haarig, F., Jaeger, S., & Kunze, S. (2012). The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138, 1139–1171.
Slagter, H. A., Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Francis, A. D., & Nieuwenhuis, S. (2007). Mental training affects distribution of limited brain resources. PLoS Biology, 5, 138.
Spreng, R. N., Sepulcre, J., Turner, G. R., Stevens, W. D., & Schacter, D. L. (2013). Intrinsic architecture underlying the relations among the default, dorsal attention, and frontoparietal control networks of the human brain. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25, 74–86.
Teper, R., & Inzlicht, M. (2013). Meditation, mindfulness and executive control: The importance of emotional acceptance and brain-based performance monitoring. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 8, 85–92.
Tomasino, B., Fregona, S., Skrap, M., & Fabbro, F. (2013). Meditation-related activations are modulated by the practices needed to obtain it and by the expertise: An ALE meta-analysis study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 346.
Van den Hurk, P. M., Giommi, F., Gielen, S. C., Speckens, A. M., & Barendregt, H. P. (2010). Greater efficiency in attentional processing related to mindfulness meditation. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 1168–1180.
van Leeuwen, S., Müller, N. G., & Melloni, L. (2009). Age effects on attentional blink performance in meditation. Consciousness and Cognition, 18, 593–599.
van Leeuwen, S., Singer, W., & Melloni, L. (2012). Meditation increases the depth of information processing and improves the allocation of attention in space. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6.
van Vugt, M. K., & Slagter, H. A. (2014). Control over experience? Magnitude of the attentional blink depends on meditative state. Consciousness and Cognition, 23, 32–39.
Verhaeghen, P. (in press). Presence: How meditation and mindfulness shape mind, brain, and life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Verhaeghen, P. (2016). Mindfulness and Meditation Training. In: Strobach, T., Karbach, J. (eds) Cognitive Training. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42662-4_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42662-4_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42660-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42662-4
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)