MINDFULNESS MEDITATION IMPROVES COGNITION: EVIDENCE OF BRIEF MENTAL TRAINING

  • Shivani Kaul

Abstract

While research has shown that long-term meditation practice of mindfulness improves executive functioning and the ability to maintain concentration, the effects of brief meditation training in mindfulness have not been thoroughly investigated. When compared to an active control group, we investigated whether brief meditation preparation affects cognition and mood. Participants with no previous meditation experience were tested with assessments of mood, verbal fluency, visual coding, and working memory after four sessions of either meditation training or listening to a recorded book. Both strategies were successful at improving mood, but exhaustion, anxiety, and increased consciousness were decreased only by brief meditation instruction. In addition, brief mindfulness training enhanced visuo-spatial awareness, working memory, and executive functioning dramatically. Our results indicate that 4 days of training in meditation will boost the

Published
2020-01-14