Abstract
Background: A state of mindfulness refers to a present-centered attentional awareness without judging. Being mindful seems to increase the ability to be flexible and adaptive in attention focus according to situational contingencies. The way mindfulness affects such attentional control is often measured with three different but interacting attentional networks of alerting (preparedness), orienting (selection of stimulus), and conflict detection (suppression of irrelevant stimuli). In the current study, the aim was to study the effects of dispositional mindfulness on these attention networks, and specifically the effects on the interactions between these attention networks.Methods: Fifty participants between 19 and 29 years old filled out the questionnaire Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and performed the revised version of the Attention Network Test (ANT-R). The five FFMQ facets of Describing, Non-Judgment, Orienting, Non-Reactivity, and Acting with Awareness were included as predictors in multiple linear regression analyses with the ANT-R scores of alerting, orienting, conflict detection, and the interaction scores of alerting by conflict detection and orienting by conflict detection as outcome variables, respectively.Results: Higher dispositional mindfulness as measured with the five FFMQ facets predicted interaction scores (faster reaction times) of orienting by conflict detection, but none of the other ANT-R scores. It was specifically the FFMQ facets of Describing and non-judgment that predicted this lower interaction score of orienting by conflict detection.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that being mindful is associated with a more flexible and efficient orienting attention. It is associated with a higher ability to disengage from salient stimuli that is irrelevant to pursue goal-directed behavior (conflict detection).
Highlights
Mindfulness refers to a mental state characterized by a presentcentered attentional awareness without judging (Bishop et al, 2004)
We investigated the relationship between the five facets of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire” (FFMQ) and attentional control as measured with the revised Attention Network Test (ANT-R; Fan et al, 2009; Mackie et al, 2013) in a sample previously naïve to meditation
Age did not correlate with the FFMQ facets (Observing, Describing, Non-Judgment, Non-Reactivity, or Acting with Awareness) or with the ANT-R scores
Summary
Mindfulness refers to a mental state characterized by a presentcentered attentional awareness without judging (Bishop et al, 2004). A central feature of mindfulness is the flexible and adaptive self-regulation of attention in accordance with contextual contingencies (Bishop et al, 2004; Malinowski, 2013; Tang et al, 2015). This comprises the ability to allocate attentional resources and handle conflicts between action options. The aim was to study the effects of dispositional mindfulness on these attention networks, and the effects on the interactions between these attention networks
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