Gender differences in the benefits of meditation training on attentional blink

Abstract

Previous meditation-related studies included considerably more women than men, potentially concealing gender differences in attention training effects. Here, we present a study exploring potential gender differences in short-term meditation training (MT) effects on performance in an attentional blink (AB) task with a balanced sampling of men and women. A total of 165 college students were randomized into three groups: MT, video game training (VGT), and control (CON). Participants completed a series of pre-intervention assessments, including the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (S-TAI), and self-reported mood, arousal level, and daily time spent playing video games. Participants then completed MT, completed VGT, or had no intervention (CON group). The MT and VGT sessions consisted of 4 days of 20 min of training per day. After training, participants re-rated their arousal state and emotional state, and then performed the AB task. Relative to the CON group, the MT or VGT groups showed a significantly reduced AB. Interestingly, regarding effects on AB performance, MT was more effective in women, whereas VGT was more effective in men. MT, but not VGT, decreased anxiety scores from before to after the intervention. The current results indicate that gender plays an important role in the benefits of attention training, and thus that clinicians should take gender into consideration when implementing meditation-based therapies.