Abstract
We investigated the impact of mindfulness training (MT) on attentional performance lapses associated with task-unrelated thought (i.e., mind wandering). Periods of persistent and intensive demands may compromise attention and increase off-task thinking. Here, we investigated if MT may mitigate these deleterious effects and promote cognitive resilience in military cohorts enduring a high-demand interval of predeployment training. To better understand which aspects of MT programs are most beneficial, three military cohorts were examined. Two of the three groups were provided MT. One group received an 8-hour, 8-week variant of Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) emphasizing engagement in training exercises (training-focused MT, n = 40), a second group received a didactic-focused variant emphasizing content regarding stress and resilience (didactic-focused MT, n = 40), and the third group served as a no-training control (NTC, n = 24). Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) performance was indexed in all military groups and a no-training civilian group (CIV, n = 45) before (T1) and after (T2) the MT course period. Attentional performance (measured by A’, a sensitivity index) was lower in NTC vs. CIV at T2, suggesting that performance suffers after enduring a high-demand predeployment interval relative to a similar time period of civilian life. Yet, there were significantly fewer performance lapses in the military cohorts receiving MT relative to NTC, with training-focused MT outperforming didactic-focused MT at T2. From T1 to T2, A’ degraded in NTC and didactic-focused MT but remained stable in training-focused MT and CIV. In sum, while protracted periods of high-demand military training may increase attentional performance lapses, practice-focused MT programs akin to training-focused MT may bolster attentional performance more than didactic-focused programs. As such, training-focused MT programs should be further examined in cohorts experiencing protracted high-demand intervals.
Highlights
Soldiers are experts at standing at attention, a body posture that conveys motionless alertness
We investigate the impact of the predeployment interval on attentional performance and self-reported mind wandering during the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), and the putative protective effects of offering mindfulness training (MT) course variants during this interval
Correlations were examined to establish whether, similar to previous studies, there was a significant correspondence between objective performance measures and selfreported mind wandering on the SART
Summary
Soldiers are experts at standing at attention, a body posture that conveys motionless alertness While this expertise is achieved after a few short weeks of basic training, training to promote a mind ‘at attention’ seems far more elusive. Such a training program would need to have as its primary goal strengthening attention and curbing the mind’s pervasive tendency to fluctuate from the external task environment toward internally generated thoughts, feelings, and preoccupations, which may be unrelated to the task at hand. During off-task episodes, attentional resources necessary for task-related cognitive and perceptual analysis of environmental stimuli are decoupled from the task at hand as attention is commandeered by internally generated thought
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