Abstract
Cognitive abilities such as attention, memory, processing time, perception, and reasoning can be augmented using some type of intervention. Within the broad range of conventional and unconventional intervention methods used in cognitive enhancement, meditation is one of those that is safe, widely practiced by many since ancient times, and has been shown to reduce stress and improve psychological health and cognitive functioning. Various neuroimaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) have shown functional and structural changes due to meditation in different types of meditation practices and on various groups of meditators. Recently, a few studies on meditation have used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study the effects of meditation on cerebral hemodynamics. In this study, we examined the short-term effects of loving-kindness (LK) meditation on sustained attention using behavioral performance measures, physiological outcomes, and cognitive activity as measured by fNIRS in first-time meditators during Stroop color word task (SCWT) performance. Our results indicated that behavioral outcomes, assessed mainly on response time (RT) during SCWT performance, showed a significant decrease after meditation. As expected, physiological measures, primarily pulse pressure (PP) measured after meditation dropped significantly as compared to the before meditation measurement. For the hemodynamic measures of oxygenated-hemoglobin (HbO2), deoxygenated-hemoglobin (Hb), and total-hemoglobin (HbT), our findings show significant differences in SCWT performance before and after meditation. Our results suggest that LK meditation can result in improvements in cognitive, physiological, and behavioral outcomes of first-time meditators after a short-term session.
Highlights
Cognition refers to the mental processes such as attention, memory, language, visual processing, logic, and reasoning that are used to organize information [1,2]
We investigated the short-term effects of LK meditation on sustained attention on
We investigated the short-term effects of LK meditation on sustained attention on the performance of Stroop color word task (SCWT) in first-time meditators
Summary
Cognition refers to the mental processes such as attention, memory, language, visual processing, logic, and reasoning that are used to organize information [1,2]. It has been shown that cognitive abilities can be enhanced or augmented resulting in improved learning, focus, memory, reaction time, perception, and improved reasoning capacity using some type of intervention [2]. There is a broad range of interventions used in cognitive enhancement which are usually categorized as conventional or unconventional methods [1,2]. Conventional means of augmenting cognition are referred to as being of a more routine nature or have been practiced for many years, such as education and training, and well established and culturally accepted. Unconventional methods can involve invasive approaches such as stimulant drugs, gene therapies, and brain stimulation techniques or more noninvasive ones such as mental training involving yoga, martial arts, and meditation
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