Effects Of Meditation Practice Research Articles

Mindful Text Comprehension: Meditation Training Improves Reading Comprehension of Meditation Novices

ObjectivesResearch on the effects of meditation practice on reading performance is a new and promising field of research. However, the evidence on whether meditation improves reading comprehension and/or speed in continuous reading is inconclusive. The present work addresses this question.MethodFor the present longitudinal study, undergraduate students (n = 52) participated in a 6-week mindfulness meditation course or an active control condition. We assessed reading comprehension and speed before and after the intervention/control condition, as well as emotion regulation, sustained attention, and personality traits.ResultsReading comprehension improved significantly after the meditation intervention (B = 2.15, t = 3.47, p = 0.002, d = 0.69), but reading speed did not change, contrary to our expectations. The control group showed no significant changes in either text comprehension or reading speed. Further, we found that meditation led to better attention capacity. Improved attention was positively associated with improved reading comprehension in the meditation group, though attention capacity did not mediate the effect on text comprehension. While we found that meditation can increase the acceptance of one’s own emotions and decrease emotional overload, these covariates did not affect comprehension performance.ConclusionsThe present work shows that mindfulness meditation improves attention capacity and text comprehension. However, mindfulness meditation does not affect reading speed. Finally, we confirmed that meditation can help in emotion regulation.PreregistrationThis study is not preregistered.

Meditation and the Wandering Mind: A Theoretical Framework of Underlying Neurocognitive Mechanisms

During the practice of meditation, the tendency of the mind to wander away from the object of focus is ubiquitous. The occurrence of mind wandering in the context of meditation provides individuals a unique and intimate opportunity to closely examine the nature of the wandering mind by cultivating an awareness of ongoing thought patterns, while simultaneously aiming to cultivate equanimity (evenness of temper or disposition) and compassion toward the content of thoughts, interpretations, and bodily sensations. In this article we provide a theoretical framework that highlights the neurocognitive mechanisms by which contemplative practices influence the neural and phenomenological processes underlying spontaneous thought. Our theoretical model focuses on several converging mechanisms: the role of meta-awareness in facilitating an increased moment-to-moment awareness of spontaneous thought processes, the effects of meditation practice on key structures underlying both the top-down cognitive processes and bottom-up sensory processes implicated in attention and emotion regulation, and the influence of contemplative practice on the neural substrates underlying perception and perceptual decoupling.

Inner tradition made visible: the interpersonal benefits and effects of meditation practice on close relationships

Inner tradition made visible: the interpersonal benefits and effects of meditation practice on close relationships

The Nondual Awareness Dimensional Assessment (NADA): New tools to assess nondual traits and states of consciousness occurring within and beyond the context of meditation.

This article details the development of two measures of nondual awareness, the Nondual Awareness Dimensional Assessment-Trait (NADA-T) and the Nondual Awareness Dimensional Assessment-State (NADA-S). Principal component analysis (N = 528) revealed two, interpretable dimensions of the NADA-T: self-transcendence and bliss. Bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling, conducted in three independent samples (N = 338, N = 221, N = 166), indicated that both NADA-T dimensions were components of a second-order nondual awareness construct. Convergent validity was observed between the NADA-T and theoretically aligned constructs, including interdependent self-construals and dispositional mindfulness. Given theoretical and observed relationships between nondual awareness and mindfulness, additional analyses examined the relationship between mindfulness practice and nondual awareness. Results indicated that mindfulness practitioners reported higher NADA-T scores than nonpractitioners, and mindfulness practice frequency was positively associated with nondual awareness. To assess the immediate effect of meditation practice on nondual awareness, items retained in the final version of the NADA-T were modified to create the NADA-S. A randomized controlled experiment (N = 53) comparing participants receiving a mindfulness induction (i.e., body scan) with those in an attention control group revealed state effects of mindfulness on nondual awareness using two, alternate forms of the NADA-S. Thus, the NADA-T appears to be psychometrically sound, representing a novel, standardized instrument capable of facilitating quantitative investigation of nondual awareness. Furthermore, the NADA-S may be useful for measuring fluctuations in nondual states of awareness evoked during mindfulness meditation practice and other contemplative techniques designed to transform consciousness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Involuntary Attention Restoration During Exposure to Mobile-Based 360° Virtual Nature in Healthy Adults With Different Levels of Restorative Experience: Event-Related Potential Study.

BackgroundWith the global trend of urbanization, there are increasing reports of a possible association between decreased exposure to nature and increased occurrence of mental disorders. New 360° virtual reality (VR) technology using smartphones and portable VR glasses can overcome spatial and temporal limitations to help people deal with mental fatigue in everyday life.ObjectiveOn the basis of attention restoration theory (ART), this study aimed to investigate whether the amplitude of the mismatch negativity (MMN)/P3a complex could act as an event-related potential (ERP) biomarker of involuntary attention restoration during exposure to 360° virtual nature in healthy young adults with different levels of restorative VR experience.MethodsA total of 40 healthy adults completed prequestionnaires on demographics and simulator sickness and postquestionnaires on simulator sickness and perceived restorativeness before and after exposure to virtual nature, respectively. During the VR exposure, brain activity was measured by electroencephalography as participants were asked to conduct a 2-tone passive auditory oddball task.ResultsThe amplitude and latency of the MMN/P3a complex were compared between individuals reporting a highly restorative experience and those reporting a less restorative experience. Although viewing a virtual nature environment, the high restorative group (N=19) exhibited significantly reduced P3a amplitudes compared with the low restorative group (N=20; t38=2.57; P=.02; d=0.59). Particularly, a moderate but significant negative correlation was found between the self-reported restorativeness scores and the P3a amplitudes at the fronto-central region (r=−.38; P=.02). However, the latency of the MMN/P3a complex did not significantly differ between the 2 groups (auditory mismatch negativity: t38=−1.47; P=.15 and P3a: t38=−0.31; P=.76).ConclusionsConsidering individuals’ restorative experience, the amplitude of the fronto-central MMN/P3a complex can potentially be employed as a distinct ERP component of interest in involuntary attention restoration during virtual nature experience in healthy young adults. The findings for the 360° virtual nature experience seem to be consistent with those of previous ERP studies on the effects of meditation practice. This study extends the findings of previous ART and ERP studies of real-world meditation, restoration, and mental fatigue management into the virtual world created by mobile phone–based VR glasses and 360° video content.

Effects of meditation practice on spontaneous eyeblink rate.

A rapidly growing body of research suggests that meditation can change brain and cognitive functioning. Yet little is known about the neurochemical mechanisms underlying meditation-related changes in cognition. Here, we investigated the effects of meditation on spontaneous eyeblink rates (sEBR), a noninvasive peripheral correlate of striatal dopamine activity. Previous studies have shown a relationship between sEBR and cognitive functions such as mind wandering, cognitive flexibility, and attention-functions that are also affected by meditation. We therefore expected that long-term meditation practice would alter eyeblink activity. To test this, we recorded baseline sEBR and intereyeblink intervals (IEBI) in long-term meditators (LTM) and meditation-naive participants (MNP). We found that LTM not only blinked less frequently, but also showed a different eyeblink pattern than MNP. This pattern had good to high degree of consistency over three time points. Moreover, we examined the effects of an 8-week course of mindfulness-based stress reduction on sEBR and IEBI, compared to an active control group and a waitlist control group. No effect of short-term meditation practice was found. Finally, we investigated whether different types of meditation differentially alter eyeblink activity by measuring sEBR and IEBI after a full day of two kinds of meditation practices in the LTM. No effect of meditation type was found. Taken together, these findings may suggest either that individual difference in dopaminergic neurotransmission is a self-selection factor for meditation practice, or that long-term, but not short-term meditation practice induces stable changes in baseline striatal dopaminergic functioning.

Presence of Mind

This article presents the results of a study into the effects of meditation practice on the lives of professional educators, specifically educators who either began or continued such practice during course work led by Professor Miller at the University of Toronto. The study incorporates semistructured interviews with 12 participants to track their current engagement with meditative practice. Respondents attest to the power of meditation to aid in reducing stress, increasing awareness of oneself and others, and promoting healthier interpersonal communication. These educator-practitioners also assert their belief in the power of regular meditation to help mitigate and improve their relationships with students, colleagues, and family members as well as to facilitate teacher presence.

Meditation practice as related to occupational stress, health and productivity.

This article reviews three studies giving evidence on the effects of meditation practice on employees' health in the work setting. Although there may be a beneficial role for meditation, unfortunately, these findings await further replication so it would be premature to conclude that meditation practice reduces occupational stress.

Accumulative Effects of Periodic Relaxation

Wallace (1970) found potentially beneficial physiological effects during the practice of a relaxation technique known as Transcendental Meditation. He noted decreased 0.2 consumption, reduction of cardiac output, and improved C02 elimination. Subsequent studies focusing upon possible generalized effects to subjects' general health and possible accumulative effects of meditation practices have been few wherein baseline data were acquired prior to subjects' beginning meditation and control groups were also run. The present study was conducted in cooperation with the Students' International Meditation Society which standardized the instructional technique commonly known as Transcendental Meditation. In a mixed factorial design students from the University of Arizona who sought instruction were subiects. Seventeen meditators were tested 2 wk. before. 2 wk. after. and 10 wk. after beginning Transcendental Meditation. Identical measures were taken on a control group of 7 subjects during the same period. Seventy-three response measures were used including: sitting pulse rates; type and duration of illnesses; symptomatology reports with regard to respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, cardiovascular, neurological, and musculoskeletal systems; sleep patterns; drug consumption; sexual activity; exercise; mood and attitude. Meditators practiced their procedure twice daily for 20 min. per session. Control subjects were instructed not to deviate from their normal daily routine. Analyses of variance and ScheffC tests yielded a number of significant main effects. Without baseline and control group data, a variety of effects would have been mis, . takenly ascribed to the relaxation treatment. For example, pulse rate increased significantly (9 -point scale was shown in experimental subjects but not in controls. The interpretation remains obscure, however, since relaxation volunteers showed higher baseline activity on both measures than control subjects prior to the onset of training. Our results on the whole were negative. Since design inadequacies and methodological problems have pervaded much prior research on this topic, we reluctantly conclude that much data in the literamre may be contaminated. Consequently, interpretat~ons routing the benefits of Transcendental Meditation may have been misleading, as was suggested by Schwartz (1974). More precise delineation of any accumulative effects of relaxarlon procedures will further require random assignment of subjects to cells, a procedure not usually permitted by teachers of Transcendental Meditation.