Meditation Group Research Articles

Psychological Effects of Meditation for Healthy Practitioners: an Update

In recent years, interest in the effects of meditation has increased considerably, which might have had an impact on the outcomes as well as on the methods used. The present meta-analysis summarizes the effects of meditation for healthy practitioners for the years 2011 to 2015, thereby complementing a previous summary that covered the four decades before. We found a global effect size for studies with conventional controls of $$ \overset{-}{r} $$ = .27 (n = 54), comparable to the earlier analysis, as well as a smaller but apparently stable effect of $$ \overset{-}{r} $$ = .17 when meditation groups were compared to active controls (n = 16 studies). As in the previous summary, results were strongest for relationship issues and relatively strong for measures of intelligence and the self-concept, but effects were markedly smaller for negative emotions and anxiety. Also, in contrast to the previous analysis, meditation experience and length of meditation training correlated positively with the strength of meditation effects. Unfortunately, most studies still appear to have been conducted without sufficient theoretical background, and dependent measures seem largely to have been chosen ad hoc. We emphasize that meditation research will only make real progress if more effort is spent on developing precise theories and measurement devices.

The impact of short-term meditation on ego-depletion in college students

Objective To explore the impact of short-term meditation on ego-depletion in college students. Methods Sixty college students without any meditation and mental calculation experience were recruited voluntarily, and were allocated randomly and equally into three groups: the control group, the rest group, and the meditation group(n=20 in each group). Participants completed the positive affect and negative affect scale and the first handgrip test. A difficult mental calculation task was used to induce ego depletion. After that, the control group performed the second handgrip test immediately, and the rest group had a 5-min break, while the meditation group had a 5-min meditation practice following a meditation audio. Participants then reported the task difficulty and the impulse to write down intermediate answers during the mental calculation task. They also finished the positive and negative affect scale again. The task difficulty and impulse scores, the number of response items and correct items, the change of the handgrip time and the mood between pretest and posttest were compared among three groups. Results There were no differences in the task difficulty score, the impulse score, the number of response items and correct items among the three groups (all P>0.05). The handgrip time was shorter in posttest ((71.91±24.58) s) than in pretest ((91.39±37.63) s) in the control group (P 0.05). There were no differences in the change of positive and negative affect between pretest and posttest (all P>0.05). Conclusion Short-term meditation buffers ego depletion in college students, which cannot be attributed to affect. Key words: College students; Meditation; Ego-depletion

Meditation's Effect on Attentional Efficiency, Stress, and Mindfulness Characteristics of Nursing Students.

Strengthening attention-regulation efficiency of nurse graduates is important to the quality and safety of nursing practice in increasingly complex and cognitively distracting workplaces. Neuroscientific evidence suggests that regular practice of focused meditation can enhance attentional skills. This study explored meditation as an educational strategy for enhancing nursing students' attentional efficiency. A randomized-control trial with 52 prelicensure nursing students examined differences between those who meditated and those who did not on measurements of alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Stress and mindfulness were also explored. Meditation demonstrated moderate strength for enhancing executive attention, F = 4.26 (1, 49), n2 = .080, p = .044. Additional outcomes specific to the meditation group were reduced stress and increased mindfulness, F = 7.16 (2, 47), n2 = .234, p = .002. Results support the consideration of meditation training as a strategy for enhancing nursing students' attentional efficiency and other self-regulatory skills necessary for safe nursing practice. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(7):430-434.].

Brief mindfulness meditation group training in aphasia: exploring attention, language and psychophysiological outcomes.

Stroke is currently the leading cause of long-term disability in adults in the United States. There is a need for accessible, low-cost treatments of stroke-related disabilities such as aphasia. To explore an intervention for aphasia utilizing mindfulness meditation (MM). This preliminary study examines the feasibility of teaching MM to individuals with aphasia. Since physiological measures have not been collected for those with aphasia, the study was also an exploration of the potential attention, language and physiological changes after MM in adults with aphasia during a brief, daily group training. A 5-day MM group training was provided to adults with aphasia (n = 5) with a waitlist control group (n = (3) who engaged in 'mind wandering'. Participants were assigned to groups in a pseudo-random manner. A double baseline (2 days apart) was administered prior to the training and/or control group beginning. Both the training and the control groups met in a group setting. Salivary cortisol, heart rate and heart rate variability were measured during each day for both groups. Measures of attention, auditory comprehension and fluency were collected immediately after the study period and 1 week post-completion. This study reinforces findings from previous work indicating that adults with aphasia can learn MM. Although not statistically significant, the training group demonstrated improved fluency immediately after MM; however, changes were not maintained at follow-up. Physiological measures showed little effect associated with MM training. No changes in attention were observed for either group. This is an emerging area of interest due to the potential low cost of MM training. Furthermore, MM is easily taught to patients, suggesting the possibility for widespread use in clinical practice as a supplement to existing language-focused interventions.

Mindfulness Meditation May Not Increase False-Memory and May Instead Protect from False-Memory Susceptibility

A recent study demonstrated that a single session of mindfulness meditation increased false memories using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. This purportedly resulted from mindfulness meditation inducing nonjudgmental observation of experience that contributed to failure to distinguish internally generated from externally presented information. We sought to replicate these results and extend them by warning half of the participants that the DRM task would elicit false memories. We hypothesized that we would see a lower incidence of false memories in the mindfulness induction–warning group consistent with previous findings regarding control of attention. In two experiments, we found results inconsistent with our hypotheses: in Experiment 1, the mindfulness induction did not lead to a greater number of false memories, nor did the warning interact with the induction; in Experiment 2, groups did not differ in the number of false memories, and the mindfulness meditation group significantly decreased false memories after the mindfulness induction. We propose that it may be too early to conclude that mindfulness meditation increases susceptibility to false memory.

Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence of Enhanced Performance Monitoring in Meditators

Performance monitoring—the ability to monitor ongoing performance to detect and correct errors—is a core component of cognitive control. Impairments in performance monitoring have been associated with several psychiatric disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and substance use disorder. Recent research indicates that the practice of meditation, as a mental training technique, may improve cognitive control. However, if and to what extent regular long-term meditation practice may enhance performance monitoring is currently unknown. The present study examined effects of meditation practice on behavioral and electrophysiological indices of performance monitoring. A group of meditators and an experience-matched active control group (non-meditator athletes) performed an Eriksen-Flanker task while their brain activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). Behaviorally, meditators made significantly fewer errors than controls on incongruent trials. EEG analyses revealed a general increase in the amplitude of two brain potentials associated with performance monitoring—the error negativity (Ne) or error-related negativity (ERN) and correct-related negativity (CRN)—in meditators compared to controls. These findings, which are indicative of enhanced performance monitoring in meditators, corroborate the idea that meditation could be a recommendable practice to train and improve cognitive control, specifically performance monitoring.

Sequence Learning Enhancement Following Single-Session Meditation Is Dependent on Metacontrol Mode and Experienced Effort

Focused attention (FAM) and open monitoring (OMM) meditation types establish distinct metacontrol states that have immediate effects on how attention allocation strategies are utilised in subsequent, unrelated tasks. Because attention allocation is a central factor in sequential action, the present experiment investigated whether a single-session of FAM and OMM enhanced subsequent sequence performance and learning. Relative to a control listening task, a single session of FAM or OMM resulted in heightened sequence performance without affecting sequence learning on average. However, the level of effort experienced in the meditation conditions was found to significantly correlate with sequence learning indices and post hoc analyses revealed that low effort level in both meditation groups was associated with significantly greater general sequence performance improvements. Interestingly, the degree of sequence-specific learning that brought about these improvements was enhanced only by OMM and only in those reporting low effort level with this meditation type. Thus, only the combination of low effort and OMM established a cognitive control state that was beneficial for the acquisition of complex sequence structures. This work provides further insights into instantaneous effects of FAM and OMM on goal-oriented cognitive function while also raising important questions about the control of mediation-induced states.

A cross-sectional evaluation of meditation experience on electroencephalography data by artificial neural network and support vector machine classifiers.

To quantitate the meditation experience is a subjective and complex issue because it is confounded by many factors such as emotional state, method of meditation, and personal physical condition. In this study, we propose a strategy with a cross-sectional analysis to evaluate the meditation experience with 2 artificial intelligence techniques: artificial neural network and support vector machine. Within this analysis system, 3 features of the electroencephalography alpha spectrum and variant normalizing scaling are manipulated as the evaluating variables for the detection of accuracy. Thereafter, by modulating the sliding window (the period of the analyzed data) and shifting interval of the window (the time interval to shift the analyzed data), the effect of immediate analysis for the 2 methods is compared. This analysis system is performed on 3 meditation groups, categorizing their meditation experiences in 10-year intervals from novice to junior and to senior. After an exhausted calculation and cross-validation across all variables, the high accuracy rate >98% is achievable under the criterion of 0.5-minute sliding window and 2 seconds shifting interval for both methods. In a word, the minimum analyzable data length is 0.5 minute and the minimum recognizable temporal resolution is 2 seconds in the decision of meditative classification. Our proposed classifier of the meditation experience promotes a rapid evaluation system to distinguish meditation experience and a beneficial utilization of artificial techniques for the big-data analysis.

A randomised controlled study of mindfulness meditation versus relaxation therapy in the management of tinnitus.

Psychotherapeutic interventions have been adopted effectively in the management of tinnitus for a long time. This study compared mindfulness meditation and relaxation therapy for management of tinnitus. In this randomised controlled trial, patients were recruited for five sessions of mindfulness meditation or five sessions of relaxation therapy. Patients' responses were evaluated using the Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire as a primary outcome measure, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, visual analogue scale and a health status indicator as secondary outcome measures. A total of 86 patients were recruited. Thirty-four patients completed mindfulness meditation and 27 patients completed relaxation therapy. Statistically significant improvement was seen in all outcome measures except the health status indicator in both treatment groups. The change in treatment scores was greater in the mindfulness meditation group than in the relaxation therapy group. This study suggests that although both mindfulness meditation and relaxation therapy are effective in the management of tinnitus, mindfulness meditation is superior to relaxation therapy.

Effect of Brief Focused Attention Meditation on Theory of Mind

Background: The ability to infer and understand the mental states of others termed as Theory of Mind, is an intrinsic part of social interaction. Most efforts have been made to study disorders related to ToM i.e. depletion in ToM and considerably less is known about variables that may enhance ToM. Further, effects of meditation have been studied extensively in domains of Attention and Emotional regulation, yet only few studies have studied effect of meditation on ToM. In current study, brief intervention methodology was used to access effects of meditative practice on Theory of Mind. Two groups were formed, first group consisted of subject who were treated with a particular type of meditation termed as Focused Attention meditation and second group was treated with a pseudo meditation. Treatment used was of 20-minute duration in both groups and subjects of both groups were without any prior long term experience in any form of meditation. Result: After that subject self-reported mindfulness, attention and awareness via MAAS- state scale and then participated in a ToM experiment called YONI task, to access any changes in their ability to do ToM, for both cognitive ToM and affective ToM. The results indicated that brief Focused Attention meditation enhanced both Cognitive ToM and Affective ToM.

Compassion-Based Meditation in African Americans: Self-Criticism Mediates Changes in Depression.

This study examines self-criticism as a mechanism through which compassion meditation reduces depressive symptoms in low-income African American men and women (N=59) who had recently attempted suicide. After completing several measures, including the Levels of Self-Criticism Scale and Beck Depression Inventory-II, participants were randomly assigned to receive either a six-session compassion meditation (CM) group (Grady Compassion and Meditation Program) or a six-session support group. As predicted, path analysis results showed that treatment condition led to changes in self-criticism from pre- to posttreatment, with those receiving CM showing greater reductions in levels of self-criticism than those randomized to the support group. Path analyses also revealed that changes in self-criticism fully mediated the link between condition and changes in depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the importance and value of targeting levels of self-criticism in compassion-based interventions to reduce the depressive symptoms of suicidal African Americans.

Yoga Jam: Remixing kīrtan in the Art of Living

Yoga Jam are a group of musicians from the United Kingdom who are active members of the Art of Living, a transnational Hindu-derived meditation group. Yoga Jam organize events—also referred to as yoga raves and yoga remixes—that combine Hindu devotional songs (bhajans) and chants (mantras) with modern Western popular musical genres, such as soul, rock, and particularly electronic dance music. This hybrid music is often played in a clublike setting, and dancing is interspersed with yoga and meditation. Yoga jams are creative fusions of what at first sight seem to be two incompatible phenomena—modern electronic dance music culture and ancient yogic traditions. However, yoga jams make sense if the Durkheimian distinction between the sacred and the profane is challenged, and if tradition and modernity are not understood as existing in a sort of inverse relationship. This paper argues that yoga raves are authenticated through the somatic experience of the modern popular cultural phenomenon of clubbing combined with therapeutic yoga practices and validated by identifying this experience with a reimagined Vedic tradition.

Neurobiological Aspects of Mindfulness in Pain Autoregulation: Unexpected Results from a Randomized-Controlled Trial and Possible Implications for Meditation Research.

Background: Research has demonstrated that short meditation training may yield higher pain tolerance in acute experimental pain. Our study aimed at examining underlying mechanisms of this alleged effect. In addition, placebo research has shown that higher pain tolerance is mediated via endogenous neuromodulators: experimental inhibition of opioid receptors by naloxone antagonized this effect. We performed a trial to discern possible placebo from meditation-specific effects on pain tolerance and attention.Objectives: It was proposed that (i) meditation training will increase pain tolerance; (ii) naloxone will inhibit this effect; (iii) increased pain tolerance will correlate with improved attention performance and mindfulness.Methods: Randomized-controlled, partly blinded trial with 31 healthy meditation-naïve adults. Pain tolerance was assessed by the tourniquet test, attention performance was measured by Attention Network Test (ANT), self-perceived mindfulness by Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory. 16 participants received a 5-day meditation training, focusing on body/breath awareness; the control group (N = 15) received no intervention. Measures were taken before the intervention and on 3 consecutive days after the training, with all participants receiving either no infusion, naloxone infusion, or saline infusion (blinded). Blood samples were taken in order to determine serum morphine and morphine glucuronide levels by applying liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis.Results: The meditation group produced fewer errors in ANT. Paradoxically, increases in pain tolerance occurred in both groups (accentuated in control), and correlated with reported mindfulness. Naloxone showed a trend to decrease pain tolerance in both groups. Plasma analyses revealed sporadic morphine and/or morphine metabolite findings with no discernable pattern.Discussion: Main objectives could not be verified. Since underlying study goals had not been made explicit to participants, on purpose (framing effects toward a hypothesized mindfulness-pain tolerance correlation were thus avoided, trainees had not been instructed how to ‘use’ mindfulness, regarding pain), the question remains open whether lack of meditation effects on pain tolerance was due to these intended ‘non-placebo’ conditions, cultural effects, or other confounders, or on an unsuitable paradigm.Conclusion: Higher pain tolerance through meditation could not be confirmed.

The Effect of Brief Mindfulness Meditation on Cold-Pressor Induced Pain Responses in Healthy Adults

We hypothesised a 10 minute mindfulness based intervention performed by a novice therapist would have a beneficial effect on pain responses in naive participants. Twenty-four participants were randomly assigned to the control group or mindfulness meditation group. The control group sat quietly for 10 minutes in between two cold pressor tasks. The mindfulness meditation intervention group practiced 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation in between cold-pressor tasks following standardised mindfulness of breathing meditation technique instructions provided by a male investigator. A significant interaction effect was found between anxiety towards pain ratings (pre-intervention vs. post-intervention) and intervention (F = 6.29, p = 0.02). There was a significant decrease (t = 4.07, p = 0.002) in anxiety towards pain ratings in the mindfulness meditation group following intervention. A significant interaction effect was found between pain threshold times (pre-intervention vs. post-intervention) and intervention (F = 18.45, p < 0.001). There was a significant increase (t = -4.38, p = 0.001) in pain threshold times in the mindfulness meditation group following intervention. A significant interaction effect was found between pain tolerance times (pre-intervention vs. post-intervention) and intervention (F = 18.34, p < 0.001). A significant increase (t = -4.20, p = 0.001) in pain tolerance times in the mindfulness meditation group following intervention was also found. The results suggest a single 10 minute mindfulness meditation intervention administered by a novice therapist can improve pain tolerance, pain threshold and decrease anxiety towards pain in na?ve healthy university aged individuals.

Reduced mind wandering in experienced meditators and associated EEG correlates.

One outstanding question in the contemplative science literature relates to the direct impact of meditation experience on the monitoring of internal states and its respective correspondence with neural activity. In particular, to what extent does meditation influence the awareness, duration and frequency of the tendency of the mind to wander. To assess the relation between mind wandering and meditation, we tested 2 groups of meditators, one with a moderate level of experience (non-expert) and those who are well advanced in their practice (expert). We designed a novel paradigm using self-reports of internal mental states based on an experiential sampling probe paradigm presented during ~1h of seated concentration meditation to gain insight into the dynamic measures of electroencephalography (EEG) during absorption in meditation as compared to reported mind wandering episodes. Our results show that expert meditation practitioners report a greater depth and frequency of sustained meditation, whereas non-expert practitioners report a greater depth and frequency of mind wandering episodes. This is one of the first direct behavioral indices of meditation expertise and its associated impact on the reduced frequency of mind wandering, with corresponding EEG activations showing increased frontal midline theta and somatosensory alpha rhythms during meditation as compared to mind wandering in expert practitioners. Frontal midline theta and somatosensory alpha rhythms are often observed during executive functioning, cognitive control and the active monitoring of sensory information. Our study thus provides additional new evidence to support the hypothesis that the maintenance of both internal and external orientations of attention may be maintained by similar neural mechanisms and that these mechanisms may be modulated by meditation training.

Post-training Meditation Promotes Motor Memory Consolidation.

Following training, motor memory consolidation is thought to involve either memory stabilization or off-line learning processes. The extent to which memory stabilization or off-line learning relies on post-training wakeful periods or sleep is not clear and thus, novel research approaches are needed to further explore the conditions that promote motor memory consolidation. The present experiment represents the first empirical test of meditation as potential facilitator of motor memory consolidation. Twelve adult residents of a yoga center with a mean of 9 years meditation experience were trained on a sequence key pressing task. Three hours after training, the meditation group completed a 30 min session of yoga nidra meditation while a control group completed 30 min of light work duties. A wakeful period of 4.5 h followed meditation after which participants completed a test involving both trained and untrained sequences. Training performance did not significantly differ between groups. Comparison of group performance at test, revealed a performance benefit of post-training meditation but this was limited to trained sequences only. That the post-training meditation performance benefit was specific to trained sequences is consistent with the notion of meditation promoting motor memory consolidation as opposed to general motor task performance benefits from meditation. Further, post-training meditation appears to have promoted motor memory stabilization as opposed to off-line learning. These findings represent the first demonstration of meditation related motor memory consolidation and are consistent with a growing body of literature demonstrating the benefits of meditation for cognitive function, including memory.

The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Hope and Stress

Purpose: To evaluate mindfulness meditation as an antecedent of reductions in stress and increases in hope. Method: A quasi-experimental design ( N = 46; meditation group, n = 23; comparison group, n = 23) using a community sample was used to evaluate the impact of mindfulness meditation on stress and hope. A path analysis was also used to model a directional relationship between meditation participation and increases in hope mediated by reductions in stress. Results: The data indicated that the meditation group exhibited significantly higher hope and lower stress than the comparison group. The path analysis indicated that reductions in stress fully mediated the relationship between mindfulness meditation and increases in hope. Discussion: The data support that meditation can increase hope via stress reduction. The results suggest a need for further research into mindfulness meditation and hope, especially since increasing hope is a fundamental aim of strengths-based practice.

Comparative Effectiveness of Three Occupational Therapy Sleep Interventions

Although sleep intervention is within the domain of occupational therapy, few studies exist supporting practice. Effectiveness of three sleep interventions was compared: Dreampad Pillow®, iRest® meditation, and sleep hygiene. Twenty-nine participants were randomly assigned to the Dreampad Pillow® ( n = 10), iRest® meditation ( n = 9), and sleep hygiene ( n = 10) groups. In Phase 1, all participants used a 7-day sleep hygiene regimen to reduce poor sleep habits. In Phase 2 (14 days), 10 participants used the Dreampad Pillow® and sleep hygiene, nine used the iRest meditation and sleep hygiene, and 10 continued sleep hygiene only. At intervention-end, the iRest meditation group experienced statistically greater time asleep than both the Dreampad Pillow® ( p < .006, d = 1.87) and sleep hygiene groups ( p < .03, d = 1.80). The Dreampad Pillow® group experienced statistically fewer nighttime awakenings than the iRest® meditation ( p < .04, d = -1.53) and sleep hygiene ( p < .004, d = -1.43) groups. No differences were found between groups in perceived sleep quality, length of time needed to fall asleep, and fatigue level next day. This study provides support for sleep interventions within occupational therapy's domain.

Does Home Practice Compliance Make a Difference in the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Interventions for Adolescents?

Mindfulness-based interventions encourage home practice to cultivate the development and enhancement of skills. The degree to which adolescents practice mindfulness outside of sessions and whether such home practice relates to measurable outcomes has not been investigated. The present study investigated the effects of home practice compliance on cognitive and psychological outcomes, as well as the relationship between intervention expectations and home practice compliance in adolescents participating in a school-based mindfulness program. As part of a randomized controlled trial, participants completed either a mindfulness meditation (n = 76) or hatha yoga (n = 92) intervention. Pre- and post-intervention measures of working memory capacity, perceived stress, anxiety, and mindfulness were collected. Participants also completed a daily home practice log during the intervention in which they recorded the number of minutes spent practicing mindfulness meditation or hatha yoga. Results indicated that home practice compliance was poor relative to suggested home practice in both intervention groups; however, the hatha yoga group reported significantly more home practice than the mindfulness meditation group (p = 0.003). Hatha yoga participants who engaged in more home practice (upper tertile) showed a statistically significant decrease in perceived stress, while those who reported the lowest amount of home practice (bottom tertile) showed an increase in stress. In the yoga condition, intervention expectations were positively correlated with home practice (ρ = 0.28, p < 0.05). Current findings suggest that home practice compliance is related to stress reduction in hatha yoga interventions for adolescents. Limitations and avenues for future research are discussed.

Enhanced happiness and stress alleviation upon insight meditation retreat: mindfulness, a part of traditional Buddhist meditation

ABSTRACTThis research aims to examine how traditional insight meditation in Thailand is trained and to investigate the impact of this practice on happiness and perceived stress. The fuller meaning of mindfulness and how to interweave mindfulness in daily practice is discussed. The intervention was a seven-day traditional insight meditation retreat in Thailand. The final sample included 656 participants, n = 330 and 326 in experimental group and control group, respectively. Validated versions of happiness and perceived stress scales for Thai people were used. The magnitude of happiness and stress changes following the intervention, determined by effect sizes were used as a benchmark for interpreting the health status change between baseline and post-test. The effect sizes for happiness and perceived stress were .379 and −.428 in the meditation group, which is much greater, compared to the effect sizes of −.045 and −.003, respectively, in the control group.