The potential of mindfulness meditation to enhance cognitive processes

Recent research published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology indicates that even brief sessions of mindfulness meditation can significantly impact learning and decision-making abilities.

Participants who engaged in mindfulness meditation demonstrated an improved capacity to learn from unexpectedly positive outcomes and displayed a greater inclination towards exploring novel options rather than relying solely on familiar choices.

Led by Marius Golubickis, a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, the study explored the effects of a 5-minute mindfulness meditation session on decision-making under uncertainty.

Sixty participants with minimal meditation experience were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness group or a control group.

Those in the mindfulness group practiced guided mindfulness meditation focusing on mindful breathing, while the control group engaged in a neutral activity.

Following these activities, participants completed a Probabilistic Selection Task, simulating decision-making scenarios with uncertain outcomes.

Analysis revealed that the mindfulness group exhibited enhanced learning from positive feedback and displayed a more deliberate approach to decision-making compared to the control group.

The study underscores the potential of mindfulness meditation to enhance cognitive processes and offers avenues for further research into its long-term effects and applications in mental health interventions.

References

• Brief mindfulness-based meditation enhances the speed of learning following positive prediction errors
• Study reveals the remarkable impact of meditation on basic cognitive mechanisms during learning