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Combining Behavior and EEG to Study the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Episodic Memory
Published on: May 11, 2020
Meditation improves self-regulation over the life span
Yi-Yuan Tang1, Michael I Posner2, Mary K Rothbart2
1Department of Psychology and Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|September 17, 2013
Summary
Meditation practice improves self-regulation, emotion, and attention. Short-term meditation interventions show measurable effects in diverse age groups and can be studied using neuroimaging.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Meditation has a long history for improving emotion and attention regulation.
- Evidence for meditation's effectiveness is often anecdotal or compares long-term practitioners.
- Recent studies allow for randomized trials on short-term meditation effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of short-term meditation on self-regulation.
- To compare meditation with other self-control methods like relaxation training.
- To explore neurobiological changes associated with meditation practice.
Main Methods:
- Randomized trials comparing meditation with relaxation training.
- Studies conducted on undergraduate students, children, and older adults.
- Neuroimaging techniques to examine brain activation and connectivity.
Main Results:
- Significant improvements in self-regulation observed after only 5 days of meditation.
- Similar effects found across different age groups (children, undergraduates, seniors).
- Neuroimaging reveals enhanced activation and connectivity in brain regions linked to self-regulation.
Conclusions:
- Short-term meditation is an effective method for improving self-regulation.
- Meditation practice induces measurable neurobiological changes.
- Findings offer new avenues for understanding and treating mental disorders.
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