Stimulus over-selectivity in temporal brain injury: mindfulness as a potential intervention

The current study aimed to investigate the impact of brief mindfulness training on the performance of a sample of patients with TBI in an over-selectivity task.

Twenty-four patients who had suffered TBI and reported problems with focused or sustained attention.

The study was a between-subjects design (mindfulness intervention vs control) with difference between number of most and least chosen stimulus selections on an over-selectivity task as the dependent measure.

The results of this study indicated that stimulus over-selectivity was present in a group of patients with TBI. However, the level of emergent over-selectivity was significantly reduced by a mindfulness induction when compared to a no- intervention control group.

The findings are discussed in terms of the efficacy of mindfulness training in reducing TBI-related cognitive deficits.