Mindful breath awareness meditation facilitates efficiency gains in brain networks: A steady-state visually evoked potentials study
Scientific Reports September 12, 2018 Benjamin Schöne, T. Gruber, Sebastian Graetz et al.
Practicing mindful breath awareness meditation for eight weeks improved performance on a multiple object tracking task that measures sustained selective visual attention and spatial working memory. Electroencephalography recordings showed reduced steady-state visually evoked potential amplitudes in the meditation group, indicating more efficient use of attentional resources. No such changes occurred in the progressive muscle relaxation control group. Neither group reported changes in positive affect or mindfulness, though the meditation group showed a marginal increase in negative affect. The findings suggest that mindfulness meditation may refine attention networks.