Brief Mindfulness Meditation Improves Attention in Novices: Evidence From ERPs and Moderation by Neuroticism
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience August 6, 2018 Catherine J. Norris, Daniel Creem, R. Hendler et al.
A brief, 10-minute mindfulness meditation session improved attentional performance in novice meditators compared to a control activity. In two studies, participants who listened to a meditation tape showed better accuracy on incongruent trials of a Flanker task without slowing down, and faster responses on the Attention Network Test without loss of accuracy. These benefits were moderated by neuroticism: individuals lower in neuroticism who meditated exhibited a larger N2 event-related potential to incongruent trials, indicating more efficient resource allocation, while those higher in neuroticism did not show this effect. The findings suggest even short meditation can enhance attentional resource allocation in some novices.