The Effectiveness of Short Meditation on Attentional Performance: A Quick Classroom Activity
Current Research in Complementary & Alternative Medicine September 22, 2023 Ren Guerriero, Shreyas Joshi, Bruce F. O’Hara
A brief in-class activity using focused-breathing meditation improved reaction times on the psychomotor vigilance test for most undergraduate students after just five minutes, though a comparable period of being sedentary also produced improvements. The amount of sleep the previous night did not affect performance changes. The activity, taught with a learning-cycle approach, has been repeated over several years in both introductory biology and a 300-level neuroscience techniques course. The discussion covers stress response, neurophysiology of meditation, brain electrical activity, brain regions, and the impact of behaviors on physiology.