Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention.
Katherine A Maclean, Emilio Ferrer, Stephen R Aichele, David A Bridwell, Anthony P Zanesco, Tonya L Jacobs, Brandon G King, Erika L Rosenberg, Baljinder K Sahdra, Phillip R Shaver, B Alan Wallace, George R Mangun, Clifford D Saron
Psychological Science June 1, 2010 DOI: 10.1177/0956797610371339 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 60 |
| Population | Adult participants |
| Intervention | the participant's breath) |
| Duration | Approximately 5 hr/day for 3 months |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Mental training Mindfulness practice Cognitive enhancement Brain training Mental improvement Cognitive function Mental acuity Focus Vigilance Concentration Sustained attention Perception Sensory processing Visual discrimination Perceptual sensitivity |
| Citations | 625 |
| Key findings | Meditation training improved visual discrimination and vigilance during sustained attention, linked to increases in perceptual sensitivity. |
Abstract
The ability to focus one's attention underlies success in many everyday tasks, but voluntary attention cannot be sustained for extended periods of time. In the laboratory, sustained-attention failure is manifest as a decline in perceptual sensitivity with increasing time on task, known as the vigilance decrement. We investigated improvements in sustained attention with training (approximately 5 hr/day for 3 months), which consisted of meditation practice that involved sustained selective attention on a chosen stimulus (e.g., the participant's breath). Participants were randomly assigned either to receive training first (n = 30) or to serve as waiting-list controls and receive training second (n = 30). Training produced improvements in visual discrimination that were linked to increases in perceptual sensitivity and improved vigilance during sustained visual attention. Consistent with the resource model of vigilance, these results suggest that perceptual improvements can reduce the resource demand imposed by target discrimination and thus make it easier to sustain voluntary attention.