Domain-specific enhancement of metacognitive ability following meditation training.
Benjamin Baird, Michael D. Mrazek, Dawa T. Phillips, Jonathan W. Schooler
Journal of experimental psychology. General October 1, 2014 DOI: 10.1037/a0036882 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Cross-sectional Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | meditation-training program |
| Duration | 2-week meditation-training program |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Post-publication review | 1 comment on PubPeer (opens in new tab) · last active September 2016 |
| Key findings | A two-week meditation program significantly enhanced introspective accuracy in the memory domain but not in the perception domain. |
Abstract
Contemplative mental practices aim to enable individuals to develop greater awareness of their own cognitive and affective states through repeated examination of first-person experience. Recent cross-sectional studies of long-term meditation practitioners suggest that the subjective reports of such individuals are better calibrated with objective indices; however, the impact of mental training on metacognitive ability has not yet been examined in a randomized controlled investigation. The present study evaluated the impact of a 2-week meditation-training program on introspective accuracy in the domains of perception and memory. Compared with an active control group that elicited no change, we found that a 2-week meditation program significantly enhanced introspective accuracy, quantified by metacognitive judgments of cognition on a trial-by-trial basis, in a memory but not a perception domain. Together, these data suggest that, in at least some domains, the human capacity to introspect is plastic and can be enhanced through training.