Can mindfulness meditation improve performance? Evidence from a college classroom
Christina Peters, Katherine M. Sauer
Education Economics April 10, 2025 DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2025.2484579 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized experiment Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Students in an academic setting |
| Interventions | Guided meditations Mindfulness meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Education |
| Key findings | Students who completed brief guided meditations immediately before exams performed better than a control group, and response analysis suggests this may reflect reduced dependence on heuristics for simplifying complex questions. The authors propose mindfulness meditation as a tool for reducing bias in decision-making. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT We conducted a randomized experiment in an academic setting to test two research questions: first, does participating in guided meditations improve student performance? Second, does mindfulness meditation reduce reliance on mental heuristics? Our results document that students who are asked to complete brief meditations immediately before exams perform better compared to students in a control group. Moreover, detailed analysis of exam responses suggests their improved performance may result from less dependence on heuristics to simplify complex questions. Our research thus proposes mindfulness meditation as a tool for educators, individuals, and policymakers to use in efforts to reduce bias in decision-making.