The effects of mindfulness meditation on mechanisms of attentional control in young and older adults: a preregistered eye tracking study.
Andy Jeesu Kim, Keran Chen, Ying Tian, Mara Mather
eNeuro July 7, 2025 DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0356-23.2025 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Preregistered longitudinal study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Young, middle-aged, and older adults |
| Intervention | Guided mindfulness meditation |
| Duration | 30-day intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Attention Aging Research study |
| Key findings | Guided mindfulness meditation improved saccadic reaction times in oculomotor search tasks, but did not show age differences in response to the intervention or improvements in other attentional control measures beyond repeated practice. |
Abstract
Neuroimaging data reveal that a functional locus coeruleus-noradrenaline (LC-NA) system is critical in maintaining cognitive performance during aging. However, older adults show reduced LC integrity and altered functional connectivity, demonstrating both structural declines and dysfunction. The LC-NA system mediates mechanisms of attention processing and eye tracking studies have shown that older adults are slower and more distractible compared with young adults in visual search tasks. Prior studies have shown that mindfulness meditation modulates LC noradrenergic activity, increases gray matter volume in the brainstem, and improves attentional control. Thus, in a preregistered longitudinal study, we investigated whether thirty days of guided mindfulness meditation using a mobile application improved attentional control measured with eye movements. We hypothesized that older adults would show greater benefits from the mindfulness intervention compared with young adults. In two oculomotor search tasks, we identified that guided mindfulness practice improved saccadic reaction times, but that other longitudinal benefits in goal-directed attentional control or distractibility by task-irrelevant salient stimuli may be from repeated practice. Furthermore, we did not find evidence for age differences in response to the mindfulness intervention between young, middle-aged, and older adults, nor among scores on mindfulness questionnaires. Our findings show that short-term mindfulness practice can modulate cognition, specifically with the speed of overt orienting of attention, that may not be observable in self-report measures. This study is the first to show the utility of mindfulness on cognition using a highly reliable measure in eye movements and suggests future longer term intervention studies may be warranted.Significance Statement In a preregistered study, we investigated whether thirty days of guided mindfulness meditation can improve mechanisms of attentional control measured with eye tracking. We identified that mindfulness improved saccadic reaction times but found that the benefits did not differentially affect young, middle-aged, or older adults. Our findings reveal that short-term mindfulness practice can improve attention processing in ways that may not be observable in self-report questionnaires.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cites 27
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Assessment January 27, 2006
- Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being JAMA Internal Medicine January 6, 2014
- Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences October 11, 2007
- The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin May 14, 2012
and 22 more in the library