Mindfulness and mindlessness in performance
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key points | Argues that, contrary to Dreyfus's theory of expert performance and behaviorist interpretations of enactivism, skilled action is not mindless; empirical and phenomenological studies of athletics, dance, and musical performance indicate that performance involves forms of mindfulness that do not interrupt embodied performance, supporting an enactivist view of perception and action that is neither behaviorist nor overly cognitivist. |
Abstract
I argue that, contra Dreyfus's theory of expert performance and behaviorist interpretations of enactivism, action is not mindless. Rather, empirical and phenomenological studies of athletics, dance and musical performance provide evidence that performance involves specific forms of mindfulness. Philosophically, these issues are addressed in the debate between Dreyfus and McDowell about the very nature of mind. In this paper I’ll argue that the phenomenology of performance shows that enactivist conceptions of perception and action are neither behaviorist nor overly cognitivist. Action can involve aspects of mindfulness that do not interrupt embodied performance.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |