The mindful eye: Smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements in meditators and non-meditators.
Veena Kumari, Elena Antonova, Bernice Wright, Aseel Hamid, Eva Machado Hernandez, Anne Schmechtig, Ulrich Ettinger
Consciousness and Cognition February 2017 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.10.008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 60 |
| Population | Healthy men aged 19-59 years, 30 experienced mindfulness practitioners and 30 meditation-naïve individuals |
| Measures | Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), smooth pursuit (SPEM) task, antisaccade (AS) task |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Antisaccade Attention Control Dispositional mindfulness Intra-individual variability |
| Key findings | Experienced mindfulness practitioners made significantly fewer catch-up and anticipatory saccades during smooth pursuit and had significantly lower intra-individual variability in gain and spatial error during antisaccade tasks than meditation-naïve individuals. No eye-movement measure correlated significantly with self-reported trait mindfulness in meditation-naïve participants. The authors conclude that cultivated, but not dispositional, mindfulness is associated with improved attention and sensorimotor control. |
Abstract
This study examined the effects of cultivated (i.e. developed through training) and dispositional (trait) mindfulness on smooth pursuit (SPEM) and antisaccade (AS) tasks known to engage the fronto-parietal network implicated in attentional and motion detection processes, and the fronto-striatal network implicated in cognitive control, respectively. Sixty healthy men (19-59years), of whom 30 were experienced mindfulness practitioners and 30 meditation-naïve, underwent infrared oculographic assessment of SPEM and AS performance. Trait mindfulness was assessed using the self-report Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Meditators, relative to meditation-naïve individuals, made significantly fewer catch-up and anticipatory saccades during the SPEM task, and had significantly lower intra-individual variability in gain and spatial error during the AS task. No SPEM or AS measure correlated significantly with FFMQ scores in meditation-naïve individuals. Cultivated, but not dispositional, mindfulness is associated with improved attention and sensorimotor control as indexed by SPEM and AS tasks.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups | 2008 | Cross-sectional study | |
| Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Adult participants | 2007 | Observational cross-sectional | n = 27 |
| Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). School-aged children and adolescents | 2011 | Cross-sectional validation study | n = 1,413 |
| Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators Experienced meditators and demographically matched nonmeditators | 2012 | Cross-sectional study | n = 152 |
| Mechanisms of Action in the Inverse Relationship Between Mindfulness and Psychological Distress Undergraduates | 2008 | Cross-sectional, correlational |
Citations in the library
Cited by 8
- Effects of mindfulness breathing meditation on stress and cognitive functions: a heart rate variability and eye-tracking study Scientific Reports October 24, 2025
- “And Now Close Your Eyes or Lower Your Gaze”: Exploring Novice Meditators and Their Attentional Processes During Meditation Journal of Cognitive Enhancement May 30, 2020
- Non-dual awareness and sensory processing in meditators: Insights from startle reflex modulation Consciousness and Cognition July 8, 2024
- Eye movements in patients in early psychosis with and without a history of cannabis use Schizophrenia May 12, 2021
- Dispositional mindfulness, alexithymia and sensory processing: Emerging insights from habituation of the acoustic startle reflex response. International Journal of Psychophysiology February 2023
and 3 more in the library
Cites 30
- 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
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences October 11, 2007
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
and 25 more in the library