Effects of meditation on consolidation of perceptual learning
E. Scilipoti, Takeo Watanabe
Journal of Vision September 23, 2011 DOI: 10.1167/11.11.1017 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study with a between-groups comparison (meditators vs. non-meditator controls) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Zen meditators and non-meditators |
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Duration | Ten sessions over five consecutive days; 20-minute interval between training conditions each day |
| Measures | texture discrimination task (TDT) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Meditation during the interval between two texture discrimination training sessions was associated with less interference from the second session on stabilization of the first than relaxation. The authors suggest this indicates meditation enhances the consolidation process of perceptual learning. |
Abstract
Meditative practices can enhance visuospatial working memory (Kozhevnikov et al., 2009) and sensory acuity (Kerr et al., 2005). It is thought that these effects are caused by enhanced attention to a given task, due to meditation. However, it is not clear whether meditation facilitates other forms of implicit processing that do not directly relate to attention. Here we investigated the effects of meditation on perceptual learning stabilization that occurs after training on a texture discrimination task (TDT) (Karni and Sagi, 1992). Zen meditators and non-meditators were trained in TDT. Previous studies have reported that learning of TDT with a background orientation (training A) is impaired by subsequent learning of TDT with a different background orientation (training B) (Yotsumoto et al., 2009). It is thought that such impairment is due to the interference effects of training B on the consolidation/stabilization processes of training A (Shadmehr and Holcomb, 1997; Seitz et al., 2005). We examined whether this interference effect could be reduced or overcome by meditation. Participants completed a total of ten sessions that were administered in five consecutive days. Within each day, successive sessions consisted of two training conditions, A and B, that were separated by a 20 minute interval, during which participants were instructed to engage in either meditation or relaxation (“mind-wandering”). The two training conditions differed only in the orientation of background elements. The results show that the amount of interference was smaller for the meditation group compared to relaxation controls. These results suggest that meditation enhances the consolidation process of perceptual learning.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |