Breath counting as a measure of sustained attention in mindfulness meditation and its effect on mood.

Meditation and attention: A comparison of the effects of concentrative and mindfulness meditation on sustained attention

Mental Health Religion & Culture ◽

10.1080/13674679908406332 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 59-70 ◽

Cited By ~ 198

Author(s):

Elizabeth R. Valentine ◽

Philip L. G. Sweet

Keyword(s):

Sustained Attention ◽

Mindfulness Meditation

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Mindfulness meditators show altered distributions of early and late neural activity markers of attention in a response inhibition task

10.1101/396259 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

NW Bailey ◽

G Freedman ◽

K Raj ◽

CM Sullivan ◽

NC Rogasch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustained Attention ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Visual Information ◽

Mindfulness Meditation ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Eeg Recordings ◽

The Right

AbstractAttention is a vital executive function, since other executive functions are largely dependent on it. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to enhance attention. However, the components of attention altered by meditation and the related neural activities are underexplored. In particular, the contributions of inhibitory processes and sustained attention are not well understood. Additionally, it is not clear whether improvements in attention are related to increases in the strength of typically activated brain areas, or the recruitment of additional or alternative brain areas. To address these points, 34 meditators were compared to 28 age and gender matched controls during electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of neural activity during a Go/Nogo response inhibition task. This task generates a P3 event related potential, which is related to response inhibition processes in Nogo trials, and attention processes across both trial types. Compared with controls, meditators were more accurate at responding to Go and Nogo trials. Meditators showed a more frontally distributed P3 to both Go and Nogo trials, suggesting more frontal involvement in sustained attention rather than activity specific to response inhibition. Unexpectedly, meditators also showed increased positivity over the right parietal cortex prior to visual information reaching the occipital cortex. Both results were positively related to increased accuracy across both groups. The results suggest that meditators have an increased capacity to modulate a range of neural processes in order to meet task requirements, including higher order processes, and sensory anticipation processes. This increased capacity may underlie the improved attentional function observed in mindfulness meditators.

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Speeded Paper-Pencil Sustained Attention and Mental Speed Tests

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001.29.4.205 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 205-216 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Stefan Krumm ◽

Lothar Schmidt-Atzert ◽

Kurt Michalczyk ◽

Vanessa Danthiir

Keyword(s):

Sustained Attention ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Factor Model ◽

Higher Order ◽

Future Research ◽

Perceptual Speed ◽

Speed Factor ◽

Close Relationship ◽

Task Processing ◽

Order Factor

Mental speed (MS) and sustained attention (SA) are theoretically distinct constructs. However, tests of MS are very similar to SA tests that use time pressure as an impeding condition. The performance in such tasks largely relies on the participants’ speed of task processing (i.e., how quickly and correctly one can perform the simple cognitive tasks). The present study examined whether SA and MS are empirically the same or different constructs. To this end, 24 paper-pencil and computerized tests were administered to 199 students. SA turned out to be highly related to MS task classes: substitution and perceptual speed. Furthermore, SA showed a very close relationship with the paper-pencil MS factor. The correlation between SA and computerized speed was considerably lower but still high. In a higher-order general speed factor model, SA had the highest loading on the higher-order factor; the higher-order factor explained 88% of SA variance. It is argued that SA (as operationalized with tests using time pressure as an impeding condition) and MS cannot be differentiated, at the level of broad constructs. Implications for neuropsychological assessment and future research are discussed.

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