Mindfulness meditation intervention in the college classroom: Mindful awareness, working memory, content retention, and elaboration.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dara G. Friedman-Wheeler ◽  
Zachary A. Reese ◽  
Jennifer A. McCabe ◽  
Christina M. Yarrish ◽  
Sushma Chapagain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
College Classroom ◽  
Mindful Awareness ◽  
Memory Content ◽  
Content Retention

scholarly journals Fronto-medial theta coordinates posterior maintenance of working memory content

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Ratcliffe ◽  
Kimron Shapiro ◽  
Bernhard P. Staresina
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Medial Cortex ◽  
Duty Cycles ◽  
Machine Learning Approach ◽  
Theta Frequency ◽  
Oscillatory Power ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Memory Content ◽  
Memory Contents

AbstractHow does the human brain manage multiple bits of information to guide goal-directed behaviour? Successful working memory (WM) functioning has consistently been linked to oscillatory power in the theta frequency band (4-8 Hz) over fronto-medial cortex (fronto-medial theta, FMT). Specifically, FMT is thought to reflect the mechanism of an executive sub-system that coordinates maintenance of memory contents in posterior regions. However, direct evidence for the role of FMT in controlling specific WM content is lacking. Here we collected high-density Electroencephalography (EEG) data whilst participants engaged in load-varying WM tasks and then used multivariate decoding methods to examine WM content during the maintenance period. Higher WM load elicited a focal increase in FMT. Importantly, decoding of WM content was driven by posterior/parietal sites, which in turn showed load-induced functional theta coupling with fronto-medial cortex. Finally, we observed a significant slowing of FMT frequency with increasing WM load, consistent with the hypothesised broadening of a theta ‘duty cycle’ to accommodate additional WM items. Together these findings demonstrate that frontal theta orchestrates posterior maintenance of WM content. Moreover, the observed frequency slowing elucidates the function of FMT oscillations by specifically supporting phase-coding accounts of WM.Significance StatementHow does the brain juggle the maintenance of multiple items in working memory (WM)? Here we show that increased WM demands increase theta power (4-8 Hz) in fronto-medial cortex. Interestingly, using a machine learning approach, we found that the content held in WM could be read out not from frontal, but from posterior areas. These areas were in turn functionally coupled with fronto-medial cortex, consistent with the idea that frontal cortex orchestrates WM representations in posterior regions. Finally, we observed that holding an additional item in WM leads to significant slowing of the frontal theta rhythm, supporting computational models that postulate longer ‘duty cycles’ to accommodate additional WM demands.

Mindfulness and Transformation in a College Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moira Martin
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Community College ◽  
Community College Students ◽  
Transformational Learning ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Educational Experience ◽  
College Classroom ◽  
College Classrooms

Community college classrooms afford students from a variety of backgrounds the possibility to engage and inform one another with respect to their unique perspectives and life experiences. Unfortunately, in many of these situations, students find themselves self-critical, and their internal comparisons with others may impede the potential of a transformational educational experience. This article discusses the benefit of utilizing mindfulness meditation as a way of bringing students more in touch with their internal processes, which in turn allows them greater availability to others in the classroom and thus creates more transformational learning experiences for these community college students.

scholarly journals Structuring of Abstract Working Memory Content by Fronto-parietal Synchrony in Primate Cortex

Neuron ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-597.e5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Nikolas Jacob ◽  
Daniel Hähnke ◽  
Andreas Nieder
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Content

scholarly journals Tracking stimulus representation across a 2-back visual working memory task

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 190228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan Wan ◽  
Ying Cai ◽  
Jason Samaha ◽  
Bradley R. Postle
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Item ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Stimulus Representation ◽  
Representational Format ◽  
The Status ◽  
Memory Content ◽  
Default Assumption

How does the neural representation of visual working memory content vary with behavioural priority? To address this, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) while subjects performed a continuous-performance 2-back working memory task with oriented-grating stimuli. We tracked the transition of the neural representation of an item ( n ) from its initial encoding, to the status of ‘unprioritized memory item' (UMI), and back to ‘prioritized memory item', with multivariate inverted encoding modelling. Results showed that the representational format was remapped from its initially encoded format into a distinctive ‘opposite' representational format when it became a UMI and then mapped back into its initial format when subsequently prioritized in anticipation of its comparison with item n + 2. Thus, contrary to the default assumption that the activity representing an item in working memory might simply get weaker when it is deprioritized, it may be that a process of priority-based remapping helps to protect remembered information when it is not in the focus of attention.

scholarly journals Phase-dependent amplification of working memory content and performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanne ten Oever ◽  
Peter De Weerd ◽  
Alexander T. Sack
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Content ◽  
And Performance

scholarly journals Selective updating of working memory content modulates meso-cortico-striatal activity

NeuroImage ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 1264-1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishnu P. Murty ◽  
Fabio Sambataro ◽  
Eugenia Radulescu ◽  
Mario Altamura ◽  
Jennifer Iudicello ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Content

scholarly journals Shielding working-memory representations from temporally predictable external interference

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Gresch ◽  
Sage Boettcher ◽  
Freek van Ede ◽  
Anna C. Nobre
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
External Interference ◽  
Irrelevant Distractors ◽  
Temporal Predictability ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Memory Content

Protecting working-memory content from distracting external sensory inputs and intervening tasks is a ubiquitous demand in daily life. Here, we ask whether and how temporal expectations about external events can help mitigate effects of such interference during working-memory retention. We manipulated the temporal predictability of interfering items that occurred during the retention period of a visual working-memory task and report that temporal expectations reduce the detrimental influence of external interference on subsequent memory performance. Moreover, to determine if the protective effects of temporal expectations rely mainly on distractor suppression or also involve shielding of internal representations, we compared effects after irrelevant distractors that could be ignored vs. interrupters that required a response. Whereas distractor suppression may be sufficient to confer protection from predictable distractors, any benefits after interruption are likely to involve memory shielding. We found similar benefits of temporal expectations after both types of interference. We conclude that temporal expectations may play an important role in safeguarding behaviour based on working memory – acting, at least partly, through mechanisms that include the shielding of internal content from external interference.

scholarly journals Investigating Mindful Awareness from Moment-to-Moment in Meditation: The Mindful Awareness Task (MAT)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuval Hadash ◽  
Liad Ruimi ◽  
Amit Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Central Idea ◽  
Attention Regulation ◽  
Mindful Awareness ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Behavioral Paradigm ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
Empirical Foundation ◽  
Fundamental Mechanism

Buddhist and contemporary psychological theories propose that training attention and awareness in mindfulness meditation is a fundamental mechanism of mindfulness, essential for producing its salutary effects. Yet, the empirical foundation for this central idea in mindfulness science is surprisingly small due to a limited methodological capacity to measure attention and awareness during mindfulness meditation. Accordingly, we set out to study these processes (N = 143) via a novel behavioral paradigm measuring the objects and temporal dynamics of mindful awareness during meditation – the Mindful Awareness Task (MAT). Using this paradigm, we empirically characterized attention and awareness during mindfulness meditation. We provide novel behavioral evidence indicating that, as long-theorized, attention and awareness during mindfulness meditation are related to previous mindfulness meditation practice, attitudinal qualities of mindfulness, attention regulation, and mental health. We found that in contrast to widely held assumptions, sustained attention and executive functions, as measured via common cognitive-experimental tasks, may not be meaningfully related to the cognitive capacities trained and expressed in mindfulness meditation. Furthermore, we found that the accuracy of self-reported mindfulness is, paradoxically, dependent on behaviorally measured capacities for mindful awareness. Collectively, our behavioral findings reveal that, as long-theorized, attention and awareness during mindfulness meditation may indeed be fundamental to the practice, cultivation, and salutary functions of mindfulness. Findings indicate that the MAT paradigm may overcome significant limitations of extant measurement methods, and thereby enable future scientific insights into attention and awareness in mindfulness meditation and their salutary effects.

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