Cited by 118Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsDigital Mental Health InterventionsPsychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 71 of the 72 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Attentional and affective consequences of technology supported mindfulness training: a randomised, active control, efficacy trial

Open access

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness training (MT) programs represent an approach to attention training with well-validated mental health benefits. However, research supporting MT efficacy is based predominantly on weekly-meeting, facilitator-led, group-intervention formats. It is unknown whether participants might benefit from neurofeedback-assisted, technology-supported MT (N-tsMT), in which meditation is delivered individually, without the need for a facilitator, travel to a training site, or the presence of a supportive group environment. Mirroring the validation of group MT interventions, the first step in addressing this question requires identifying whether N-tsMT promotes measurable benefits. Here, we report on an initial investigation of a commercial N-tsMT system. METHODS: In a randomized, active control trial, community-dwelling healthy adult participants carried out 6 weeks of daily practice, receiving either N-tsMT (n = 13), or a control condition of daily online math training (n = 13). Training effects were assessed on target measures of attention and well-being. Participants also completed daily post-training surveys assessing effects on mood, body awareness, calm, effort, and stress. RESULTS: Analysis revealed training effects specific to N-tsMT, with attentional improvements in overall reaction time on a Stroop task, and well-being improvements via reduced somatic symptoms on the Brief Symptom Inventory. Attention and well-being improvements were correlated, and effects were greatest for the most neurotic participants. However, secondary, exploratory measures of attention and well-being did not show training-specific effects. N-tsMT was associated with greater body awareness and calm, and initially greater effort that later converged with effort in the control condition. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary findings indicate that N-tsMT promotes modest benefits for attention and subjective well-being in a healthy community sample relative to an active control condition. However, the findings would benefit from replication in a larger sample, and more intensive practice or more comprehensive MT instruction might be required to promote the broader benefits typically reported in group format, facilitated MT. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN43629398 . Retrospectively registered on June 16, 2016.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/s40359-016-0168-6

Cites

71 of 71 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Figures

Fig. 1 CONSORT diagram of the study participants
Fig. 1 CONSORT diagram of the study participantsCC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 2 Training effects on primary measures of Attention and Well-Being. Panel a Time x Group interaction on Attention, as indexed by Stroop task mean RT. Panel b Time x Group interaction on Well-Being, for BSI Somatic Symptom scores. Panel c Relationship between training-related changes in Attention and Well-Being. Reductions in Stroop RT and BSI Somatic Symptoms are both displayed as positive values, i.e., greater scores demonstrate greater reductions. Interactions in Panels a and b are significant at p < .05, corrected for multiple comparisons among primary measures. Error bars are standard errors
Fig. 2 Training effects on primary measures of Attention and Well-Being. Panel a Time x Group interaction on Attention, as indexed by Stroop task mean RT. Panel b Time x Group interaction on Well-Being, for BSI Somatic Symptom scores. Panel c Relationship between training-related changes in Attention and Well-Being. Reductions in Stroop RT and BSI Somatic Symptoms are both displayed as positive values, i.e., greater scores demonstrate greater reductions. Interactions in Panels a and b are significant at p < .05, corrected for multiple comparisons among primary measures. Error bars are standard errorsCC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 3 Daily experience sampling effects. Plots are generated using the beta values from the growth curve model Group x Time using data obtained over the training period. Effects of Group and Time on self-reported feelings of: a Calm, b Body Awareness, and c Effort. Main effects are significant at p < .05, uncorrected, as is the Time x Group interaction in Panel c (Effort). Error bars are standard errors
Fig. 3 Daily experience sampling effects. Plots are generated using the beta values from the growth curve model Group x Time using data obtained over the training period. Effects of Group and Time on self-reported feelings of: a Calm, b Body Awareness, and c Effort. Main effects are significant at p < .05, uncorrected, as is the Time x Group interaction in Panel c (Effort). Error bars are standard errorsCC BY · PubMed Central

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Show all 72 references

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Kabat-Zinn J, Santorelli S. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Professional Training Resource Manual. Worchester: Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society; 1999.
  2. Derogatis LR, Spencer P. Brief symptom inventory: BSI. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson; 1993.
  3. Weschler D, Coalson D, Raiford S. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test: Fourth Edition Technical and Interpretive Manual. San Antonio: Pearson; 2008.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 101–118 of 118

Metadata

Authors
Bhayee, S., Tomaszewski, P., Lee, D. H., Moffat, G., Pino, L., Moreno, S., & Farb, N. A. S.
Affiliations
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • University of Colorado Boulder (US)
  • InteraXon (Canada) (CA)
  • Simon Fraser University (CA)
Corresponding author
Farb, Norman A. S.
Venue
BMC Psychology
Published
2016-11-29
Volume
4
Issue
1
Pages
60-60
ISSN
2050-7283 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2557883384
Cited by
118
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 5
FWCI
12.04
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • BMC Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Ontario Centres for Excellence (22511)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Keywords
mindfulness training, neurofeedback, technology-based interventions, attention, subjective well-being, Stroop task, reaction time, body awareness, tranquility, effort, stress, neuroticism, healthy adults
MeSH terms
Adult, Affect, Attention, Electroencephalography, Female, Humans, Male, Quality of Life, Reaction Time, Stress, Psychological, Treatment Outcome, Stroop Test, Neurofeedback, Mindfulness

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review