Investigating the impact of mindfulness meditation training on working memory: A mathematical modeling approach
Open accessAbstract
We investigated whether mindfulness training (MT) influences information processing in a working memory task with complex visual stimuli. Participants were tested before (T1) and after (T2) participation in an intensive one-month MT retreat, and their performance was compared with that of an age- and education-matched control group. Accuracy did not differ across groups at either time point. Response times were faster and significantly less variable in the MT versus the control group at T2. Since these results could be due to changes in mnemonic processes, speed-accuracy trade-off, or nondecisional factors (e.g., motor execution), we used a mathematical modeling approach to disentangle these factors. The EZ-diffusion model (Wagenmakers, van der Maas, & Grasman, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14:(1), 3-22, 2007) suggested that MT leads to improved information quality and reduced response conservativeness, with no changes in nondecisional factors. The noisy exemplar model further suggested that the increase in information quality reflected a decrease in encoding noise and not an increase in forgetting. Thus, mathematical modeling may help clarify the mechanisms by which MT produces salutary effects on performance.
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Studies of other MBIs in healthy participants indicate improvements in working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition, with very limited evidence for attentional improvements.
“Studies examining other MBIs with healthy participants similarly indicated improvements in cognitive abilities such as working memory (76–77), cognitive flexibility (78–79) and inhibition (80), with very limited evidence regarding attentional improvements (see (73) for a review).”
From Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Psychiatry (2018) · cites this paper as [76]
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- Authors
- van Vugt, M. K., & Jha, A. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Miami (US)
- ORCID
- Jha, Amishi P.
- Venue
- Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
- Published
- 2011-07-06
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 344-353
- ISSN
- 1530-7026 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-135X
- PMC
- PMC3145089
- OpenAlex
- W1985098096
- Cited by
- 108
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 7.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- mindfulness meditation, working memory, reaction time variability, speed-accuracy trade-off, forgetting, information quality
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Attention, Cognition, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Models, Psychological, Reaction Time, Meditation
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