Mental training affects electrophysiological markers of attention resource allocation in healthy older adults

Isbel, Ben; Lagopoulos, Jim; Hermens, Daniel F.; Summers, Mathew J.

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2019.01.029

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Interestingly, the authors further repeated the experiment, instructing the practitioners to ignore the stimuli and focus solely on their breath; this led to decreased P300 amplitude in meditators, partially in agreement with Telles et al ( 2019 ). Isbel et al ( 2019 ) reported not only reduced latency in P300, but also in N200 in mindfulness meditators (CDM-FA) in comparison to controls, as well as increased N200 amplitudes. Delgado-Pastor et al ( 2013 ) also reported enhanced P300 amplitudes in Vipassana meditators (CDM-OM), and so did Yoshida et al ( 2020 ) in naive participants after training in CDM-FA when compared to an active control group that practiced relaxation.…”

Section: Evoked Potentials/event Related Potentialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Analysis on Characterizing the Meditation Experience Through the Electroencephalogram

Deolindo

Ribeiro

Aratanha

et al. 2020

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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Meditation practices, originated from ancient traditions, have increasingly received attention due to their potential benefits to mental and physical health. The scientific community invests efforts into scrutinizing and quantifying the effects of these practices, especially on the brain. There are methodological challenges in describing the neural correlates of the subjective experience of meditation. We noticed, however, that technical considerations on signal processing also don't follow standardized approaches, which may hinder generalizations. Therefore, in this article, we discuss the usage of the electroencephalogram (EEG) as a tool to study meditation experiences in healthy individuals. We describe the main EEG signal processing techniques and how they have been translated to the meditation field until April 2020. Moreover, we examine in detail the limitations/assumptions of these techniques and highlight some good practices, further discussing how technical specifications may impact the interpretation of the outcomes. By shedding light on technical features, this article contributes to more rigorous approaches to evaluate the construct of meditation.

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Section: Evoked Potentials/event Related Potentialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Analysis on Characterizing the Meditation Experience Through the Electroencephalogram

Deolindo

Ribeiro

Aratanha

et al. 2020

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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“…Meditators have shown reductions in attentional-blink effects (where the second stimulus in a sequence of rapidly presented stimuli is commonly missed; Slagter et al, 2007), along with reductions in P300 amplitudes to the first stimuli (Slagter et al, 2007). Mindfulness practice has also been associated with reduced interference from distractor stimuli and greater control of resource allocation across multiple modalities (auditory and visual; van den Hurk, Giommi, Gielen, Speckens, & Barendregt, 2010), more efficient neural processing and attentional network functioning (Isbel, Lagopoulos, Hermens, & Summers, 2019), and improved ability to direct attentional resources toward task relevant stimuli (Moore et al, 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

Mindfulness meditation alters neural activity underpinning working memory during tactile distraction

Wang

Freedman²,

Raj

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation (MM) improves selective attention and reduces distractibility by enhancing top-down neural modulation. Altered P300 and alpha neural activity from MM have been identified and may reflect the neural changes that underpin these improvements. Given the proposed role of alpha activity in supressing processing of task-irrelevant information, it is theorised that altered alpha activity may underlie increased availability of neural resources in meditators. The present study investigated attentional function in meditators using a cross-modal study design, examining the P300 during working memory (WM) and alpha activity during concurrent distracting tactile stimuli. Thirty-three meditators and 27 healthy controls participated in the study. Meditators showed a more frontal distribution of P300 neural activity following WM stimuli (p = 0.005, η² = 0.060) and more modulation of alpha activity at parietal-occipital regions between single (tactile stimulation only) and dual task demands (tactile stimulation plus WM task) (p < 0.001, η² = 0.065). Additionally, meditators performed more accurately than controls (p = 0.038, η² = 0.067). The altered distribution of neural activity concurrent with improved WM performance suggests greater attentional resources dedicated to task related functions such as WM in meditators. Thus, meditation-related neural changes are likely multi-faceted involving both altered distribution and also amplitudes of brain activity, enhancing attentional processes depending on task requirements.

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“…Similarly, Sanger and Dorjee [ 59 ] observed more negative N2 amplitudes after mindfulness training in adolescents, but they did not observe any changes in attention task performance. Therefore, our finding of smaller N2 amplitudes for the incongruent condition accompanied by better behavioral performance after mindfulness training in the present study may be associated with reduced activity related to conflict monitoring and more efficient cognitive control mechanisms, which may in turn suggest that mindfulness training enables more rapid and accurate processing of stimuli [ 71 , 72 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Mindfulness Training Enhances Endurance Performance and Executive Functions in Athletes: An Event-Related Potential Study

Nien

Yang

et al. 2020

Neural Plasticity

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Mindfulness interventions have been linked to improved sport performance and executive functions; however, few studies have explored the effects of mindfulness on sport performance and executive functions simultaneously. This study sought to examine whether a mindfulness training program would affect both the endurance performance and executive functions of athletes. In addition, event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with the Stroop task were assessed to investigate the potential electrophysiological activation associated with the mindfulness training. Applying a quasiexperimental design, forty-six university athletes were recruited and assigned into a five-week mindfulness training program or a waiting list control group. For each participant, the mindfulness level, endurance performance assessed by a graded exercise test, executive functions assessed via Stroop task, and N2 component of ERPs were measured prior to and following the 5-week intervention. After adjusting for the preintervention scores as a covariate, it was found that the postintervention mindfulness level, exhaustion time, and Stroop task accuracy scores, regardless of task condition, of the mindfulness group were higher than those of the control group. The mindfulness group also exhibited a smaller N2 amplitude than the control group. These results suggest that the five-week mindfulness program can enhance the mindfulness level, endurance performance, and multiple cognitive functions, including executive functions, of university athletes. Mindfulness training may also reduce conflict monitoring in neural processes.

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Mental training affects electrophysiological markers of attention resource allocation in healthy older adults

Cited by 30 publications

References 25 publications

A Critical Analysis on Characterizing the Meditation Experience Through the Electroencephalogram

A Critical Analysis on Characterizing the Meditation Experience Through the Electroencephalogram

Mindfulness meditation alters neural activity underpinning working memory during tactile distraction

Mindfulness Training Enhances Endurance Performance and Executive Functions in Athletes: An Event-Related Potential Study

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