The Relationship Among Trait Mindfulness, Attention, and Working Memory in Junior School Students Under Different Stressful Situations

Abstract

Attention and working memory are important cognitive functions that affect junior school students’ learning ability and academic performance. This study aimed to explore the relationships among trait mindfulness, attention, and working memory and to explore differences in performance between a high trait mindfulness group and a low one in attention and working memory under different stressful situations. In study 1, 216 junior school students completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and their attention and working memory were tested in a non-pressure situation. The results showed that attention had a partial mediating effect between mindfulness and working memory. In study 2, the high trait mindfulness group and the low one were tested for attention and working memory under situations with single and multiple pressures. One notable result was that the attention and working memory performances of the high mindfulness group were all significantly higher than those of the low mindfulness group in every stress situation (no stress, single stress, and multiple stresses). Other important results were that trait mindfulness moderates the relationship between stress and attention and between stress and working memory. These results suggest that trait mindfulness has a protective effect in the process by which various stresses affect attention and working memory. These findings indicate that trait mindfulness is an important psychological quality that affects the attention and working memory of junior school students, and it is also an important psychological resource for effectively coping with the impact of stress on attention and working memory. Therefore, it is possible that improving trait mindfulness may help to improve junior school students’ attention and working memory and enable them to cope better with stress, thereby helping to improve academic performance. This research is of great significance for understanding the association between key psychological qualities and cognitive functions in different stressful situations. These findings also provide insight for future studies in educational psychology.

Dispositional Mindfulness May Have Protected Athletes from Psychological Distress During COVID-19 in Australia

“…Based on prior research in various populations that has linked dispositional mindfulness and executive functioning with enhanced emotional regulation (e.g., Lyvers et al, 2014 ) and reduced distress (e.g., Conversano et al, 2020 ; Stout & Rokke, 2010 ), we expected significant negative correlations between (a) dispositional mindfulness and (b) executive functioning with psychological distress. Further, in accordance with theoretical frameworks that have suggested executive function may be a central skill for dispositional mindfulness ( Hölzel et al, 2011 ; Malinowski, 2013 ) and studies that provided empirical support to these assumptions ( Jaiswal et al, 2018 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Riggs et al., 2015 ), we expected to find significant positive correlations between individual athlete’s executive functioning and dispositional mindfulness.…”

“…We calculated an a priori sample size estimate for correlational analysis using the pwr package in R (version 1.3–0; Champeley, 2020 ). On the basis of a one-tailed correlation with an assumed effect size of r = .48 ( Li et al, 2021 ; Moreton et al., 2020 ) with α = 0.05 and desired power of 0.80, the estimated required sample size was 25 participants. Based on this estimate, we recruited 30 male Australian football athletes from one semi-professional club based in South Australia as prospective participants.…”

“…In support of this claim, considerable evidence suggests that mindfulness and executive functioning are subserved by similar neural mechanisms, primarily in the pre-frontal cortex, and that training in mindfulness may improve executive functions ( Hölzel et al, 2011 ; Tang et al, 2015 ; Taren et al, 2017 ). Cross-sectionally, among non-athletes, dispositional mindfulness has been positively correlated with core executive functions, including working memory and inhibitory control ( Jaiswal et al, 2018 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Riggs et al, 2015 ).…”

Effects of grade, academic performance, and sex on spatial working memory and attention in primary school children: a cross-sectional observational study

“…Some have focused on a discrete life stage (ie, childhood, adolescence, or adulthood), [22][23][24][25] whereas others have focused on an educational stage (ie, preschool children, primary school students, or college students). [26][27][28][29] Data reported by Gathercole et al indicated that working memory capacity increases linearly from age 4 to 15 years. [4] In a study of children aged 6 to 12 years, it was found that the digital memory span of primary school students increased as their age (grade) increased.…”

“…Many previous studies on the relationships among spatial working memory, attention, and age have focused on adults; only a few have investigated these relationships in young populations such as children in primary school [19–21] . Some have focused on a discrete life stage (ie, childhood, adolescence, or adulthood), [22–25] whereas others have focused on an educational stage (ie, preschool children, primary school students, or college students) [26–29] . Data reported by Gathercole et al indicated that working memory capacity increases linearly from age 4 to 15 years [4] .…”