Meditation Increases the Depth of Information Processing and Improves the Allocation of Attention in Space

Abstract

During meditation, practitioners are required to center their attention on a specific object for extended periods of time. When their thoughts get diverted, they learn to quickly disengage from the distracter. We hypothesized that learning to respond to the dual demand of engaging attention on specific objects and disengaging quickly from distracters enhances the efficiency by which meditation practitioners can allocate attention. We tested this hypothesis in a global-to-local task while measuring electroencephalographic activity from a group of eight highly trained Buddhist monks and nuns and a group of eight age and education matched controls with no previous meditation experience. Specifically, we investigated the effect of attentional training on the global precedence effect, i.e., faster detection of targets on a global than on a local level. We expected to find a reduced global precedence effect in meditation practitioners but not in controls, reflecting that meditators can more quickly disengage their attention from the dominant global level. Analysis of reaction times confirmed this prediction. To investigate the underlying changes in brain activity and their time course, we analyzed event-related potentials. Meditators showed an enhanced ability to select the respective target level, as reflected by enhanced processing of target level information. In contrast with control group, which showed a local target selection effect only in the P1 and a global target selection effect in the P3 component, meditators showed effects of local information processing in the P1, N2, and P3 and of global processing for the N1, N2, and P3. Thus, meditators seem to display enhanced depth of processing. In addition, meditation altered the uptake of information such that meditators selected target level information earlier in the processing sequence than controls. In a longitudinal experiment, we could replicate the behavioral effects, suggesting that meditation modulates attention already after a 4-day meditation retreat. Together, these results suggest that practicing meditation enhances the speed with which attention can be allocated and relocated, thus increasing the depth of information processing and reducing response latency.

Plasticity of visual attention in Isha yoga meditation practitioners before and after a 3-month retreat

“…Thus it seems likely that this cohort of Isha Yoga meditation practitioners shows a greater tendency toward local processing, which may be related to their meditation practice. In particular, given previous reports of focused attention practices leading to greater local processing precedence (Van Leeuwen et al, 2012) this finding seems to further support that Isha Yoga meditation practices are primarily concentrative in nature.…”

“…There has been limited previous experimental work with the global-local task in relation to meditation one such study has found improvements in Stroop performance in participants with experience in a variety of Buddhist meditation practices relative to controls but no changes on global-local task performance (Chan and Woollacott, 2007). Another study has found that Zen meditators with a predominance of training in both focused attention and open-monitoring practice demonstrate faster reaction times across all stimuli and a decrease in the magnitude of global attentional bias relative to controls (Van Leeuwen et al, 2012). In contrast a group of practitioners with primary experience in focused attention practice alone tended to show local attentional bias instead of the normal global attentional bias, and a 4 day intensive retreat in open-monitoring practice tended to reduce the magnitude of this local attentional biasing such that the reaction times to the two stimuli were more equivalent.…”

“…In contrast a group of practitioners with primary experience in focused attention practice alone tended to show local attentional bias instead of the normal global attentional bias, and a 4 day intensive retreat in open-monitoring practice tended to reduce the magnitude of this local attentional biasing such that the reaction times to the two stimuli were more equivalent. These investigators interpreted this set of findings as indicative of the fact that focused attention practices may tend to lead toward local feature biasing whereas open-monitoring practices may lead toward a reduction in biasing to either the local or global levels (Van Leeuwen et al, 2012). …”

Influence of long-term Sahaja Yoga meditation practice on emotional processing in the brain: An ERP study

“…It is notable that in young adults, but not in older adults, the novel stimuli elicited a very large N2, which was of maximal amplitude at the Cz, slightly smaller at the Fz, and barely visible at both the prefrontal and occipital midline sites (Fpz and Oz) (Folstein and Van Petten, 2008). Taking into account that long-term meditation practice improves attention toward cognitive tasks (Srinivasan and Baijal, 2007;Lutz et al, 2008Lutz et al, , 2009Chiesa et al, 2011;van Leeuwen et al, 2012;Moore et al, 2012), we can interpret higher central negativity in meditators as an increased N2b component, characterizing the enhanced efficiency of selective information processing (Patel and Azzam, 2005;Folstein and Van Petten, 2008). It is well established that emotional arousal elicits a positive-going waveform, and the underlying factor determining amplitude modulations is selective attention toward objects within the affective image that are assumed to be of intrinsic relevance (for review see Olofsson et al, 2008).…”

Teaching Mindfulness to Year Sevens as Part of Health and Personal Development

“…Support for adopting mindfulness approaches has been bolstered by the growing scientific evidence base about the benefits in enhancing human performance and well-being. New scientific research into neuroplasticity has found, for instance, that meditation (one form of mindfulness activity) can change the function of the brain in terms of improving the depth of information processing and the speed with which attention can be distributed and reallocated (Van Leeuwen, Singer, & Melloni, 2012) The contemporary uses and applications of mindfulness include Western medicine and psychology as part of therapeutic treatment programs for a range of ailments. The corporate world has also adopted mindfulness practices, popularised by the late Steve Jobs, as a means to an end, with aims of enhancing concentration, complex decision making and performance (Isaacson, 2012).…”