Temporal Changes in the State Effect of Meditation on Response Inhibition Processes

Abstract

Objectives A single session of brief focused attention meditation (FAM) has a state effect, which temporarily enhances response inhibition processes. However, previous research has two unanswered questions: (i) How long does the state effect last? (ii) How does effort toward FAM relate to the resulting state effect? Method Thirty-nine healthy participants participated in two sessions: FAM and sham meditation (SHAM). The participants conducted each meditation for 10 min. The state effect on response inhibition processes was observed as Stroop task performance immediately before and after each meditation, and 20, 40, and 60 min after each meditation. In addition, the subjective effort toward meditation was evaluated using a questionnaire immediately after each meditation. Results An analysis of variance revealed a significant interaction between session and time. In the post-hoc analysis, FAM showed significantly better Stroop task performance than the SHAM 60 min after meditation. Furthermore, using correlational analysis, we found that at 60 min, the higher the subjective effort, the better Stroop task performance. Conclusions In contrast to previous findings, the state effect was not found immediately after FAM but instead 60 min after. The results can be partially explained by cognitive fatigue; that is, the FAM may have the state effect of preventing cognitive fatigue. This state effect is greater when the subjective effort is greater.

The Influence of Focused Attention and Open Monitoring Mindfulness Meditation States on True and False Memory

“…We did not observe any significant correlation between mindfulness disposition and false memory recall indicating that such controls might not be necessary, and more widely, that mindfulness disposition is not a confounding factor in previous work. We also set out to account for potential individual differences on mindfulness state effects based on self-reported effort (Immink et al, 2017 ; Yamaya et al, 2023 ), success (Brandmeyer et al, 2019 ) and motivation (Spanos et al, 1980 ). We did not find any correlation of self-reported effort, success or motivation with false memory recall following mindfulness meditation.…”

“…We also included meditation effort, success and motivation ratings in Pearson correlation coefficients calculations, based on the notion that perceived effort and self-efficacy, or success, in completion of the meditation technique might indirectly influence true and false memory recall. For example, higher effort ratings associated with completing FAM have been associated with higher mindfulness state effects on inhibitory control (Yamaya et al, 2023 ), whilst higher effort ratings for OMM have been associated with greater state effects on motor sequence learning (Immink et al, 2017 ). We correlated self-reported meditation motivation with true and false memory because motivation has been reported to reflect the quality of the meditation state (Spanos et al, 1980 ).…”