Effects of a Single Meditation on State Mindfulness and Working Memory
The present study tests the hypothesis that a single 20-minute session of mindfulness practice is enough to induce a mindful state, and improve performance on a working memory task. 34 undergraduate students at Davidson College were recruited and assigned to either a meditation or control group. Participants completed a self-report mindfulness scale in addition to a working memory Stroop task. Meditators did not demonstrate significantly reduced Stroop interference or better conflict adaptation than controls. Meditators did increase significantly in state mindfulness from before to after intervention when compared to the control group, who did not. Though extant literature demonstrates positive outcomes for attention and working memory after both long- and short-term meditative interventions, it is likely that a single session of meditation is not sufficient to affect these cognitive networks.
