Age effects on attentional blink performance in meditation
Jul 25th, 2009 by admin
from the journal, Conscious Cogn. 2009 Jun 8
van Leeuwen S, Müller NG, Melloni L.
Cognitive Neurology Unit, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University & Brain Imaging Center, Schleusenweg 2-16, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Department of Neurophysiology, Deutschordenstrasse 46, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Here we explore whether mental training in the form of meditation can help to overcome age-related attentional decline. We compared performance on the attentional blink task between three populations: A group of long-term meditation practitioners within an older population, a control group of age-matched participants and a control group of young participants. Members of both control groups had never practiced meditation. Our results show that long-term meditation practice leads to a reduction of the attentional blink. Meditation practitioners taken from an older population showed a reduction in blink as compared to a control group taken from a younger population, whereas, the control group age-matched to the meditators’ group revealed a blink that was comparatively larger and broader. Our results support the hypothesis that meditation practice can: (i) alter the efficiency with which attentional resources are distributed and (ii) help to overcome age-related attentional deficits in the temporal domain.
PMID: 19515578