Mindfulness training can significantly improve reading comprehension working memory capacity and focus

Updated on: Monday, April 01, 2013

Just two weeks of mindfulness training can significantly improve your reading comprehension, working memory capacity and ability to focus, a new study has found.

Psychologists define mindfulness as a state of non-distraction characterised by full engagement with our current task or situation.

Mind-wandering may not be a serious issue in many circumstances, but in tasks requiring attention, the ability to stay focused is crucial.

To investigate whether mindfulness training can reduce mind-wandering and thereby improve performance, the scientists at University of California, Santa Barbara randomly assigned 48 undergraduate students to either a class that taught the practice of mindfulness or a class that covered fundamental topics in nutrition.

Both classes were taught by professionals with extensive teaching experience in their fields. Within a week before the classes, the students were given two tests: a modified verbal reasoning test from the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and a working memory capacity (WMC) test. Mind-wandering during both tests was also measured.

Meanwhile, the nutrition class taught nutrition science and strategies for healthy eating, and required students to log their daily food intake.

Within a week after the classes ended, the students were tested again. Their scores indicated that the mindfulness group significantly improved on both the verbal GRE test and the working memory capacity test. They also mind-wandered less during testing. None of these changes were true of the nutrition group.

Michael Mrazek, researcher in psychology and the lead author of the paper, said, "Even with a rigorous design and effective training programme, it wouldn't be unusual to find mixed results. But we found reduced mind-wandering in every way we measured it."

"This is the most complete and rigorous demonstration that mindfulness can reduce mind-wandering, one of the clearest demonstrations that mindfulness can improve working memory and reading, and the first study to tie all this together to show that mind-wandering mediates the improvements in performance," Mrazek said.

The study was published in journal Psychological Science.

Mindfulness training can significantly improve reading comprehension working memory capacity and focus

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