The Effects Of Long Term Meditation Practices On The Promotion Of Cognitive Function

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Abstract Substantial research has been done on the positive effects of long-term meditation practices on the promotion of cognitive functions. However, the effects of brief meditation practices have not been as thoroughly researched. Accordingly, this study will further investigate the effects of short-term mindfulness-based training (MT) on the multiple traits of attentional processing. I hypothesize that brief MT can have similar results to that of long-term practices, indicating that meta-cognition can be improved in a short period of time. This experimental study will compare a MT group, a relaxation group, and a control group—all made up of inexperienced participants—on their performance of higher-order processing of attentional tasks. We predict that the MT group will do better than the other groups on all tests administered, and that they will improve significantly compared to their previous performance.

Key words: Meditation, Mindfulness, Meta-cognition, Attention

Introduction
Many recent studies have validated that people who have practiced mindfulness based training and/or meditation express greater cognitive flexibility. Mindfulness is a psychological state characterized by full attention to a present experience without elaboration of thought or emotional reactivity while focusing on the sensations of one’s breath and body and maintaining relaxation. Thus, MT heightens meta-cognitive processing to an extent (Austin, 1998 as found in Zeidan, Johnson,

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