Objectives

Despite being an ancient tradition, meditation has only become a popular inquiry of research over the past few decades. This resurgence can partially be attributed to the popularization of Eastern meditative practices, such as mindfulness, into Western culture. Though the mechanisms of meditation are not yet scientifically well-understood, systems of attention and executive control may play an important role. The present study aimed to examine potential attentional mechanisms of attention-based meditations across studies.

Methods

This paper examines behavioral measures of attention across literature. Studies (K = 87) that assigned participants to or recruited participants who use techniques common in mindfulness practices (focused attention, open monitoring, or both) were meta-analyzed. Outcomes were coded according to attentional network (alerting, orienting, executive control) or facet of executive control (inhibition, shifting, updating).

Results

Meta-analytic results suggest that generalized attention (g = 0.171, 95% CI [0.119, 0.224]), its alerting (g = 0.158, 95% CI [0.059, 0.256]) and executive control (g = 0.203, 95% CI [0.143, 0.264]) networks, and the inhibition (g = 0.159, 95% CI [0.064, 0.253]) and updating (g = 0.256 [0.176, 0.337]) facets of executive control are improved by meditation. There was significant heterogeneity in attention, the alerting and executive control networks, and the inhibition facet. Studies that taught both FA and OM techniques did not show attentional improvements over those that taught the techniques in isolation. Meditation led to greater improvements in accuracy-based tasks than reaction time tasks.

Conclusions

This meta-analysis suggests that attention is likely implicated in meditation, and meditation may improve some, but not all, attentional processes. Implications for understanding meditational mechanisms and moderator-related differences are discussed.

中文翻译：

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冥想，正念和注意力：一项荟萃分析

目标

尽管是古老的传统，但在过去的几十年中，冥想仅成为研究的一种流行查询。这种复兴可以部分归因于东方的沉思实践（如正念）在西方文化中的普及。尽管冥想的机制尚未在科学上得到很好的理解，但是注意力和执行控制系统可能会发挥重要作用。本研究旨在检查跨研究的基于注意力的冥想的潜在注意力机制。

方法

本文研究了各种文献中注意行为的量度。对荟萃分析（K = 87）的研究（K = 87）进行了荟萃分析，这些研究将参与者分配给或招募了使用正念练习中常用技术（集中注意力，开放式监测或两者兼有）的参与者。根据注意网络（报警，定向，执行控制）或执行控制的方面（抑制，转移，更新）对结果进行编码。

结果

荟萃分析结果表明，普遍注意（g = 0.171，95％CI [0.119，0.224]），其警惕（g = 0.158，95％CI [0.059，0.256]）和执行控制（g = 0.203，95％CI） [0.143，0.264]）网络，通过冥想可以改善执行控制的抑制（g = 0.159，95％CI [0.064，0.253]）和更新（g = 0.256 [0.176，0.337]）方面。注意，警报和执行控制网络以及抑制方面存在明显的异质性。教授FA和OM技术的研究没有显示出比单独讲授技术的注意力有所改善。冥想导致基于准确性的任务比反应时间任务有了更大的改进。

结论

这项荟萃分析表明，注意力可能与冥想有关，而冥想可以改善某些但不是全部的注意力过程。讨论了理解冥想机制和主持人相关差异的含义。