Abstract

The use of mindfulness meditation has become increasingly common in the Western world. Traditionally, mindfulness exercises are more of a long term commitment lasting anywhere from eight to 10 weeks; however, recent studies have shown that brief mindfulness exercises lasting from only a few minutes to three days can also be beneficial. One important benefit that past research has been able to find is that mindfulness meditation has improved attention (Tang et al., 2007). This current study examined the effects of brief mindfulness meditation on attentional processing using the Attentional Network Task (ANT) as a tool to measure attention. The ANT focuses on three effects of attention; alerting, orienting, and conflict. The first hypothesis is that participants in the brief mindfulness condition will perform better on the ANT task than those in the control condition. The second hypothesis is that those in the brief mindfulness condition will have better scores on the MAAS scale. Undergraduate students from the College of Wooster (N=46) took part this study evaluating how brief mindfulness intervention could improve scores on the ANT. Afterwards, they completed a survey evaluating whether they experienced any self-perceived mindfulness using the Mindfulness Attentional and Awareness Scale (MAAS). Results comparing the ANT and brief mindfulness intervention were insignificant. However, results were significant in evaluating whether the MAAS was a reliable measure for self-perceived mindfulness.

Advisor

Hutson, John

Department

Psychology

Disciplines

Social Psychology

Publication Date

2019

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2019 Victoria Hartley