Meditation, mindfulness & working memory: the effects of general practice & specific techniques
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- Title
- Meditation, mindfulness & working memory: the effects of general practice & specific techniques
- Creator
- Josephine Flight
- Supervisor
- Dr Amy Harrison.
- Date
- 2015
- Abstract
- Problem: The study examines differences in Working Memory (WM) (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) between experienced meditation practitioners and a demographically matched control group, and also between meditation groups and techniques. It tests if previous research for improved WM measure scores in meditators is upheld, if differences exist between meditation groups/techniques, and what this reveals about the underlying meditation cognitive processes. Participants: Sixty-five participants were tested, including 46-experienced meditators from three groups (Buddhist n = 14, Hinduism-inspired n = 18, and Mindfulness n = 14), and 19 non-meditating controls. Participants were an even mix of genders, fluent English-speaking, and from a delineated above average intelligence range. Method: A quantitative, repeated measures between subjects, cross-sectional, quasi-experimental study was used. Participants completed paper-based tests on three measures of WM (Central Executive control, visual-spatial and verbal-auditory). Data analysis was descriptive and inferential, with the use of three factorial MANOVAs and follow up tests to compare differences between meditation conditions. Results: Analysis supported the first hypothesis - overall meditators performed better than controls in the combined WM score analysis, and specifically in the visual-spatial measure. However, the hypothesis that significant differences would be seen between meditation groups/techniques was not supported. Conclusion: The paper may have implications for health and education training policies regarding visual-spatial WM impairments, which might be aided by the use of general meditation practice. However, the study findings were constrained in their internal validity and generalizability because of design and procedural weaknesses, which should be addressed by future studies.
- Subject
- Short-term memory|Meditation||
- Psychology
- Extent
- 107 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- Regent's University London
- degree
- MSc Psychology
- Language
- English
- Date Issued
- 2015
- Type
- Thesis & Dissertation
- Rights Holder
- Regent's University London & Josephine Flight
- Item sets
- Theses or Dissertation