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Research Article

Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation

Yi-Yuan Tang, Yinghua Ma, Junhong Wang, Yaxin Fan, Shigang Feng, Qilin Lu, Qingbao Yu, Danni Sui, Mary K. Rothbart, Ming Fan, and Michael I. Posner
  1. *Institute of Neuroinformatics and Laboratory for Body and Mind, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, China;
  2. †Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403;
  3. ‡Key Laboratory for Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;
  4. §Center for Social and Organizational Behavior, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China; and
  5. ‖Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China

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PNAS October 23, 2007 104 (43) 17152-17156; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0707678104
Yi-Yuan Tang
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  • For correspondence: yiyuan@uoregon.edu mposner@uoregon.edu
Yinghua Ma
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Junhong Wang
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Yaxin Fan
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Shigang Feng
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Qilin Lu
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Qingbao Yu
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Danni Sui
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Mary K. Rothbart
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Ming Fan
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Michael I. Posner
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  • For correspondence: yiyuan@uoregon.edu mposner@uoregon.edu
  1. Contributed by Michael I. Posner, August 16, 2007 (received for review July 26, 2007)

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Abstract

Recent studies suggest that months to years of intensive and systematic meditation training can improve attention. However, the lengthy training required has made it difficult to use random assignment of participants to conditions to confirm these findings. This article shows that a group randomly assigned to 5 days of meditation practice with the integrative body–mind training method shows significantly better attention and control of stress than a similarly chosen control group given relaxation training. The training method comes from traditional Chinese medicine and incorporates aspects of other meditation and mindfulness training. Compared with the control group, the experimental group of 40 undergraduate Chinese students given 5 days of 20-min integrative training showed greater improvement in conflict scores on the Attention Network Test, lower anxiety, depression, anger, and fatigue, and higher vigor on the Profile of Mood States scale, a significant decrease in stress-related cortisol, and an increase in immunoreactivity. These results provide a convenient method for studying the influence of meditation training by using experimental and control methods similar to those used to test drugs or other interventions.

  • anterior cingulate gyrus
  • attention training
  • control
  • mental training

Footnotes

  • ¶To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: yiyuan{at}uoregon.edu or mposner{at}uoregon.edu
  • Author contributions: J.W. and Y.F. contributed equally to this work; Y.-Y.T., M.F., and M.I.P. designed research; Y.-Y.T., Y.M., J.W., Y.F., S.F., Q.L., Q.Y., and D.S. performed research; Y.-Y.T., Y.M., J.W., Y.F., S.F., Q.L., and Q.Y. analyzed data; and Y.-Y.T., M.K.R., and M.I.P. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • Abbreviations:
    IBMT,
    integrative body–mind training;
    ANT,
    Attention Network Test;
    POMS,
    Profile of Mood States;
    sIgA,
    secretory IgA.
  • © 2007 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation
Yi-Yuan Tang, Yinghua Ma, Junhong Wang, Yaxin Fan, Shigang Feng, Qilin Lu, Qingbao Yu, Danni Sui, Mary K. Rothbart, Ming Fan, Michael I. Posner
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct 2007, 104 (43) 17152-17156; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0707678104

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Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation
Yi-Yuan Tang, Yinghua Ma, Junhong Wang, Yaxin Fan, Shigang Feng, Qilin Lu, Qingbao Yu, Danni Sui, Mary K. Rothbart, Ming Fan, Michael I. Posner
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct 2007, 104 (43) 17152-17156; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0707678104
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