Closed-loop digital meditation improves sustained attention in young adults

David A Ziegler; Alexander J Simon; Courtney L Gallen; Sasha Skinner; Jacqueline R Janowich; Joshua J Volponi; Camarin E Rolle; Jyoti Mishra; Jack Kornfield; Joaquin A Anguera; Adam Gazzaley

doi:10.1038/s41562-019-0611-9

Closed-loop digital meditation improves sustained attention in young adults

Nat Hum Behav. 2019 Jul;3(7):746-757. doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0611-9. Epub 2019 Jun 3.

Authors

David A Ziegler^{1

2

3}, Alexander J Simon^{4

5

6}, Courtney L Gallen^{4

5

6}, Sasha Skinner⁴, Jacqueline R Janowich⁷, Joshua J Volponi^{4

5

6}, Camarin E Rolle⁸, Jyoti Mishra⁹, Jack Kornfield¹⁰, Joaquin A Anguera^{4

5

6

11}, Adam Gazzaley^{12

13

14

15

16}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. david.ziegler@ucsf.edu.
² Neuroscape, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. david.ziegler@ucsf.edu.
³ Weill Institute for Neurosciences & Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. david.ziegler@ucsf.edu.
⁴ Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁵ Neuroscape, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁶ Weill Institute for Neurosciences & Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre, CA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.
¹³ Neuroscape, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.
¹⁴ Weill Institute for Neurosciences & Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.
¹⁶ Department of Physiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.

Abstract

Attention is a fundamental cognitive process that is critical for essentially all aspects of higher-order cognition and real-world activities. Younger generations have deeply embraced information technology and multitasking in their personal lives, school and the workplace, creating myriad challenges to their attention. While improving sustained attention in healthy young adults would be beneficial, enhancing this ability has proven notoriously difficult in this age group. Here we show that 6 weeks of engagement with a meditation-inspired, closed-loop software program (MediTrain) delivered on mobile devices led to gains in both sustained attention and working memory in healthy young adults. These improvements were associated with positive changes in key neural signatures of attentional control (frontal theta inter-trial coherence and parietal P3b latency), as measured by electroencephalography. Our findings suggest the utility of delivering aspects of the ancient practice of focused-attention meditation in a modern, technology-based approach and its benefits on enhancing sustained attention.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Attention*
Double-Blind Method
Electroencephalography
Event-Related Potentials, P300*
Evoked Potentials
Female
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Male
Meditation*
Memory, Short-Term*
Mobile Applications*
Multitasking Behavior
Young Adult

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding