Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19846729›Full record

Trial reportThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2009

Mental training enhances attentional stability: neural and behavioral evidence.

Antoine Lutz, Heleen A Slagter, Nancy B Rawlings, Andrew D Francis, Lawrence L Greischar, Richard J Davidson

Open access · bronzeAbstract readClinical Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 137 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
137citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
11.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

137 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 492 citations in OpenAlex.

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  6. The effects of an internet-based mindfulness meditation intervention on electrophysiological markers of attention.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2020
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77 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Antoine LutzWaisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.
Heleen A Slagter
Nancy B Rawlings
Andrew D Francis
Lawrence L Greischar
Richard J Davidson
University of Wisconsin–Madison · USUniversity of Amsterdam · NLWarneford Hospital · GB

Funding

Wisconsin Center for the Neuroscience and Psychophysiology of MeditationP01AT004952 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI DAVIDSON, RICHARD J · 2008 to 2018
$14.7M
LONGITUDINAL TWIN STUDIES OF AFFECTIVE STYLEP50MH069315 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI WHALEN, PAUL J · 2004 to 2008
$10.4M
Meditation: Neuroimaging and Neurodynamic CorrelationsU01AT002114 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI LUTZ, ANTOINE · 2005 to 2007
$572k
NCCIH NIH HHS P01 AT004952NCCIH NIH HHS U01 AT002114NIMH NIH HHS P50 MH069315
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The capacity to stabilize the content of attention over time varies among individuals, and its impairment is a hallmark of several mental illnesses. Impairments in sustained attention in patients with attention disorders have been associated with increased trial-to-trial variability in reaction time and event-related potential deficits during attention tasks. At present, it is unclear whether the ability to sustain attention and its underlying brain circuitry are transformable through training. Here, we show, with dichotic listening task performance and electroencephalography, that training attention, as cultivated by meditation, can improve the ability to sustain attention. Three months of intensive meditation training reduced variability in attentional processing of target tones, as indicated by both enhanced theta-band phase consistency of oscillatory neural responses over anterior brain areas and reduced reaction time variability. Furthermore, those individuals who showed the greatest increase in neural response consistency showed the largest decrease in behavioral response variability. Notably, we also observed reduced variability in neural processing, in particular in low-frequency bands, regardless of whether the deviant tone was attended or unattended. Focused attention meditation may thus affect both distracter and target processing, perhaps by enhancing entrainment of neuronal oscillations to sensory input rhythms, a mechanism important for controlling the content of attention. These novel findings highlight the mechanisms underlying focused attention meditation and support the notion that mental training can significantly affect attention and brain function.

Indexed as

Acoustic StimulationAdultAnalysis of VarianceAttentionAttention Deficit Disorder with HyperactivityAuditory PerceptionCase-Control StudiesContingent Negative VariationDichotic Listening TestsElectroencephalographyEvoked Potentials, AuditoryFemaleHumansMaleMeditationMiddle Aged

Identifiers

PMID19846729
PMCPMC2789281
OpenAlexW2145637681

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.