ReviewTrends in cognitive sciences2022
Effortless training of attention and self-control: mechanisms and applications.
Review in Trends in cognitive sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effortful and effortless training of executive functions improve brain multiple demand system activities differently: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analytic evidence that mindfulness training alters resting state default mode network connectivity.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Metabolomic profiles impacted by brief mindfulness intervention with contributions to improved health.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Nature Exposure and Problematic Smartphone Use Among Chinese High School Students: The Mediating Roles of Anxiety and Self-Control.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Mindfulness exercise and quality of life among nursing students: the mediating roles of self-control and internet addiction.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Remote Mindfulness Training for Health Following Early Life Adversity: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial.Behavior therapy · 2026Article
- Preksha Dhyana meditation modulates the serum metabolome in healthy and meditation-naïve participants.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2026Article
- The abstraction habituation model of knowledge worker burnout.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Associations between subjective cognitive concern, brain network connectivity, and cognitive performance in cognitively normal older adults.Aging brain · 2026Article
- Chain relationship between cumulative ecological risk and physical activity pattern on college students mediated by exercise atmosphere and self-control.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Neural Correlates of Resistance to Gaming Desire Induced by Social Media Content.Addiction biology · 2025Article
- Default Mode Network Functional Connectivity As a Transdiagnostic Biomarker of Cognitive Function.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2025Review
- Impact of social media addiction on college students' academic procrastination: a chain mediated effect of lack of self-control and fear of missing out.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The Role of Free Will Belief, Gratitude, and Self-Control in Improving Nurses' Job Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study of a Multiple Mediation Model.Journal of nursing management · 2025Article
- Meditation and complexity: a review and synthesis of evidence.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2025Review
- Neural interfaces: Bridging the brain to the world beyond healthcare.Exploration (Beijing, China) · 2024Article
- Human Attention Restoration, Flow, and Creativity: A Conceptual Integration.Journal of imaging · 2024Review
- Impact of Forms of Visual Attenuation on Short-Term Eye Changes Under Controlled Reading Visibility.Eye and brain · 2024Article
- Central mechanisms of muscle tone regulation: implications for pain and performance.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- The Development of Game-Based Digital Mental Health Interventions: Bridging the Paradigms of Health Care and Entertainment.JMIR serious games · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
For the past 50 years, cognitive scientists have assumed that training attention and self-control must be effortful. However, growing evidence suggests promising effects of effortless training approaches such as nature exposure, flow experience, and effortless practice on attention and self-control. This opinion article focuses on effortless training of attention and self-control. We begin by introducing our definitions of effortful and effortless training and reviewing the growing literature on these two different forms of training. We then discuss the similarities and differences in their respective behavioral outcomes and neural correlates. Finally, we propose a putative neural mechanism of effortless training. We conclude by highlighting promising directions for research, development, and application of effortless training.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.