Researchers at CIMCYC, in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Madrid and the University of California, Santa Barbara, develop a theoretical framework to help unravel the mechanisms by which mindfulness training modulates cognitive performance.
Mindfulness meditation—a group of secular practices rooted in the Buddhist contemplative tradition—has received increasing attention in psychological research over the past decades, including growing interest in its potential cognitive benefits. While current meta-analytic evidence suggests that mindfulness training mildly improves certain aspects of cognitive performance, the mechanisms underlying these benefits are still under debate.
Researchers from the Cognitive Neuroscience Group at CIMCYC, in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Madrid and the University of California, Santa Barbara, have developed a theoretical framework that integrates previous accounts from the mindfulness and cognitive training literatures to better understand how mindfulness impacts cognition. The so-called Capacity-Efficiency Mindfulness (CEM) framework suggests that mindfulness training, rather than increasing overall cognitive resources, enables their more efficient use by reducing interference from off-task thinking and affective reactivity during task performance.
The CEM framework moves away from conventional perspectives portraying mindfulness as a form of ‘attention training’ to offer a more nuanced view that emphasizes processes such as meta-awareness, decentering and equanimity as key mechanisms driving mindfulness-induced cognitive change. Ultimately, this novel framework holds the potential to guide the development of more targeted and effective cognitive enhancement interventions.
Reference
Cásedas, L., Schooler, J. W., Vadillo, M. A., & Lupiáñez, J. (2024). An integrative framework for the mechanisms underlying mindfulness-induced cognitive change. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3, 821–834. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-024-00374-1
Contact
Luis Cásedas Alcaide (@email)