Mindfulness: Six Steps to Better Memory, Verbal Reasoning and Improved Concentration
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Being mindful
In the research, 48 participants were assigned either to a mindfulness class or to a course on nutrition (Mrazek et al., 2013).
Both courses were only two weeks long and the classes met for 45 minutes over 8 sessions.
Students in the mindfulness group were asked to practice mindfulness outside the class and to apply what they’d learned to their everyday life.
The results of the study were striking. Those who’d practised mindfulness:
- had better short-term memory,
- improved their score on a verbal reasoning test,
- and experienced less mind-wandering.
The researchers discovered that it was the last effect–the reduction in mind-wandering–that was responsible for the improved memory and reasoning.
It stands to reason: when your mind isn’t distracted and jumping around so much, it’s easier to keep things in short-term memory and to give a task your full attention.
The lead author, Michael Mrazek, explained:
Read original article“This is the most complete and rigorous demonstration that mindfulness can reduce mind-wandering, one of the clearest demonstrations that mindfulness can improve working memory and reading, and the first study to tie all this together to show that mind-wandering mediates the improvements in performance.”
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