If there鈥檚 any time when we should be paying close attention to what we鈥檙e doing, it鈥檚 when we鈥檙e under pressure to perform, whether on a test like the SAT or on a deadline at work. But too often, our minds wander even in these crucial moments, distracted by a ticking clock or consumed with worries about how well we鈥檙e doing or how much time we have left.
Jonathan Schooler, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, wondered if instruction in mindfulness 鈥� the capacity to focus on the here and now 鈥� could help. In a recent issue of the journal . Both classes met for 45 minutes, four times a week, for two weeks. During the mindfulness class, participants sat on cushions in a circle; they were asked to pay focused attention to some aspect of sensory experience, like the sounds of their own breathing.
Emotional spiral thinking
They practiced distinguishing between the simple thoughts that naturally arise in our minds (I have a test tomorrow) and the thoughts that become 鈥渆laborated鈥� with emotion (I鈥檓 really worried that I won鈥檛 do well, and if I fail it, I鈥檒l have to take the class over, and then I won鈥檛 graduate on time). The undergrads enrolled in the mindfulness class were taught how to reframe these more emotional concerns as mere 鈥渕ental projections,鈥� and how to allow their minds to rest naturally, rather than trying to suppress or get rid of their thoughts.
All of the participants, who had completed a measure of working memory and a verbal-reasoning section from the GRE (a graduate 黄色app admissions exam) before the classes started, took these tests again after the classes were over. Researchers also checked how frequently the students鈥� minds wandered while working on the tests. Schooler and his colleagues found that participants who had received the mindfulness training improved their GRE reading-comprehension scores and working-memory capacity, and experienced fewer distracting thoughts while completing the measures the second time.
Schooler notes that findings of his study are in line with other research showing that mindfulness training leads to reduced activation of the 鈥渄efault network,鈥� a collection of regions in the brain that tend to become more active when our minds are at rest than when we鈥檙e focused on a mentally challenging task. People who have been practicing meditation for many years 鈥� and even those who have undergone mindfulness training for just a couple of weeks 鈥� show reduced activation on brain scans of this network, which has been associated with mind wandering. It may be the case, Schooler theorizes, that mindfulness training reduces mind wandering by 鈥渄ampening鈥� the activation of the default network, preventing our thoughts from straying.
IQ can be increased
And this research carries an even more exciting implication, Schooler observes: 鈥淐ounter to the long-standing assumption that mental aptitude is largely fixed across the life span,鈥� he writes, a number of recent studies have indicated that IQ can be increased through targeted interventions like this one. 鈥淭he present demonstration that mindfulness training improves cognitive function and minimizes mind wandering suggests that enhanced attentional focus may be key to unlocking skills that were, until recently, viewed as immutable.鈥� Something to think about 鈥� or, actually, not think about 鈥� the next time you鈥檙e under pressure.
Reprinted with permission from .
