Presenter(s): Josephine Swift
Faculty Mentor(s): Jennifer Lewis & Don Tucker
Poster 95
Session: Social Sciences & Humanities
Mindfulness is a state of awareness that allows an individual to more effectively monitor their cognition and emotions. The ways in which mindfulness impacts aspects of cognition, including attention and attentional control, are still being researched. The current study examines how dispositional mindfulness is related to individuals’ attention and attentional control as measured through dense-array EEG (dEEG). We examined participant’s (n=72) scores on the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006) and their event-related potentials (ERPs) generated from completing the color-word Stroop task modified for dEEG recording. Response times were also recorded. ERP waveform amplitude differences for the P300, an ERP associated with attentional processes, did not significantly differ by category (i.e., Incongruent, Congruent). However, preliminary analyses showed a relationship between self-reported mindfulness and the amplitude of the P300 (across both categories), whereas higher scores on the FFMQ were associated with attenuated P300 amplitudes. Decreased P300 amplitudes may indicate the deployment of less attentional resources. It’s possible that individuals who are more mindful, have naturally increased attention and therefore require less attentional resources in a cognitively demanding task. Mindfulness has been found to be an effective intervention for mood disorders, particularly anxiety disorders (Blanck et al. 2018). Understanding the particular ways that mindfulness impacts cognition may lead to a further understanding of the mechanisms by which mindfulness improves anxiety symptoms and thus improve treatment.