Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Selective, Sustained Attention, Brain Neural Oscillations, and Short-term Memory

Authors

Anamaria Guzman, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

Guzman, A. (2021). Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Selective, Sustained Attention, Brain Neural Oscillations, and Short-term Memory. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Comments

Copyright Anamaria Guzman Cardenas 2021

Abstract

The following extended literature review and research proposal study started initially as a complete research proposal but, due to the challenges COVID-19 has brought, it has become a stand-alone piece of work without data collection. The goal is to synthesize a broad range of literature and previous research on mindfulness meditation and its effects on attention, memory, and brain activity and thus, offering a new perspective and a proposed research path on this subject. This proposed research study, besides previous studies, indicates that mindfulness meditation is expected to improve and enhance selective and sustained attention, which results in better attentional performance and shows potential brain activity changes, especially in gamma frequency and a significant enhancement of short-term memory capacity. The specific mechanism and process through which mindfulness affects attention, brain activity, and short-term memory capacity have yet to be identified and understood. This study contributes to our understanding of mindfulness meditation's effects on the whole brain activity by focusing on how it can enhance our short-term memory, improve our sustained and selective attention, and how it affects brain activity when it comes to cortical processing. There remains much to be done to fully grasp and comprehend how we can utilize mindfulness meditation to enrich and maintain cognition in young adulthood and beyond.