1. Figure 1. Example incongruent stimulus.
Mindful Observance Predicts Efficient Cognitive Control: An EEG Study of Theta-Band Oscillations
Emilio A. Valadez & Robert F. Simons Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Delaware
Copyright Colin Purrington (
Introduction
Mindfulness is a multifaceted construct often defined as nonjudgmental awareness of present-moment experiences.
Findings from recent event-related potential studies of mindfulness meditators suggest that mindfulness may improve cognitive control in part through enhanced frontal midline theta (FMθ) oscillatory activity.
FMθ is thought to reflect the medial prefrontal cortex signaling the need for cognitive control.
Hypotheses:
During an attentionally-demanding task…
Trait mindfulness will predict greater FMθ reactivity following presentation of conflicting (incongruent) stimuli and following error commission.
Trait mindfulness will predict better task performance.
Results
Of the five FFMQ subscales, only Observe significantly predicted FMθ power during the flanker task.
Contrary to Hypothesis 1, Observe scores did not significantly predict FMθ reactivity following incongruent stimulus presentation and negatively predicted FMθ reactivity following error response commission (relative to reactivity following correct responses; see Table 1).
Conclusions
No self-report measure predicted FMθ reactivity to incongruent stimuli relative to reactivity to congruent stimuli.
Scores on the FFMQ’s Observe subscale (which measures the tendency to notice somatic sensations) predicted reduced FMθ reactivity to errors relative to reactivity to correct responses, contrary to hypothesis 1.
No self-report measure predicted task performance in terms of either reaction time or accuracy, contrary to hypothesis 2.
The relationship between FFMQ Observe scores and FMθ reactivity to errors is not explained by the absence of depression or anxiety symptoms because neither the BDI-II nor the PSWQ was associated with FMθ reactivity.
That FFMQ Observe scores predicted reduced FMθ reactivity to errors but were not associated with a corresponding drop in task performance suggests that attention to somatic sensations may be related to more efficient medial prefrontal cortex signaling.
This is consistent with previous findings that, during a Stroop task, meditators showed decreased task- related hemodynamic brain responses but no performance differences compared to non- meditators.
Individuals high on the Observe subscale may be more attuned to these FMθ cognitive control signals, possibly through stronger oscillatory phase synchrony, which is thought to reflect the coherence of neural communication and information encoding.
Table 1
Estimates from FFMQ Path Model for FMθ reactivity
95% CI
Outcome: Incongruent-Congruent FMθ difference
Estimate (SE)
p-value
Lower
Upper
Observe
-.009 (.023)
.697
-.054
.036
Describe
.005 (.020)
.807
-.034
.043
Act with Awareness
.007 (.025)
.779
-.042
.056
Nonjudge
-.007 (.023)
.744
-.052
.037
Nonreact
-.017 (.030)
.564
-.076
.041
Outcome: Error-Correct FMθ difference
-.119 (.054)
.027
-.225
-.014
-.003 (.048)
.956
-.096
.090
.034 (.061)
.571
-.085
.153
-.048 (.057)
.400
-.159
.063
.008 (.076)
.916
-.140
.156
Note. All p-values are two-tailed.
Method
Participants:
50 (14 male) undergraduate students
10 (4 male) participants excluded from error analyses due to too few errors
Task:
Modified Eriksen flanker task
Figure 1. Example incongruent stimulus.
Measures:
Self-report:
Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ)
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)
5 subscales:
Observe
Describe
Act with Awareness
Nonjudge
Nonreact
Physiological:
FMθ power following incongruent/congruent stimulus presentation and following error/correct responses
Time-frequency power computed with Morlet wavelets in the FieldTrip MATLAB toolbox
Measured as maximum power at Cz between 4 and 8 Hz and between 100 ms pre-stimulus and 600 ms post-stimulus or between 200 ms pre-response and 500 ms post-response
Figure 2. Grand average topographic plots of peak theta time-frequency power differences.
Figure 3. Grand average time-frequency power differences at Cz.
Contrary to Hypothesis 2, there was no relationship between FFMQ scores and task performance (see Table 2).
Neither psychopathology measure (BDI-II, PSWQ) predicted FMθ reactivity (see Table 3) or task performance (see Table 4).
Literature cited
Cavanagh, J. F., & Frank, M. J. (2014). Frontal theta as a mechanism for cognitive control. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(8),
Kozasa, E. H., Sato, J. R., Lacerda, S. S., Barreiros, M. A., Radvany, J., Russell, T. A., ... & Amaro, E. (2012). Meditation training increases brain efficiency in an attention task. Neuroimage, 59(1),
Moore, A., Gruber, T., Derose, J., & Malinowski, P. (2012). Regular, brief mindfulness meditation practice improves electrophysiological markers of attentional control. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 18.
Teper, R., & Inzlicht, M. (2013). Meditation, mindfulness and executive control: the importance of emotional acceptance and brain-based performance monitoring. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 8(1),
Table 2
Estimates from FFMQ Path Model for Task Performance
95% CI
Outcome: Reaction Time (ms)
Estimate (SE)
p-value
Lower
Upper
Observe
.513 (2.023)
.800
-3.453
4.478
Describe
(1.742)
.398
-4.888
1.941
Act with Awareness
1.010 (2.231)
.654
-3.364
5.383
Nonjudge
.803 (2.017)
.690
-3.149
4.756
Nonreact
.197 (2.655)
.941
-5.006
5.401
Outcome: Accuracy
-.002 (.002)
.508
-.007
.003
.252
.002
.001 (.003)
.850
-.005
.006
.001 (.002)
.840
-.004
.005
.000 (.003)
.919
-.006
.007
Note. All p-values are two-tailed.
Table 3
Estimates from Psychopathology Path Model for FMθ reactivity
95% CI
Outcome: Incongruent-Congruent FMθ difference
Estimate (SE)
p-value
Lower
Upper
BDI-II
-.012 (.023)
.594
-.057
.033
PSWQ
.007 (.008)
.383
-.009
.024
Outcome: Error-Correct FMθ difference
-.047 (.060)
.429
-.164
.070
.016 (.023)
.472
-.028
.061
Note. All p-values are two-tailed.
Table 4
Estimates from Psychopathology Path Model for Task Performance
95% CI
Outcome: Reaction Time (ms)
Estimate (SE)
p-value
Lower
Upper
BDI-II
-.648 (2.035)
.750
-4.636
3.340
PSWQ
-.213 (0.748)
.776
-1.678
1.252
Outcome: Accuracy
.000 (.003)
.935
-.005
.005
.000 (.001)
.636
-.002
.001
Note. All p-values are two-tailed.
Figure 4. Scatterplot of FFMQ Observe scores and Error-Correct FMθ reactivity.
Note. * p < .05.
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