Abstract
Objectives
A core process trained during mindfulness is inhibitory control. A decline in inhibitory control is thought to underlie age-related cognitive declines. Electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs) index both the speed and allocation of attentional resources, making them useful in assessing cognition in ageing. While mindfulness has been shown to improve attentional control, studies examining ageing cohorts are lacking. Here, we examine ERP changes during an inhibitory control task in older adults to assess the ability of mindfulness to enhance cognition in ageing.
Methods
A longitudinal RCT was conducted to examine the effect of an 8-week mindfulness training (MT) intervention on the N2 and P3 ERP components during the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) in healthy older adults aged over 60 years (n = 48). An active control computer-based attention training (CT) program (n = 27) designed to activate similar attentional components to mindfulness was used to determine if outcomes resulted from attention training or mindfulness-specific factors.
Results
While both the MT and CT groups displayed improved SART performance following the interventions (as indexed by errors of commission and reaction time coefficient of variation), only the MT group showed significant reductions in frontal P3 latency during response inhibition.
Conclusions
The results suggest that mindfulness may enhance the speed and efficiency of attentional processes, thus providing protective benefits against age-related cognitive decline.
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Funding
BI conducted this work with the support of the Judy Henzell Memorial Scholarship. MS reports personal fees from Eli Lily (Australia) Pty Ltd. and grants from Novotech Pty Ltd., outside the submitted work.
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BI designed and conducted the study, delivered the interventions, performed the data analysis, and wrote the paper. JL collaborated in the data analysis, writing, and editing of the final manuscript. DH collaborated in the data analysis, writing, and editing of the final manuscript. KS reviewed all ERP component data analysis and collaborated in editing the final manuscript. MS collaborated in the design, data analysis, writing, and editing of the final manuscript.
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Ethics Statement
All procedures were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of the Sunshine Coast Human Research Ethics Committee (approval: HREC A-15-748), the Australian National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, and the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki). In accordance with the latter two ethical statements which proscribe the use of no-treatment or placebo controls when existing effective treatment conditions exist, an active control condition consisting of a program of cognitive training was used as a comparison condition to assess the benefits of mindfulness training.
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Isbel, B., Lagopoulos, J., Hermens, D. et al. Mindfulness Improves Attention Resource Allocation During Response Inhibition in Older Adults. Mindfulness 11, 1500–1510 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01364-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01364-z