A Bayesian analysis of wakeful and sleep-dependent motor memory consolidation from single-session mindfulness meditation

James Brown, Maarten A. Immink, Alex Chatburn, David L. Wright

Research output: Contribution to journalMeeting Abstractpeer-review

Abstract

There is increasing interest in mindfulness meditation for memory augmentation. For example, post-training meditation has been shown to promote wakeful motor memory stabilization in experienced meditators (Immink, 2016). We investigated the effect of single-session mindfulness meditation on wakeful and sleep-dependent forms of motor memory consolidation in mediation naïve adults (N = 20, 9 females, Mage = 23.7 years ± 3.4). Immediately after serial reaction time task (SRTT) sequence training, participants completed either a 15-minute focused attention meditation (N = 10) or a control listening task. They were then exposed to interference through novel sequence practice. Performance on the trained sequence was tested following a 4-hour wakeful period and again after sleep. Bayesian inference was applied to group comparison of mean reaction time (RT) across training, interference, wakeful and post-sleep time points. Bayes factors (BF) were obtained from Bayesian independent samples t-tests conducted in JASP, a free statistical package. Weak evidence was present for group RT differences at the start (BF = 0.546) and end (BF = 1.13) of training. There was moderate evidence (BF = 6.33) that relative to control, meditation reduced training to interference negative transfer. Enhancement of wakeful consolidation from meditation was supported by strong evidence (BF = 13.0). Wakeful offline learning occurred following post-training meditation (MDRT = -22.1 ms, CI: -38.6, - 5.7) but not control conditions (MDRT = 28.6 ms, CI: -5.6, 62.7). No
evidence was found for group differences in sleep-dependent performance improvement relative to training (BF = 0.787) or wakeful test (BF = 0.426). Post-training mindfulness meditation states reduce novel sequence interference and expedite wakeful offline sequence learning. Importantly, previous meditation training is not required to obtain wakeful consolidation gains from post-training mindfulness meditation.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)S2-S3
Number of pages2
JournalJournal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
Volume43
Issue numberSupplement
Publication statusPublished - May 2021
Event2021 North American Society for Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity Conference - Virtual Conference
Duration: 9 Jun 202111 Jun 2021

Keywords

  • Mindfulness
  • Sport psychology
  • Motor Memory

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