The Effects of a Mindfulness Induction on the Brain's Response to Performance Errors

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2015
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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Thesis
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
The current study aimed to investigate the effects of a mindfulness induction on the brain’s response to performance errors, specifically whether a mindfulness induction would affect cognitive performance and the neural correlates of performance monitoring. Three neural correlates of performance monitoring were examined: the errorrelated negativity (ERN), error positivity (Pe), and errorrelated alpha suppression (ERAS). The mindfulness induction was intended to induce mindful awareness via a short audio clip with meditative breathing exercises, whereas the control condition simply listened to an educational audio clip on mindfulness. All participants then completed a Stroop test while EEG was recorded. The groups showed similar performance on the Stroop test, and ERN and Pe amplitudes did not differ across groups. However, alpha power was marginally different across groups, where those in the mindfulness condition showed higher alpha power following correct trials than error trials. Moreover, several different measures of individual differences, including awareness level, anxiety level, worry level, and mindfulness experience level were associated with these neural correlates. The results may reflect the idea that neural responses to errors are affected differently by a mindfulness induction and are predicted by various measures of individual differences in complex ways.
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