UW-Madison: Study - Can Meditation Sharpen Our Attention?

A new study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that people can train their minds to stay focused.

The study, led by UW-Madison scientist Antoine Lutz, involved subjects interested in meditation in an effort to see whether voluntary mental training can affect attention. Results suggest that attention stability is not a fixed capacity, and that it can be improved by directed mental training, such as meditation.

"Everyone is familiar with daydreaming," says Lutz, who works jointly with the Waisman Brain Imaging Lab and the new Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. "These momentary lapses into mind-wandering occur even when a person is trying to stay focused on a chosen object. The difficulty of focused attention is evident both in everyday experiences and in the laboratory." (More)

Source: WisBusiness.com