ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Mindfulness
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1629282
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Trends in Mind-Body Techniques: Boosting Wellbeing with Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation, Neurofeedback, Mindfulness, Hypnosis and Other Neuromodulatory ApproachesView all 3 articles
A Brief Mindfulness Intervention Improves Electrophysiological Markers of Attention in Meditation-Naïve Individuals: the Moderating Role of Inattention Symptoms
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wenzhou-Kean University, Zhejiang, China
- 2moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, United States
- 3University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States
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Background: Attention regulation is key to mindfulness practice, yet the influence of baseline attention ability on mindfulness training outcomes remains underexplored. This study examined the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention on attention and investigated whether baseline inattention symptoms moderated these effects in meditation-naïve university students.Methods: This study employed a pretest-posttest, between-groups experimental design. Meditationnaïve university students (n = 121, aged 18-31, 69% female) were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness group, which engaged in 10 minutes of guided mindful breathing, or a control group, which listened to a talk on green living. Baseline attention was assessed using the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS), and attentional changes were measured via EEG recorded during a visual novelty oddball task.Both groups showed increased post-intervention P3b amplitudes, an electrophysiological indicator of attention. However, the mindfulness group exhibited a significantly greater increase compared to the control group. Importantly, inattention symptoms moderated this effect: participants with higher inattention symptoms in the mindfulness group showed a greater increase in P3b amplitude, while those in the control group showed a decrease.: These findings highlight the importance of considering individual attentional profiles when designing mindfulness-based interventions. Tailoring mindfulness training based on baseline attention levels may enhance its cognitive benefits. Future research should explore additional potential moderators of mindfulness training outcomes and clinical conditions (e.g., anxiety or depression) that may influence attentional functioning and responsiveness to mindfulness practice.
Keywords: mindfulness, Attention, inattention, ADHD, P3b, P300, oddball task, EEG Font: (Default) Trebuchet MS
Received: 16 May 2025; Accepted: 25 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Vinci and Potts. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaoqian Yu, Wenzhou-Kean University, Zhejiang, China
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