Aggregated evidence of meditation research: Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
Two meta-analyses summarised the evidence how mindfulness meditation influences cognitive functions, in particular attention, executive control and working memory.
Yakobi, O., Smilek, D. & Danckert, J. (2021). The effects of mindfulness meditation on attention, executive control and working memory in healthy adults: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Cognitive Therapy Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10177-2
This meta-analysis focused on randomised controlled trials of mindfulness-based interventions in healthy adults and found evidence for improved attention and executive control, both with small effect sizes. No significant influence on working memory was found. Further analysis revealed the number of training sessions was an important predictor (a so-called moderator): the more sessions a programme had, the stronger the effect was.
