This article reviews the hypothesis that mind wandering can be integrated into executive models of attention. Evidence suggests that mind wandering shares many similarities with traditional notions of executive control. When mind wandering occurs, the executive components of attention appear to shift away from the primary task, leading to failures in task performance and superficial representations of the external environment. One challenge for incorporating mind wandering into standard executive models is that it often occurs in the absence of explicit intention--a hallmark of controlled processing. However, mind wandering, like other goal-related processes, can be engaged without explicit awareness; thus, mind wandering can be seen as a goal-driven process, albeit one that is not directed toward the primary task.

The restless mind

https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=business_fac

Contemplating Mindfulness at Work An Integrative Review

We investigated whether a mindfulness meditation program delivered via a smartphone application could improve psychological well-being, reduce job strain, and reduce ambulatory blood pressure during the workday. Participants were 238 healthy employees from two large United Kingdom companies that were randomized to a mindfulness meditation practice app or a wait-list control condition. The app offered 45 prerecorded 10- to 20-min guided audio meditations. Participants were asked to complete one meditation per day. Psychosocial measures and blood pressure throughout one working day were measured at baseline and eight weeks later; a follow-up survey was also emailed to participants 16 weeks after the intervention start. Usage data showed that during the 8-week intervention period, participants randomized to the intervention completed an average of 17 meditation sessions (range 0-45 sessions). The intervention group reported significant improvement in well-being, distress, job strain, and perceptions of workplace social support compared to the control group. In addition, the intervention group had a marginally significant decrease in self-measured workday systolic blood pressure from pre- to post-intervention. Sustained positive effects in the intervention group were found for well-being and job strain at the 16-week follow-up assessment. This trial suggests that short guided mindfulness meditations delivered via smartphone and practiced multiple times per week can improve outcomes related to work stress and well-being, with potentially lasting effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Mindfulness on-the-go: Effects of a mindfulness meditation app on work stress and well-being.

Background Burnout among physicians affects mental health, performance, and patient outcomes. Surgery residency is a high-risk time for burnout. We examined burnout and the psychological characteristics that can contribute to burnout vulnerability and resilience in a group of surgical trainees. Study Design An online survey was distributed in September 2016 to all ACGME-accredited general surgery programs. Burnout was assessed with an abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory. Stress, anxiety, depression, resilience, mindfulness, and alcohol use were assessed and analyzed for prevalence. Odds ratios (ORs) were used to determine the magnitude of presumed risk and resilience factors. Results Among 566 surgical residents who participated in the survey, prevalence of burnout was 69%, equally driven by emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Perceived stress and distress symptoms (depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety) were notably high across training levels, but improved during lab years. Higher burnout was associated with high stress (OR 7.8; p  Conclusions High levels of burnout, severe stress, and distress symptoms are experienced throughout general surgery training, with some improvement during lab years. In this cross-sectional study, trainees with burnout and high stress were at increased risk for depression and suicidal ideation. Higher dispositional mindfulness was associated with lower risk of burnout, severe stress, and distress symptoms, supporting the potential of mindfulness training to promote resilience during surgery residency.

Burnout and Stress Among US Surgery Residents: Psychological Distress and Resilience.

Mindfulness meditation is increasingly incorporated into mental health interventions, and theoretical concepts associated with it have influenced basic research on psychopathology. Here, we review the current understanding of mindfulness meditation through the lens of clinical neuroscience, outlining the core capacities targeted by mindfulness meditation and mapping them onto cognitive and affective constructs of the Research Domain Criteria matrix proposed by the National Institute of Mental Health. We review efficacious applications of mindfulness meditation to specific domains of psychopathology including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and substance abuse, as well as emerging efforts related to attention disorders, traumatic stress, dysregulated eating, and serious mental illness. Priorities for future research include pinpointing mechanisms, refining methodology, and improving implementation. Mindfulness meditation is a promising basis for interventions, with particular potential relevance to psychiatric comorbidity. The successes and challenges of mindfulness meditation research are instructive for broader interactions between contemplative traditions and clinical psychological science.

/pdf/mindfulness-meditation-and-psychopathology-2coxrnuh3g.pdf

Mindfulness Meditation and Psychopathology.

We investigated the impact of mindfulness training (MT) on attentional performance lapses associated with task-unrelated thought (i.e., mind wandering). Periods of persistent and intensive demands may compromise attention and increase off-task thinking. Here, we investigated if MT may mitigate these deleterious effects and promote cognitive resilience in military cohorts enduring a high-demand interval of predeployment training. To better understand which aspects of MT programs are most beneficial, three military cohorts were examined. Two of the three groups were provided MT. One group received an 8-hour, 8-week variant of Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) emphasizing engagement in training exercises (training-focused MT, n = 40), a second group received a didactic-focused variant emphasizing content regarding stress and resilience (didactic-focused MT, n = 40), and the third group served as a no-training control (NTC, n = 24). Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) performance was indexed in all military groups and a no-training civilian group (CIV, n = 45) before (T1) and after (T2) the MT course period. Attentional performance (measured by A’, a sensitivity index) was lower in NTC vs. CIV at T2, suggesting that performance suffers after enduring a high-demand predeployment interval relative to a similar time period of civilian life. Yet, there were significantly fewer performance lapses in the military cohorts receiving MT relative to NTC, with training-focused MT outperforming didactic-focused MT at T2. From T1 to T2, A’ degraded in NTC and didactic-focused MT but remained stable in training-focused MT and CIV. In sum, while protracted periods of high-demand military training may increase attentional performance lapses, practice-focused MT programs akin to training-focused MT may bolster attentional performance more than didactic-focused programs. As such, training-focused MT programs should be further examined in cohorts experiencing protracted high-demand intervals.

/pdf/minds-at-attention-mindfulness-training-curbs-attentional-ls064e6ul0.pdf

Minds “At Attention”: Mindfulness Training Curbs Attentional Lapses in Military Cohorts

Attention is critical for successful performance in demanding real-world situations. Yet, protracted periods of high demand may compromise attention and increase off-task thinking. Herein, we investigate if mindfulness training (MT) may promote cognitive resilience by curbing attentional lapses in high-stress cohorts. Two military cohorts were recruited during their high-stress predeployment interval. Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT)® was provided to one group (MT, N = 31) but not the other group (military control group, MC, N = 24). The MT group attended an 8-week MMFT® course and logged the amount of out-of-class time spent practicing formal MT exercises. The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) was used to index objective attentional performance and subjective ratings of mind wandering before (T1) and after (T2) the MT course. In the MT group, changes in SART measures correlated with the amount of time spent engaging in MT homework practice, with greater objective performance benefits (indexed by A′, a sensitivity measure), and reduced subjective reports of mind wandering over time in those who engaged in high practice vs. low practice. Performance measures in the low practice and MC groups significantly declined from T1 to T2. In contrast, the high practice group remained stable over time. These results suggest that engaging in sufficient MT practice may protect against attentional lapses over high-demand intervals. Based on these results, we argue that MT programs emphasizing greater engagement in mindfulness practice should be further investigated as a route by which to build cognitive resilience in high-stress cohorts.

Practice Is Protective: Mindfulness Training Promotes Cognitive Resilience in High-Stress Cohorts

The science of presence: A central mediator of the interpersonal benefits of mindfulness.

Mindfulness-based interventions for military veterans: A systematic review and analysis of the literature.

This chapter provides an overview of “internal education” as a way of cultivating mindsight, the ability to sense the internal world of self and another and promote the process of integration. Mindsight is developed through didactic and experiential aspects of education that utilize relationships and reflection to develop resilience, a new set of “R’s” of education. A wide range of sciences can be synthesized to suggest that integration, the linkage of differentiated aspects of a system, from relationships to neural circuits, is the source of resilience and well-being. Mindsight is a human capacity to cultivate insight, empathy, and integration and may serve as the common mechanism shared by mindfulness training and by social and emotional learning.

Internal Education and the Roots of Resilience: Relationships and Reflection as the New R’s of Education

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