Does mindfulness training improve sustained attention?
Moderate EvidenceIT DEPENDS
Moderate evidence suggests mindfulness training improves sustained attention and reduces mind wandering in controlled studies. However, questions remain about whether these gains transfer to untrained cognitive tasks or everyday functioning.
The Verdict
Moderate evidence suggests mindfulness training improves sustained attention and reduces mind wandering in controlled studies. However, questions remain about whether these gains transfer to untrained cognitive tasks or everyday functioning.
What the Evidence Shows
Mindfulness meditation, which involves sustained focus on present-moment experience while monitoring attentional shifts, has been proposed as a form of attention training. Jha et al. (2007) demonstrated that an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program improved orienting attention in naive meditators and sustained attention in experienced practitioners, using the Attention Network Test. MacLean et al. (2010) showed that intensive meditation retreats (5 hours daily for 3 months) produced lasting improvements in sustained visual attention, with participants maintaining vigilance on a demanding perceptual task where controls showed typical decline. Mrazek et al. (2013) found that just 2 weeks of mindfulness training significantly reduced mind wandering during a sustained attention task and improved GRE reading comprehension scores, suggesting cognitive spillover effects. These findings align with neuroimaging research showing thicker cortical regions associated with attention in experienced meditators. However, Morrison and Jha (2014) raised important concerns in their Clinical Psychology Review paper, noting that many mindfulness-attention studies lack active control groups, use measures closely resembling the training itself, and fail to demonstrate far transfer to novel cognitive tasks. They argued that improvements may reflect practice effects on trained tasks rather than genuine enhancement of attentional capacity. The distinction between near transfer (performing better on attention tasks similar to meditation) and far transfer (generalized cognitive enhancement) remains unresolved. Overall, mindfulness likely improves attention to some degree, but claims of broad cognitive enhancement may be overstated.
Evidence Quality
3
Meta-Analyses
12
RCTs
8
Observational
Important Caveats
- ⚠️ Many studies lack rigorous active control conditions
- ⚠️ Transfer to untrained tasks and real-world functioning is not well established
- ⚠️ Dose-response relationships are unclear—intensive retreats vs brief interventions
- ⚠️ Publication bias may inflate reported effect sizes
- ⚠️ Individual differences in response to mindfulness training are substantial
Population Studied
Healthy adults aged 18-65, university students, and experienced meditators; limited clinical population data for attention outcomes
Dosage
Ranging from 2-week brief interventions (10-20 min/day) to intensive 3-month retreats (5 hours/day); standard MBSR is 8 weeks
Duration
Improvements detected after 2-4 weeks of regular practice; sustained gains observed up to 5 months post-retreat
Supporting Studies (3)
Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention
RCTJha AP, Krompinger J, Baime MJ. · Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience (2007)
8-week MBSR training improved orienting attention in novice meditators and alerting/sustained attention in experienced meditators compared to controls on the Attention Network Test.
View paper (DOI) →Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention
RCTMacLean KA, Ferrer E, Aichele SR, et al. · Psychological Science (2010)
Three months of intensive meditation training improved sustained visual attention on a demanding perceptual task, with gains persisting at 5-month follow-up.
View paper (DOI) →Mindfulness training improves working memory capacity and GRE performance while reducing mind wandering
RCTMrazek MD, Franklin MS, Phillips DT, Baird B, Schooler JW. · Psychological Science (2013)
Two weeks of mindfulness training reduced mind wandering on a sustained attention task and improved GRE reading comprehension scores compared to a nutrition education control.
View paper (DOI) →Contradicting Studies (1)
Does mindfulness training improve cognitive abilities? A systematic review of neuropsychological findings
Systematic ReviewMorrison AB, Goolsarran M, Rogers SL, Jha AP. · Clinical Psychology Review (2014)
Systematic review found that mindfulness studies often use outcome measures that closely resemble the training itself, and evidence for far transfer to novel cognitive tasks is weak. Many studies lack adequate active controls.
Why this disagrees:
Apparent attention improvements may reflect practice effects on familiar tasks rather than genuine enhancement of attentional capacity. Without rigorous active controls and far-transfer measures, it remains unclear whether mindfulness truly trains attention or simply trains people to perform better on meditation-like tasks.
Related Claims
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Does mindfulness meditation reduce blood pressure?
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