☆ L5: Meditation, Memory, and Cognition ☆ Flashcards
Describe short-term, working and long-term memory processes.
STM is tested using the Digit Span Task
Differentiate memory from cognition.
Cognition: The mental process of acquiring and understanding knowledge through thought, experience, and the senses
▻ Cognition is general and involves many mental processes such as attention, perception, decision-making, and problem-solving
Memory: The process whereby information is encoded, consolidated, and retrieved
Memory refers to a much smaller cluster of things
Memory is a subset of cognition but they are distinct
For example, you could have high cognitive ability but poor memory.
What type of memory has been most studied by meditation researchers?
STM
How is working memory measured in the lab? What test is most favored?
WM is measured using the digit symbol test or the OSPAN test.
The OSPAN test is most favoured.
What are task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs)?
What effect do TUTs have on cognitive performance?
How does meditation affect TUTs?
Task unrelated thoughts (TUTs): intrusive thoughts that are unrelated to what we are currently doing.
TUTs tend to increase during negative states and may impair memory and attention.
Meditation may enable filtering of TUTs, thereby reducing interference and improving cognitive performance.
A recent meta-analysis looked at the effects of meditation on memory and cognition. What did that analysis find?
How does meditation affect people’s relationship to their job? Be specific.
Meditation may be positively related to work engagement, work satisfaction, and self-reported work performance.
These are subjective measures; few studies have objectively measured the effects of meditation on work performance.
These results could be explained by meditations effects on mood not directly on memory.
Explain the relationship between stress and memory that is proposed by the Yerkes-
Dodson Law.
Concerning performance on difficult tasks, too low arousal causes low performance, too high arousal also causes low performance (risk of stressed induced memory impairment). Mid arousal causes high performance.
For example, the right amount of anxiety before a test
What is long-term potentiation (LTP)? Why is LTP considered an attractive model of learning?
LTP refers to long-term increases in connection strength that occur after our experiences.
▻ Similar to certain muscles growing if you repeat the same exercise.
LTP is sensitive to cortisol.
LTP is an attractive model of learning because it has to do with neuroplasticity and how our brain adapts and changes to consolidate memories.
Explain how changes in the levels of glucocorticoids (such as cortisol) during stress may explain the effects of stress on learning-related synaptic plasticity and memory.
Both high and low levels of glucocorticoids impair long-term potentiation (LTP).
Stress may impair learning because it is associated with high levels of glucocorticoids.
Stress-reducing interventions, such as meditation, may protect learning by normalizing stress/glucocorticoids.
Describe the relationship between meditation practice, memory and positive affect in military personnel.
Meditation increases stress resiliency (preserve function—including memory + cognition—in stress)
Describe the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction programs on surgery residents (doctors).
One report shows that MBSR enhanced wellbeing, executive function, and WM in doctors.
Describe the mechanisms by which meditation may enhance memory + cognition.
Mood improvements (reduced anxiety and depression)
Attention improvements and mind wandering (TUTs) is reduced
Stress-induced impairments are reduced
Sleep improvements
All of these mechanisms may involve neuroplasticity in the memory network.
Describe how neuroplasticity may explain the effects of meditation on memory.
DLPFC and hippocampus (size increases) undergo neuroplasticity
Describe some limitations in the use of meditation to improve memory.
Expectation
False memories
Susceptibility to false memories may be affected by meditation
Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) test is used to control for false memories
