A set of mental skills and socio-emotional dispositions—including self-regulation of emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial traits like empathy and compassion—are central to 21st-century education. These qualities can be strengthened through systematic contemplative practice, which induces plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. The authors call for focused programmatic research to determine which forms and frequencies of practice are most efficacious for which children and adolescents, and to document the neural changes induced.
A survey of 1120 meditators found that most report having had anomalous and extraordinary experiences during meditation, such as mystical, transpersonal, or difficult phenomena. While meditation research has largely focused on clinical effectiveness and neural correlates, these less-studied experiences may be crucial for psychological and spiritual development, act as mediators of meditation's benefits, or be important outcomes themselves. A task force of researchers and teachers developed recommendations to expand research into these areas, which represent largely uncharted scientific terrain suitable for rigorous investigation.