Neuropsychology Review
August 4, 2021
Tim Whitfield, Thorsten Barnhofer, Rebecca L. Acabchuk et al.
193 citations
Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) show a small but significant benefit for cognitive performance, particularly for executive function and working memory, according to a meta-analysis of 56 randomized controlled trials involving 2,931 adults. The overall effect favoring MBPs over comparators was small (g = 0.15). Benefits were strongest for non-clinical samples and adults over 60, and when MBPs were compared to inactive controls rather than active ones. No significant effects were found for other cognitive domains. Most studies had unclear risk of bias, and some statistical results were unreliable. The findings partially support the idea that mindfulness practice can enhance certain cognitive abilities.
Alzheimer s Research & Therapy
June 22, 2018
Gaël Chételat, Antoine Lutz, Eider M. Arenaza‐Urquijo et al.
106 citations
Long-term meditation practice may help preserve brain structure and function from age-related decline. A pilot study found that six older adult expert meditators had higher gray matter volume and/or glucose metabolism in the prefrontal, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, insula, and temporo-parietal junction compared to 67 age-matched controls. These preliminary findings suggest meditation could counteract adverse psycho-affective factors like stress, depression, anxiety, and neuroticism that affect sleep, cognition, and mental health in aging populations and increase Alzheimer's disease risk. The European Commission-funded Silver Santé Study will investigate further through two randomized controlled trials with 316 older adults, testing 2-month and 18-month meditation, English learning, or health education programs.
Alzheimer s & Dementia Translational Research & Clinical Interventions
January 1, 2018
Géraldine Poisnel, Eider M. Arenaza‐Urquijo, Fabienne Collette et al.
103 citations
The Age-Well clinical trial examines whether an 18-month meditation-based intervention can improve mental health and well-being in older adults by targeting attentional and emotional aspects of aging. The trial randomly assigns 137 cognitively unimpaired older adults to the meditation program, a foreign language training program matched for structure and duration, or a passive control group. The study measures cognitive, behavioral, biological, neuroimaging, and sleep outcomes to assess the intervention's impact and underlying mechanisms. This is the first long-term nonpharmacological trial to address both emotional and cognitive dimensions of aging with such comprehensive assessments.
JAMA Neurology
October 10, 2022
Gaël Chételat, Antoine Lutz, Olga Klimecki et al.
45 citations
An 18-month randomized trial of meditation training versus non-native language training or no intervention in cognitively unimpaired adults aged 65 and older found no significant changes in brain volume or perfusion of the anterior cingulate cortex or insula from meditation. Meditation did produce superior improvements in a composite score of attention regulation, socioemotional capacities, and self-knowledge compared with language training. The findings confirm the feasibility of both meditation and language training in older adults, with high adherence and low dropout, but the positive behavioral effects of meditation were not accompanied by measurable changes in the targeted brain structures.
Alzheimer s & Dementia Translational Research & Clinical Interventions
January 1, 2018
Antoine Lutz, Olga Klimecki, Fabienne Collette et al.
18 citations
Long-term meditation expertise may protect against age-related decline. The Age-Well study compares 30 cognitively healthy older adults (65+) with at least 10,000 hours of mindfulness and compassion meditation to nonmeditator controls, using brain imaging, sleep, and biological measures sensitive to aging and Alzheimer's disease. Results are expected to clarify how meditation expertise affects aging and the mechanisms behind meditation-based interventions, informing future prevention trials for older populations.
Scientific Reports
November 2, 2024
Marco Schlosser, Julie Gonneaud, Stefano Poletti et al.
2 citations
Older adults who spent more time practicing meditation perceived greater benefits from an 18-month meditation program. The study involved 90 healthy adults aged 65-84 years who were randomly assigned to either meditation training or a non-native language training. Higher levels of formal practice were associated with higher combined ratings of self- and teacher-perceived responsiveness across measures of connection, emotions, and meta-awareness during sessions and in daily life. Global responsiveness scores were not correlated with actual changes in well-being. The findings suggest that engagement, rather than baseline characteristics like personality or expectancy, predicts perceived response to meditation training.
April 13, 2021
Marco Schlosser, Thorsten Barnhofer, Florence Requier et al.
2 citations
A theory-based classification of meditation practices—attentional, constructive, and deconstructive—can guide the creation of composite scores from existing psychological questionnaires. In three samples (meditation-naïve older adults, meditation-naïve older adults with subjective cognitive decline, and long-term meditators with at least 10,000 hours of practice), these composite scores showed adequate psychometric properties, including low floor and ceiling effects, interpretability, and convergent validity with well-being, anxiety, and depression measures. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the predicted three-factor structure. The findings suggest that theoretical models of meditation mechanisms can yield empirically meaningful composite scores for research.
Scientific Reports
October 28, 2025
Sacha Haudry, Natacha Lambert, Christian Gaser et al.
Older adults with more than 20 years of meditation experience have a younger predicted brain age compared to cognitively unimpaired older adults without such expertise, as measured by a machine learning model trained on brain structure and metabolism data. The difference in brain age was linked to total meditation hours, mental imagery, and prosocialness. However, an 18-month meditation training program did not produce a significant effect on brain age, suggesting that long-term, sustained practice may be necessary to support healthy brain aging.
Scientific reports
May 15, 2025
Florence Requier, Hamed Mohammadi, Harriet Demnitz-King et al.
Expert meditators in older age reported less external distraction and performed better on memory tasks compared to non-meditators, while no differences were found in attention, executive function, or global cognitive scores. These cross-sectional findings from 135 non-meditators and 27 expert meditators suggest that prolonged meditation practice may help preserve memory and manage distractions, two cognitive capacities important for healthy aging.
February 13, 2024
Marco Schlosser, Stefano Poletti, Fabienne Collette et al.
preprint
More time spent practicing meditation is linked to greater perceived benefits from training, according to a study of 90 healthy older adults aged 65-84 who took part in an 18-month meditation program or a language training program. Higher engagement, measured as hours of formal practice, was the only factor associated with higher ratings of responsiveness by participants and teachers, including measures of connection, emotions, and meta-awareness during sessions and in daily life. Baseline traits like sex, education, personality, and cognition did not predict responsiveness. The findings suggest that adherence and practice time are key to perceived intervention effects, and future studies should track engagement and reasons for disengagement.
October 31, 2022
Marco Schlosser, Olga Klimecki, Fabienne Collette et al.
An 18-month meditation training program, combining mindfulness with compassion and loving-kindness practice, improved a global measure of psychological well-being in healthy older adults compared to both an active English training group and a no-intervention control. The global score reflected the meditation-based dimensions of awareness, connection, and insight. Meditation training was superior to English training on changes in each of these subscales individually. However, it did not outperform the comparators on the standard Psychological Well-being Scale total score, and improvements in psychological quality of life were not significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons. Participants who started with higher well-being showed smaller gains.