Brief breath awareness training yields poorer working memory performance in the context of acute stress
Cognition & Emotion January 29, 2021 Simon B. Goldberg, Lisa Flook, Matthew J. Hirshberg et al. 6 citations
Brief mindfulness meditation (breath awareness) may impair cognitive performance after acute stress compared to other contemplative practices. In a randomized trial with 162 participants, those who practiced loving-kindness, gratitude, or an attentional control improved their working memory scores on the Operation Span task after the cold pressor stress test, while the breath awareness group did not. Changes in working memory were unrelated to changes in mood. The findings suggest that brief breath awareness training may not buffer against acute stress in meditation-naïve individuals and could even hinder cognitive performance relative to other practices.