A Study On Effects Of Mindfulness Training On College Students’ Working Memory

Mindfulness is originated in east Buddhist traditions. It was introduced to the west last century. Mindfulness has a good effect in improving attention skills and emotional regulation. In recent decades, mindfulness has become a hot both in applications and research. Working memory plays a central role in the cognitive process, which has been one of the hotspots in psychology and cognitive science. However, studies on the relationship between mindfulness and working memory and its effect on working memory is still not perfect. This study reviewed the relevant literature and investigated the relationship between mindfulness and working memory and the impact of mindfulness on working memory.In this study, we recruited 13 participants from the freshman, and then divided them into two groups according to their intends. One group accepted mindfulness training for a period of five weeks, while the other didn’t. Two groups was tested in mindfulness level(using five-facet mindfulness questionnaire) and performances on working memory(using digital 2-back task) before and after the mindfulness training. After the experiment, we analyzed the relevant between the scores of FFMQ and the performance of the digital 2-back task, and compared the scores of FFMQ and the performance of the digital 2-back task between before and after the experiment using the SPSS 18.0 software.The results showed that, there is no significant correlation between performance of the digital 2-back tasks and the scores of FFMQ; Compared to the control group, 5-week mindfulness training significantly improved the total score of FFMQ and the score of nonjudgmental factor of the experimental group; Compared to the control group, 5-week mindfulness training significantly decreased the response time of the experimental group, while no significant changes in accuracy.All in all, the mindfulness training program in this study improved the mindfulness level and the working memory performance of the participant to some extent, verifying the hypothesis. But, the relationship between the mindfulness level and the working memory is not significant, which is inconsistent with the assumption, and need further research.