In a study published in the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Journal, researchers from the University of Miami found benefits resulting from short-form mindfulness training for college students. Students who participated in a weekly 1-hour mindfulness program for 7 weeks were found to have higher task accuracy in a “Sustained Attention to Response Task” (SART) and self-reported generally being more “on-task.”
An additional study carried out by some of the same researchers offered a similar, but more involved, mindfulness-based program to Marine Corps reserves. This program included 24 hours of total instruction spread over 8 weeks with 2-hour weekly meetings and a day-long silent workshop. The researchers then logged any additional optional training that participants chose to do outside of class times. Similar to the results of the college students, Marines who participated in the mindfulness-based training scored higher on the SART test and those who practiced outside of class scored significantly higher.
These studies suggest that mindfulness-based training programs have the potential to help individuals improve their ability to focus and sustain attention, especially in high-stress environments and during high-stress intervals in life.
You can read both studies for free by checking out the links below:
Taming a Wandering Attention: Short-Form Mindfulness Training in Student Cohorts
Practice is Protective: Mindfulness Training Promotes Cognitive Resilience in High-Stress Cohorts