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ORIGINAL RESEARCH MEDITATION CAN REDUCE HABITUAL RESPONDING Heidi Wenk-Sormaz, PhD Context • Alllioiigh cognitive aspects of meditation underlie much ot its clinical application, very little research has exam- ined meditation's cognitive consequences. This investigation provides experimental support for the idea that meditation leads to a reduction in habitual responding using randomly selected subjects, a secular form of meditation, and a full experimental design. Objective • To test the hypothesis that meditation leads to a reduction in habitual responding. Design • Studies 1 and 2 each incorporated p re-test and post- test designs with a 20-minute intervening attention task {medi- tation, rest, or a cognitive control). Setting • Yale I'niversity in New Haven. Conn, and tbe University of Calitbrnia, Berkeley. Participants • One hundred and twenty and 90 undergradu- ates participated in Studies 1 an d 2 . respectively. Main Outcome Measures • Stroop and Word Production (cat- egory generation and stem-completion) tasks assessed habitual responding in Study 1. Galvanic Skin response measured arousal in Study 1. The category generation task assessed habitual responding in Study 2. Tellegen's Absorption Scale (TAS) measured attention ability. Results • In Study 1, meditation participants showed a reduction in habitual responding on the Stroop task as compared to con- trols. Study 1 revealed no statistically significant effects in the word production task. Stroop task perfomiance was not m ediated by arousal reduction. In Study 2, meditation participants showed a reduction in habitual responding on the category production task. Specifically, when participants generated either typical or atjfpical items, on average, meditation participants produced more atypical items than controls. Category production performance was not mediated by Tellegen's Absorption Scale (TAS) scores. OveraO. high T AS scores were related to at)'pical responding. Conclusion • Across cognitive tasks, when participants under- stood that the goal was to respond non-habitually. meditation reduced habitual responding. Preparation of this work was supported in part by a National Institute of Mental Health grant MH 35856 awarded to John F. KMstwm. (Altern Ther Ileahh Med. 2005: n{2):42-5S.) Heidi VVenk-Sormaz, PhD, is the Director of Fresh Yoga in New Haven, Conn. M editati\e practices from Eastern traditions (eg. Buddhist meditation, yoga, transcen- dental meditation, etc) have become widely accepted as strategies for self-regulation and primarily, stress reduction.' ' Wilbin the field of psychology, the focus of meditation research has been physiological change and the reduction of medical or psy- chological symptoms of stress or both. After decades of research, most investigators agree that meditation practice reli- ably reduces physiological arousal and p.sychological anxiety.''' li-'prini rnjiicsl ^: IniiiiVisioii Ciimiiiiwnitliiw,. 169Sux im' Rmul. iiiilr lO.l KihiniUiy (.'A 92024: I/hunt, imSjK2lt298 2,>r (7m633 -.i9 0:i-iiuid, ,i(liTmilivi.lhrriijm\Qi*iiimr:ii>)<r\viix.iom. Likewise, to the extent that a clinical problem is exacerbated by stress, it is thought that meditation can serve as a helpful inter- vention. Specifically, experimental work has shown meditation to be effective in the treatm ent of chronic pain." hypertension,^" insomnia,''' clinical anxiety.'""' irritable bowel syndrome," ""* psoriasis,"' fibrom yalgia. and asthma."" Meditation is similar to other self-regulation techniques, such as biofeedback and progressive relaxation training, in that the)' all invoK'e a conscious attempt to control attention. Given that the main component of self-regulation is cognitive attention control, it is surprising that there has not been a broader investigation of the cognitive consequences of engag- ing in meditation. The cognitive aspects of meditation underlie some of its clinical applications.'""" Moreover, cognitive change is what Hastern practitioners have concentrated on for centuries. The focus of this investigation is to examine medita- tion in cognitive terms. 42 ALTERNATIVE THERATIES. MAR/Aini 2005. VOL II, NO. 2 Meditation and C ognition
