title: Domain-specific enhancement of metacognitive ability following meditation training.
abstract: Contemplative mental practices aim to enable individuals to develop greater awareness of their own cognitive and affective states through repeated examination of first-person experience. Recent cross-sectional studies of long-term meditation practitioners suggest that the subjective reports of such individuals are better calibrated with objective indices; however, the impact of mental training on metacognitive ability has not yet been examined in a randomized controlled investigation. The present study evaluated the impact of a 2-week meditation-training program on introspective accuracy in the domains of perception and memory. Compared with an active control group that elicited no change, we found that a 2-week meditation program significantly enhanced introspective accuracy, quantified by metacognitive judgments of cognition on a trial-by-trial basis, in a memory but not a perception domain. Together, these data suggest that, in at least some domains, the human capacity to introspect is plastic and can be enhanced through training.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baird
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Mrazek
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California.
authors.forename: Dawa T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California.
authors.forename: Jonathan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Schooler
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000523:psychology*; D008568:Memory; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D055815:Young Adult