Study Finds Short-Term Mindfulness Practice Improves Visual Processing Speed

A USC cognitive neuroscience team led by Andy Kim, PhD found that a 30-day, short-term mindfulness practice improved adults' visual processing speed.

Sixty-nine participants were sampled across three age bands (18–30: 28; 50–65: 20; 65–80: 21) and randomly assigned to mindfulness or an audiobook control.

The mindfulness group was instructed to do one 10–15 minute breathing and body-focused session per day for 30 days; the control listened to a public-domain Pinocchio audiobook, one chapter per day for 7–20 minutes, with no other tasks.

Visual processing was assessed with an on-screen shape task and eye-tracking; the mindfulness group showed faster initiation of eye movements toward shapes, while the control showed no improvement.

Overall attention improved in both groups but more in the mindfulness group; some participants who exceeded the instructed number of sessions tended to attend more to irrelevant shapes, and no age-related differences were observed.