Shoshana Kaish
Up the Rabbit Hole: The Effect of Mindfulness Training on Learning in the Presence of Digital Distractors
Chair: Jill Rathus, Ph.D.
Abstract
With increasing access to digital technology in the classroom, both students and teachers struggle to maintain focus on academic content. Mindfulness training has been shown to improve attention and learning on various tasks across diverse populations. This study was designed to investigate whether a brief mindfulness intervention could improve college students’ learning in class while they had access to distracting digital media. 38 participants were recruited from university students and staff and were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness intervention group or a control group. The mindfulness intervention group underwent a 20-minute meditation session that focused on mindfulness of the breath, while the control group spent an equivalent amount of time listening to a book recording. All groups then sat through an academic lecture during which they had access to digital devices with Internet access. Assessments measured participant mindfulness, attention, and learning of lecture material. While there were no significant differences between groups on measures of mindfulness and attention, participants in the mindfulness group scored significantly higher on a test of learning than did participants in the control group. The implications of these findings are discussed and directions for further research proposed.