Effect of Vipassana Meditation on Attentional Network Task Performance

Abstract

The present study examined the effect of Vipassana meditation practices (traditional Buddhist meditation practices) on attention network task (ANT). Novice participants (N=10) were taken from the dhammalakkhan vipassana meditation center, Lucknow) after the 10 days meditation training (never practiced any kind of meditation previously) were participated in the current study. The objective of the study was to evaluate whether a traditional 10- day vipassana meditation training can improve the attentional performance of the participants. Further the second objective was to investigate whether a meditation training can change the mindfulness of participants. The participants were filled a mindfulness questionnaire before and after the meditation training and completed Attention Network Task to measure the changes in attentional network. Participants showed improvement on the dimensions of mindfulness and the attentional network of task performance (i.e., alerting, orienting and executive functioning) after the vipassana meditation training. This study suggests that a traditional 10 days Vipassana meditation training can improve mindfulness as well as attentional network task performance of the participants, irrespective of their prior experience. Keywords- Vipassana  Meditation, Mindfulness, Attention Network task.