Exploring the relationship between mindfulness, prefrontal gamma activity, and working memory performance

The current study examined the relationship between mindfulness practice, working memory performance, and frontal gamma neural-oscillatory activity. Fifty adults participated, including 25 mindfulness practitioners and 25 non-practitioners matched for age and education. Participants completed a working memory task while their scalp electroencephalography (EEG) was noted, and quantitative EEG (qEEG) features were captured during specific WM events and resting periods. Behavioral outcome measures included overall accuracy, hits, correct rejections, and reaction times (RTs). Mindfulness practitioners demonstrated significantly higher overall accuracy, including higher percentages of hits and correct rejections compared to control group (non-practitioners), however, no group differences were observed in RTs and gamma activity. Regression analyses indicated that group membership and WM-related gamma activity (retention intervals prior to correct response) were significant predictors of accuracy across all participants. These findings suggest that ongoing mindfulness practice may improve working memory functioning by increased WM event-related gamma activity during WM retention intervals. Practical implications may include incorporating mindfulness-based interventions in educational, clinical, occupational, and behavioral research settings to develop innovative cross-modality treatment approaches to promote attentional control and WM functioning in humans.