Citation

Subramanya P, Telles S. Percept. Mot. Skills 2009; 109(2): 563-576.

Affiliation

Indian Council of Medical Research, Centre for Advanced Research inYoga and Neurophysiology, SVYASA, Bangalore, India.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

20038010

Abstract

Previously cyclic meditation and supine rest have been shown to improve performance in a letter cancellation task requiring attention, visual scanning, and motor speed. The present study assessed the performance in 57 volunteers (all male, M age = 26.5 yr., SD = 4.6) in three tasks, viz., a digit-letter substitution task (DLST), a letter-copying task, and a circle-dotting task. The DLST assessed attention and speed of information processing, while the other 2 tests assessed motor speed. Each participant was assessed before and after three types of sessions: Cyclic Meditation, Supine Rest, and Control (no intervention). DLST scores and scores for letter-copying and circle-dotting tasks improved significantly after cyclic meditation; the same scores also improved after supine rest. There was no change after the no-intervention/Control session. From the results it was difficult to conclude whether improved DLST scores after cyclic meditation were due to better information processing speed or improved motor speed.

Language: en