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Mind the trap Mindfulness Practice Associated
with Reduced Cognitive Rigidity

• Jonathan Greenberg
• Under the supervision of Prof. Nachshon Meiran

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Learning from experience is often crucial for our
adaptive functioning and survival
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May experience hinder adaptive responding?
Rigidity

• The tendency to form and perseverate in the
  use of mental and behavioral sets
• (Schultz Searman, 2002, pp. 1)

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Rigidity may play a key role in psychopathology

• Suicidal Ideation
• Depression
• Mania
• Eating disorders
• OCD
• Alcoholism
• ADHD

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• A method for decreasing such rigidity may be of
  value regarding treatment of these and other
  conditions

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Mindfulness Practice

• Paying attention in a particular way on
  purpose, in the present moment and
  non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn, 1994)

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Mindfulness associated with alleviation of
symptoms in

• Suicidal tendencies
• Depression
• Mania
• Eating disorders
• OCD
• Alcoholism
• ADHD

• Psoriasis
• PTSD
• Chronic pain
• Cancer
• Heart desease
• GAD

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Mindfulness and cognitive rigidity

• Stroop Task
• Nonsensical sentence completion (Hayling task)
• Verbal fluency

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The present study
Mindfulness practice
Rigidity
Overcoming recently formed habits
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• Hypothesis Mindfulness meditators will exhibit
  lower levels of rigidity than non-meditators, due
  to more of a Beginners mind.

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Participants

• 12 Long term mindfulness meditators
• 9.32 years of practice on average
• Practicing 4 hours a week on average
• 13 Pre-meditators
• Non-meditators who are registered for their 1st
  mindfulness retreat
• Equivalent in age, academic degree, academic
  abilities (PET score)

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Eisntellung water jar task

• Please solve the following problems. Try to
  solve rather quickly, yet make sure you use the
  shortest and simplest solution.

(Luchins, 1942)
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Eisntellung water jar task

• 6 set trials
• 3 critical or trap trials
• 2 extinction trials
• Rigidity score - 1 point for each
• Long solution on a critical or extinction
  trial
• Extinction trial solved in more than 90 seconds

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• RESULTS

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(plt0.01)
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• Long term meditation associated with reduced
  rigidity
• Willing and able to let go of habits, and utilize
  alternatives when appropriate

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Mindfulness and treatment of psychiatric symptoms

• Many conditions characterized by a stereotyped or
  undifferentiated view of the environment
• Things always go wrong
• There is no other way
• The world is dangerous, I must always be alert
  and prepared
• Need for un-learning thought patterns and
  responses

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Current Work

• Randomized experimental study design
• 8 week mindfulness intervention
• Participators vs. waiting list
• Pre-intervention Alphabet maze
• Post-intervention Water Jar task

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Alphabet maze
(Cowen, Wiener, Hess, 1953)
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Thanks

• Prof. Nachchson Meiran
• Thank you for listening

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Self reported measures
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Hayling Task

• Please complete the sentence with an unrelated,
  nonsensical word as quickly as possible
• The captain decided to stay with the sinking
• Paperclip?

(e.g Heeren,Van Broeck, Philippot, 2009)
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Stroop Task
Please name the colour of the ink
Incongruent Condition Green Yellow Red Blue

• Congruent Condition
• Green
• Yellow
• Red
• Blue

(Moore, Malinowski, 2009)
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Verbal Fluency

• Say as many words as you can think of beginning
  with the letters F, A, and S

(e.g Zeidan, et al, 2010 Heeren,Van Broeck,
Philippot, 2009)
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