The Acute Effects of Focused Attention and Open Monitoring Meditations on Prospective Memory in Older Adults

Objectives: This study explored the acute effects of meditation on prospective memory (PM) in older adults. Study 1 evaluated whether focused attention (FA) meditation improves PM, while Study 2 investigated whether open monitoring (OM) meditation can facilitate PM under the influence of a negative mood. Method: In Study 1, 127 healthy older adults (M_age = 64.87) were randomized into a FA group or a mind wandering (MW) group. Three types of PM were assessed: focal event-based PM (EBPM), non-focal EBPM, and time-based PM (TBPM). Two experimental tasks were employed to measure sustained, selective, and executive attention. In Study 2, 157 healthy older adults (M_age = 66.19) were randomly allocated to an OM group or a MW group. Using a mood induction paradigm (neutral vs. negative), three types of PM (focal EBPM, non-focal EBPM, and TBPM) were assessed. Results: In Study 1, the FA group outperformed the MW group in focal EBPM (p < 0.05); however, this improvement was only weakly and partially mediated by enhanced sustained attention (p < 0.05). In Study 2, the OM group exhibited better performance than the MW group in focal EBPM under a negative mood induction (p < 0.01). Conclusions: This study offers preliminary evidence that FA and OM meditations are beneficial for PM in older adults. Even brief 25-min inductions of FA and OM can produce measurable benefits in focal EBPM, which can facilitate older adults to achieve functional independence and contribute to a successful aging experience. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.