Influence of meditative capacities on cognitive functions in healthy old participants naïve to meditation practice

Improvements in healthcare, housing, education and hygiene have led to an increase in life expectancy in industrialized countries. As a result, the cognitive changes associated with aging are also increasing. At the same time, several studies seem to indicate positive effects of meditation on cognition. The aim of this study is therefore to assess the impact of pre-existing capacities to meditation on cognitive functioning during aging. The contribution of three aspects of meditation practice were investigated: attentional capacity related to metacognition/regulation of attention, constructive capacity assessing attitudes towards others or towards ourselves, and deconstructive capacity focusing on cognitive defusion. We predicted that the attentional capacity will be the most related to cognitive functioning. Our subjects participated in the "Silver Santé Study" (baseline data, N=134, Age: 68.97 ± 3.82, 61.19% female) and had never practiced meditation before inclusion in the study. The three aspects of meditation were assessed with questionnaires while cognitive performance was determined by a global score and specific scores assessing attentional, executive and memory abilities. Linear regression analyses indicate a positive relationship between global cognition and deconstructive capacity (p=.04; Rsp²=.02). However, no association between the three meditation capacities and the three specific cognitive scores is observed (p>.05). We propose that deconstructive capacity could improve self-inquiry and promote use of more adaptive schemes, which might be linked to a higher cognitive reserve capacity. It remains to be determined to what extent explicit training in meditation positively impacts these abilities and whether these changes also contribute to better global cognition.