RESEARCH ARTICLE Minds “At Attention”: Mindfulness Training Curbs Attentional Lapses in Military Cohorts

We investigated the impact of mindfulness training (MT) on attentional performance lapses associated with task-unrelated thought (i.e., mind wandering). Periods of persistent and in-tensive demands may compromise attention and increase off-task thinking. Here, we inves-tigated if MT may mitigate these deleterious effects and promote cognitive resilience in military cohorts enduring a high-demand interval of predeployment training. To better under-stand which aspects of MT programs are most beneficial, three military cohorts were exam-ined. Two of the three groups were provided MT. One group received an 8-hour, 8-week variant of Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) emphasizing engagement in training exercises (training-focused MT, n = 40), a second group received a didactic-focused variant emphasizing content regarding stress and resilience (didactic-focused MT, n = 40), and the third group served as a no-training control (NTC, n = 24). Sustained Atten-tion to Response Task (SART) performance was indexed in all military groups and a no-training civilian group (CIV, n = 45) before (T1) and after (T2) the MT course period. Atten-tional performance (measured by A’, a sensitivity index) was lower in NTC vs. CIV at T2