Differential Benefits of Mental Training Types for Attention, Compassion, and Theory of Mind

Mindfulness- and, more generally, meditation-based interventions increasingly gain popularity, effectively promoting cognitive, affective, and social capacities. It is unclear, however, if different types of practice have the same or specific effects on mental functioning. Here we tested three consecutive three-month training modules aimed at cultivating either attention, socio-affective qualities (such as compassion), or socio-cognitive skills (such as theory of mind), in three training cohorts and a retest control cohort (N = 332). While attention performance improved across the training modules, compassion increased most strongly after socio-affective training and theory of mind showed selective improvements after socio-cognitive training. These results show that specific mental training practices are needed to induce plasticity in different domains of mental functioning, providing a foundation for evidence-based development of more targeted interventions adapted to the needs of different education, labor, and health settings.

正念训练以及更广泛的冥想干预措施日益受到关注，有效提升了认知、情感和社会能力。然而，关于不同类型的实践是否对心理功能产生相同或特定的效果尚不明确。本研究测试了三个连续的三个月训练模块，旨在培养三个训练队列中的注意力、社会情感特质（如慈悲）或社会认知技能（如心智理论），以及一个重测的控制队列（N = 332）。尽管在训练模块中注意力表现有所提升，但慈悲在社交情感训练后显著增加，而心智理论在社会认知训练后表现出选择性改善。这些结果表明，针对不同心理功能领域的可塑性诱导需要特定的心理训练实践，为基于证据的发展更具有针对性的干预措施奠定了基础，这些干预措施适应于不同教育、劳动和健康环境的需要。