ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2579-9934
Current Organisation
Nanyang Technological University
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-08-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S12671-023-02201-9
Abstract: The assessment of mindfulness has relied predominantly on self-report questionnaires, indicating a need for alternative methods based on objective data. The Breath-Counting Task (BCT) has been proposed as a viable candidate by several mindfulness researchers, but has been subject to relatively little scientific scrutiny. We conducted a mega-analysis using combined data from five separate studies, using multiple linear regression models to examine the relationship between BCT performance and self-reported mindfulness after controlling for age and gender. We examined associations with trait mindfulness as indexed by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Accuracy on the BCT correlated only with a combined dataset of z -scores derived from FFMQ-Acting with Awareness and MAAS. We also examined associations with two different types of task errors: miscounts (uncaught errors) and resets (self-caught errors). While reset rates correlated with FFMQ-Acting with Awareness, miscount rates did not correlate with any mindfulness measure. Our analyses provide confirmatory evidence that BCT performance is related to the attentional aspects of trait mindfulness and not its attitudinal aspects – however the relevant correlations are fairly small. In seeking an objective measure of mindful attention, the weak association observed with BCT resets and the lack thereof with BCT accuracy suggests more promise in paradigms based on self-monitoring lapses of attention, while sustained attention tasks such as the present BCT may be of limited application among in iduals new to meditation due to their lack of prior practice.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.CORTEX.2019.02.014
Abstract: Our study proposes a test of a key assumption of the most prominent model of consciousness - the global workspace (GWS) model (e.g., Baars, 2002, 2005, 2007 Dehaene & Naccache, 2001 Mudrik, Faivre, & Koch, 2014). This assumption is that multimodal integration requires consciousness however, few studies have explicitly tested if integration can occur between nonconscious information from different modalities. The proposed study examined whether a classic indicator of multimodal integration - the McGurk effect - can be elicited with subliminal auditory-visual speech stimuli. We used a masked speech priming paradigm developed by Kouider and Dupoux (2005) in conjunction with continuous flash suppression (CFS Tsuchiya & Koch, 2005), a binocular rivalry technique for presenting video stimuli subliminally. Applying these techniques together, we carried out two experiments in which participants categorised auditory syllable targets which were preceded by subliminal auditory-visual (AV) speech primes. Subliminal AV primes were either illusion-inducing (McGurk) or illusion-neutral (Incongruent) combinations of speech stimuli. In Experiment 1, the categorisation of the syllable target ("pa") was facilitated by the same syllable prime when it was part of a McGurk combination (auditory "pa" and visual "ka") but not when part of an Incongruent combination (auditory "pa" and visual "wa"). This dependency on specific AV combinations indicated a nonconscious AV interaction. Experiment 2 presented a different syllable target ("ta") which matched the predicted illusory outcome of the McGurk combination - here, both the McGurk combination (auditory "pa" and visual "ka") and the Incongruent combination (auditory "ta" and visual "ka") failed to facilitate target categorisation. The combined results of both Experiments demonstrate a type of nonconscious multimodal interaction that is distinct from integration - it allows unimodal information that is compatible for integration (i.e., McGurk combinations) to persist and influence later processes, but does not actually combine and alter that information. As the GWS model does not account for non-integrative multimodal interactions, this places some pressure on such models of consciousness.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-11-2021
DOI: 10.1111/PSYP.13686
No related grants have been discovered for April Shi Min Ching.