Summary of Findings (White Team): Meditation (3 out of 5 Stars)

Note: This post represents the synthesis of the thoughts, procedures and experiences of others as represented in the 8 articles read in advance (see previous posts) and the discussion among the students and instructor during the Advanced Analytic Techniques class at Mercyhurst University in May 2013 regarding Meditation specifically. This technique was evaluated based on its overall validity, simplicity, flexibility and its ability to effectively use unstructured data.

Description:
Meditation is an analytic modifier that allows for the training of the mind by promoting relaxation. The outcome of this practice may lead to improving health issues including high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. There are a wide variety of different meditation techniques; examples include basic meditation, focused meditation, activity-oriented meditation, mindfulness meditation and spiritual meditation. These activities are intended to reduce stress, improve multitasking, processing speed, attention span, coordination, and cognitive flexibility.

Strengths:
1. Some studies show that it has potential to decrease stress, improve mood, and improve health.
2. Improves the practitioner’s ability to control his or her own thoughts.
3. Studies have demonstrated meditation’s potential to improve multitasking, processing speed, attention span, coordination, and cognitive flexibility.

Weaknesses:
1. May initially cause more stress.
2. May need long-term training to see significant results.
3. Meditation is relatively non conventional and therefore requires an open mind.
4. Individual needs to practice meditation on a daily basis to maintains results.

Step by Step Action:
1. Choose a type of meditation which you find to be best for you. These can include basic, mindfulness, or spiritual meditation. The following link lists additional types of meditation and their descriptions: http://stress.about.com/od/lowstresslifestyle/a/meditation.htm
2. Set aside 15 minutes each day to conduct this exercise.
3. If you are trying basic meditation, follow the subsequent steps:
- Sit in a comfortable position and quiet your mind.
- Notice the thoughts in your mind, but do not engage them. When thoughts materialize, just let them go.
4. Continue practicing each day and with time, it will become more natural and less difficult.

Exercise:
Before coming into class we were told to set aside 15 minutes to engage in one of five meditation techniques. These five meditation techniques included: basic meditation, focused meditation, activity-oriented meditation, mindfulness technique, and spiritual meditation. Each participant reflected on how they felt before and after conducting the 15 minute meditation session. The most popular meditation technique that was chosen in the class was basic meditation technique, with focused meditation technique as another popular choice. One problem that was noticed that many participants prior to conducting their meditation were significantly stressed out before and had a difficult time at first getting stressors out of their minds. However, the longer each participant practiced the technique the easier it was to clear ones minds of what was stressing them out.

As a class we discussed the usefulness of meditation and its utility to be instituted in the intelligence community. Through the class discussions it was discussed that meditation was useful in improving multitasking, improved processing speed and cognitive flexibility. Overall, it was noted that meditation techniques would be useful to institute within the intelligence community, but the ways in which to best institute them still needs to be clarified. There are multiple meditation techniques that have demonstrated the ability to be beneficial for the participant, but there is not just one definitive meditation technique that is proven to demonstrate the most positive results. If implemented into the intelligence community it would be necessary to expose individuals to a variety of different meditation techniques to find which one would work the most effectively for them.

Summary of Findings (Green Team): Meditation (2 out of 5 Stars)

Meditation

Green Team

Rating (2 out of 5 Stars)

Note: This post represents the synthesis of the thoughts, procedures and experiences of others as represented in the 8 articles read in advance (see previous posts) and the discussion among the students and instructor during the Advanced Analytic Techniques class at Mercyhurst University in May 2013 regarding Meditation specifically. This technique was evaluated based on its overall validity, simplicity, flexibility and its ability to effectively use unstructured data.

Description:

Meditation is an analytic modifier that involves the attempted regulation of one’s brain processes and thoughts. There are multiple different types of meditation including, but not limited to; basic, focused, and activity-oriented. Basic involves sitting quietly and emptying the mind of all thoughts. Focused meditation focuses the mind on an object or sound in an attempt to regulate regulate thoughts. Activity oriented can be anything from repetitive motions whereby the participant does particular gestures multiple times to simplify their thought processes to physical activity such as yoga that induces mindfulness into particular moves and actions.

Meditation relates to the intelligence field because many jobs within the intelligence field are high-stress and anything to mitigating this high stress is useful.  However, because meditation is not universally accepted by everyone to reduce stress, it would only be marginally useful as a blanket technique for the intelligence community.

Strengths:

• Can reduce stress, improve multitasking, and improve concentration
• Can creative mindfulness that results in general improved positivity towards life

Weaknesses:

• Likely requires repetition and frequent implementation to become effective
• Requires practitioners to be receptive of the approach
• Difficulties with quantifying any benefits (ie: how effective meditation can be)

How-To:

1. Research different techniques of meditation and select the one you feel is most comfortable (ex.: basic meditation, activity-oriented meditation, etc.)
2. Find a place where you are comfortable to meditate
3. Carry out your chosen meditative technique

*For best results, we suggest continuing meditation several times before judging whether it is effective or not.

Personal Application of Technique:

Individuals in the class were asked to take 15 minutes and participate in some form of meditation.  They were also asked to write a few sentences prior to meditating and immediately following meditation as a personal reflection of how they felt about the meditation.  The group then discussed their personal application of meditation, their individual response, as well as the potential effectiveness of the technique for the intelligence community.  

A number of meditation approaches were explored, including basic meditation, mindfulness techniques, activity oriented techniques, and focused meditation. The ensuing discussion brought up the issue of repetition and that fact that it is a technique that needs to be practiced over time in order to start to become effective.  Additionally, the purpose of meditation was discussed -- a stress reduction technique, to increase productivity, as a way to control one’s mind.

In regards to an intelligence application, this analytic modifier is something that has shown outcomes in stress reduction, blood pressure reduction, as well as an increase in productivity, and relationships in the workplace.  The application of meditation has the potential to modify the analyst rather than the tools used by the analyst.

Rating:  2 of 5 ˜˜˜˜Stars

For Further Information:

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM): http://nccam.nih.gov/

The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Training on Multitasking in a High-Stress Information Environment

Summary:
In The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Training on Multitasking in a High-Stress Information Environment, Levy et al. discussed an experiment they conducted testing the effects of mindfulness meditation training on multitasking. Over an 8-week period, tests were conducted on three groups: a group that received mindfulness mediation training (Group A), a control group that received no training (Group B) and a group that received relaxation training (Group C). Group B, the initial control group, was given a pre- and post-test and then was given the same meditation training as Group A for the subsequent 8-week period. The participants of Group A were from San Francisco and those from Group B and C were from Seattle, and all participants were females who were human resource personnel around the age of 45. Additionally, each group underwent stressful multitasking operations that simulated an office job.

Mindfulness meditation consists of Focused Attention (FA) mediation and Open Monitoring (OM) meditation. In FA training, meditators are told to focus on the "in and out" of their breath and when distracted, to redirect their attention to their breath. In OM training, meditators are told to allow into awareness whatever comes to mind and then release it from their attention. The training in this study was mostly Focused Attention training. Neuroscientific studies on the effects of meditation on multitasking are promising but do not show real-world application.

Results showed that the meditation group, Group A, did show improvement in several areas tested by the multitasking operations. While the meditation group expected less benefit initially than the relaxation and control group, they recorded a higher expectation of benefit at the end. As multitasking often leaves people feeling negative emotions, the meditation training group had significantly less of a pre- to post-task increase in negative emotions as well than the other groups. Additionally, the meditation group's mindful awareness and attention after training increased, their memory for the task improved and they showed a reduced number of task-switches and greater time spent on each task. Group B showed similar results after entering the second 8-week period in which they received actual meditation training.

Critique:
The biggest limitation of the study is that the groups were not completely randomized. Some of the participants were chosen in San Francisco and others were chosen in Seattle. Likewise, those chosen from their respective cities were not mixed between groups. Additionally, the training was only performed on females near the age of 45 which may introduce bias into the results. Another limitation is that the test required human intervention both in administering the test and in the data analysis. I am also curious to know whether the participants knew the exact purpose of the study which may have shaped their behavior somehow.

It would be interesting to see the results of a similar study conducted on professionals in the intelligence community. Meditation training, and specifically mindfulness meditation training, holds potential for those working in high-stress environments that often require multi-tasking. Introducing this kind of study into much different profession that also experiences high-stress may be beneficial to the participants. This study was valuable in that it was the first to test the real-world applications of meditation training on multitasking operations.

Source:
Levy, D., Wobbrock, J., Kaszniak, A., & Ostergren, M. (n.d.). The effects of mindfulness meditation training on multitasking in a high-stress information environment. Graphics Interface, doi: 2012

A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Meditation for Work Stress, Anxiety and Depressed Mood in Full-Time Workers

Summary: 

Manocha et. al (2011) conducted an 8 week 3 arm randomized controlled trial which compared mental silence yoga called "sahaja yoga", relaxation oriented meditation, and a no treatment control group.  The purpose of the study was to determine if meditation practices have the ability to reduce stress in the workplace.  Participants had to be full time employees who worked more than 30 hours a week.  For both test groups participants had to conduct meditation sessions twice weekly and in one hour sessions.  Moreover, the participants had to practice twice daily for 10-20 minutes each time (Manocha et. al, 2011).  At each session participants were taught by health professionals in the mental silence meditation(MSM) group and the relaxation control group (RC).  The non-treatment group was comprised of subjects who were told that they were on a waiting list to be put into one of the two meditation groups at a later date.   Moreover, both intervention groups were conducted at the same institutional location, in similar rooms, same time of day, similar support materials, and equal duration of time (Manocha et. al, 2011).  Lastly, each participants were measured pre-test with the Psychological Strain Questionnaire, which is an accepted measure of work stress (Manocha et. al, 2011).

The results of the study found that meditation for both intervention groups did not show any adverse effects for participants in the study.  Most significantly, it was noticed that mental silence form of meditation performed significantly better than relaxation control meditation.  Mental silence meditation proved more significantly to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression (Manocha et. al, 2011).  Manchoa et.al (2011) also concluded that meditation that strongly involves thought reduction and mental silence may be more of efficient relaxation technique to improve health and reduce stress in the workplace.

Critique: 

I found this study interesting that it found that mental silence meditation was able to improve both worker health and reduce stress in the workplace. The authors acknowledge that implementing a mental silence meditation would be low-cost to institute in a workplace and fairly easy to teach participants to learn proper techniques of mental silence meditation.  Through reading about mental silence mediation I agree that it would prove beneficial to incorporate into the workplace, but the authors confirming that their study proves that mental silence mediation is the best reduction of stress in the workplace is a little stretched.  The authors never conducted a follow up experiment to see if the participants continued to do the mental silence meditation after the experiment was over.  Moreover, the authors never assessed if the benefits that the meditation provided was maintained or participants shortly went back to how the participants originally were. I think that instead of making the participants conduct their meditation exercises after work hours, I would think that conducting the meditation during the work day would prove more beneficial.

Source:

Manocha, R., Black, D., Sarris, J., & Stough, C. (2011). A randomized, controlled trial of meditation for work stress, anxiety, and depressed mood in full-time workers. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 1-8. Retrieved from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2011/960583/abs/.

Developing Consciousness in Organizations: The Transcendental Meditation Program in Business

Summary:
The change in the structure of the business world can be attributed to a number of things, one of which is the human psyche.  The authors of the article "Developing Consciousness in Organizations: The Transcendental Meditation Program in Business", look at the potential benefits of using Transcendental Meditation to improve the work place.  Schmidts-Wilk, Alexander, and Swanson (1996) looked at the concept of consciousness, particularly in the business place.  The authors review existing literature in terms of the application of Transcendental Mediation on both individuals as well as the overall work place structure.

Transcendental Meditation is an ancient technique that is used to mitigate stress which in turn allows for the an individual's conscious to develop.  The authors note that Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation is the most frequently studied, largely in part because the technique does not involve major life changes, so it is relatively easy to implement.

Productivity of people who practiced Transcendental Meditation was measured and looked at in both retrospective studies as well as prospective studies. This was accomplished through surveys where individuals, both practitioners of meditation as well as non-practitioners, self-reported on a number of factors including job satisfaction, performance, and various relationships in their workplace.  Once the results were analyzed, the research found that individuals who meditated had a statistically significant reports of greater satisfaction at worm compared to non-meditating individuals. Schmidts-Wilk, et.al. determined that the four case studies observed demonstrated that the development of consciousness was beneficial in the work place, and that Transcendental Meditation was one way to accomplish that.

Longitudinal studies were conducted in corporate settings.  Due to the subject of the study, quasi-experimental designs were employed.  Overall, the organizations were more productive when their employees developed a consciousness, which can be obtained through Transcendental Meditation.  Not only were the individuals more productive and had better relationships, but this moved over into the overall functioning of the organization.

The authors of this study looked at a number of different previous studies and their findings, both as applied to the individual as well as applied to a larger organization, such as a business.  One element discovered in this experiment was that business functions can be improved through means outside of outside structural change.  The application of Transcendental Mediation is one way in which this can be improved on a more internal level.

Critique:
The authors of this study acknowledged that there were some shortcomings to the approach taken from the various studies.  Particularly the self-reporting that was done by the subjects, though the results of the quasi-experimental approach and standardized questionnaires were consistent with the self reporting.  This consistency increases the confidence in the surveys done.

While the studies did indicate that there was an improvement in the development of consciousness, it did not seem to take any push-back about mediation into account.  Individuals who may be told to participate in meditation are less likely to have the same positive response as the individuals who want to participate.

Source:
Schmidts-Wilk, J., Alexander, C. N., & Swanson, G. C. (1996). Developing consciousness in organizations: The transcendental meditation program in business. Journal of Business and Psychology, 10(4), 429-44.

Short Term Effects of Meditation versus Relaxation on Cognitive Functioning

King and Coney compared the cognitive performances of 27 experienced meditators and 27 non-meditators immediately following their respective meditation or relaxation sessions in order to find the short term effects of meditation on cognitive functions. A battery of seven tests were used to measure cognitive performance and results showed there was no significant difference between the performance of the meditation group and the relaxation group in any of the seven tests. 

Summary:

The practice of meditation is said to improve concentration, reduce the meditator's vulnerability to distractions, and open their mind by relinquishing expectations and preconceptions. The meditator should minimize goal directed mental activity and increase non-judgmental reasoning. The authors reflect on the literature that posits physiological reactions to meditation that may alter cognitive functions, such as increased activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. 

The pre- and post-tests attempted to measure the participants' general intelligence, verbal fluency, spatial reasoning, spatial memory, verbal memory, verbal short term memory, and spatial short term memory. Between the pre- and post-tests, the meditation group participated in mindful meditation for twenty minutes while the other group relaxed in a quiet setting. The meditating group was instructed to attempt the deepest meditation mindset they could within this time frame while the relaxation group was instructed to match the meditation group's physical stature, sitting upright with their eyes closed, but to resist falling asleep. This occurred at their respective testing desks. All participants took the post-tests in the same order as they had taken the pre-test and results were calculated in the same way. 

Pre-test results show that the two groups were well-matched on abilities from the start. Post-test results showed almost parallel changes in performance between the two groups, both by individual test and multivariate analysis. Interestingly, some post-test results showed a decline in performance, albeit small. Finally, the research found a negative correlation between the amount of experience the meditators had with their test results in two of the tests, though the authors proved a stronger negative correlation between results and age,  which is to be expected since cognitive functions are known to decline with age, suggesting this is what drove the scores down rather than increased experience meditating. Overall neither technique, meditation or relaxation, had a significant effect on cognitive performance, except for in two tests, the spatial reasoning and spatial short term memory tests.

Critique:

The authors carefully detail their testing measurements and their efforts to mitigate biases or false results. Beyond explaining the tests themselves, they explain how they administered the test, making their research more easily replicated. Still, the authors admit that the way they split test questions for pre- and post-test use may have made an uneven distribution in terms of difficulty, skewing the performance results. Because both groups took the same tests in the same order, this would not effect the comparative results.

The authors posit three potential reasons the meditation group did not display better cognitive performance in the study: 1. the group did not achieve a similar altered state to those in previous research, 2. the test measures were insensitive to the type of change meditation induces, and 3. the tests were unable to capture the rapidly diminishing effects of short term meditation. Some members of the meditating group did report being unable to reach their normal "depth" of meditation, though this is subjective and difficult if not impossible to compare across the group. No matter what the cause, the results show little promise for the intelligence community as it is unlikely meditation could be successfully used to improve analysis if the setting of meditation so easily disturbs results, the effects are limited to very narrow cognitive functions, or the effects last such a short amount of time. 

Source: 

King, G. and Coney, J. (2006). Short term effects of meditation versus relaxation on cognitive functioning. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 38(2), 200-215.