THE INFLUENCE OF GUIDED MEDITATION ON THE LEVEL OF COGNITION: A STUDY ON MEDICINE COURSE STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN SOUTH BRAZIL

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.1594232422029

• Palavras-chave: Meditation; Cognition; Neuroplasticity.

• Keywords: Meditation; Cognition; Neuroplasticity.

• Abstract:

  Meditation is a practice currently widespread throughout the world. People seek to meditate for different reasons, but they all have something in common, an improvement in a certain area, whether behaviorally, emotionally or even as a therapeutic option. On the other hand, a little explored aspect of the effects of meditation is the question of whether or not there is an improvement in the intellective field of the human brain. This work aims to contribute to this premise, observing the possibility of cognitive influence mediated by guided meditation. The research has an experimental, mixed, longitudinal and prospective approach. To achieve the objectives of the study, a group of medical students from a university in southern Brazil participated in the experiment. Participants underwent mindfulness meditation practice, guided by a specialized application, for a period of 20 weeks. Subsequently, they were compared to another group not exposed to the meditation technique. The way of comparing the two groups was through a test composed of specific questions from the medical field, after a class taught on the topic: primary headaches. Therefore, it was possible to analyze, in a practical way, the extent to which meditation cognitively interferes with human beings. The results showed a superior performance of the group exposed to the technique in relation to the control group, suggesting the existence of a possible cognitive improvement in meditators, even in beginner practitioners. It was also possible to evaluate the performance of each student with a meditative habit according to their level of dedication to the experiment. Another important result observed was each participant's own perception of cognitive improvement. Through a questionnaire, researchers found that 86.7% of meditators noticed an improvement in their learning during the research period. Therefore, the objective of carrying out an analysis and finding out whether there is, in fact, cognitive improvement through meditative practice was achieved, showing positive results.