Mind-body Awareness Training and Brain-computer Interface

This outcome is related to the sub-study to investigate the effect of the MBSR on BCI learning. During the course of the sub-study over approximately 6 months/cohort of participants, participant learning over time during the course of study will be examined in terms of performance change after the intervention as well as across sessions, with a positive number representing an increase, and a negative number to represent a decrease. The percent valid correct (percent correct over valid trials) metric will be used to evaluate learning.

Time frame: 6 months for each participant.

Population: The population consists of participants recruited in the UMN site to investigate the effect of 8-week MBSR class on the effect of BCI learning. During the analysis, participants were excluded if they dropped the experiment, did not follow the task guideline, or exhibited ceiling performance.~The number of participants in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction - CMU, Waitlist - CMU are too small to draw statistical conclusions and thus were not included.

This outcome is related to the sub-study to investigate the effect of the MBSR on BCI learning. The breath-counting task will be used to measure the participants' mindfulness. Specifically, participants will be asked to count their breaths in cycles of nine (inhale and exhale counting as one) for 18 minutes, pressing one button for the first eight breaths, and a second button for the ninth. Breath counting accuracy is quantified as the number of correctly labeled breath cycles divided by the total number of cycles. The breath-counting accuracy for pre and post-intervention will be used.

Time frame: 6 months for each participant.

Population: The population consists of participants recruited in the UMN site to investigate the effect of 8-week MBSR class on the effect of BCI learning. During the analysis, participants were excluded if they dropped the experiment, did not follow the task guideline, or exhibited ceiling performance.~The number of participants in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction - CMU, Waitlist - CMU are too small to draw statistical conclusions and thus were not included.

In the first session, participants are asked to complete two surveys to measure one's level of mindfulness before the BCI experiment. In both surveys, a higher score indicates a higher level of mindfulness: Survey 1: The Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI), with 14 statements, such as I am open to the experience of the present moment. Participants are asked to use a 1-4 scale to indicate how often they have such an experience. The FMI score is calculated by summing up the answers to each question with a proper re-code of one question. FMI score range (minimum to maximum): 14 to 56. Survey 2: Day-to-Day Experiences, with 15 questions, such as I find it difficult to stay focused on what's happening in the present. Participants are asked to use a 1-6 scale to indicate how often they have such an experience. The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) is calculated by averaging answers to each question in this survey. MAAS score range (minimum to maximum): 1 to 6.

Time frame: During the first experiment session, when each participant did the screening

Population: The population consists of experienced meditators and meditation naive controls. During the analysis, outliers whose BCI performance were outside the ± 2.5 median absolute deviations from the median of the whole sample were excluded.