Individual Differences in Cognitive Functioning Predict Compliance With Restoration Skills Training but Not With a Brief Conventional Mindfulness Course

Abstract

Mindfulness training is often promoted as a method to train cognitive functions and has shown such effects in previous studies. However, many conventional mindfulness exercises for beginners require cognitive effort, which may be prohibitive for some, particularly for people who have more pronounced cognitive problems to begin with. An alternative mindfulness-based approach, called restoration skills training (ReST), draws on a restorative natural practice setting to help regulate attention effortlessly and promote meditative states during exercises. Previous research has shown that a 5-week ReST course requires less effort and is attended by higher compliance with practice recommendations than a conventional mindfulness course, without compromising long-term outcomes. Here, we compare ReST and a formally matched conventional mindfulness course regarding the role that initial individual differences in cognitive functioning play in determining practice compliance and long-term improvements in dispositional mindfulness and cognitive functioning. In line with expectations, ReST participants who had more pronounced cognitive problems to begin with practiced more during the course, which in turn explained much of their improvement in dispositional mindfulness and cognitive functioning. In contrast, initial cognitive functioning did not explain practice and improvement in the conventional mindfulness course. The results provide further support for the potential utility of ReST as a low-effort method for enhancing cognitive functioning among people who would struggle with the demands of conventional mindfulness training. With careful integration of mindfulness practices with a restorative natural setting, these people can develop mindfulness and self-regulation capabilities without relying on effortful training.

Keywords: cognitive functioning; compliance; effortless attention; mediation; mindfulness; moderation; nature; restorative environments.

Figure 1

Panel (A) visualizes the hypothesized moderated mediation effect, where participants who have relatively poor initial cognitive functioning (i.e., higher scores on the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire) were expected to complete more of the assigned mindfulness exercises (Homework practice) if they had been randomly assigned to a 5-week restoration skills training (ReST) course, whereas poor initial cognitive functioning was expected to be negatively related to mindfulness practice for participants who were assigned to a formally matched conventional mindfulness training (CMT) course. With both courses, homework practice was expected to explain improvement in dispositional mindfulness (assessed with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire) which in turn would explain improvement in cognitive functioning. Panel (B) shows the observed coefficients for the hypothesized paths as well as those other effects that were observed to be significant, including the effects of two covariates (Gender and Initial dispositional mindfulness). The association between Initial cognitive functioning and Homework practice was as expected for ReST (n = 55) but non-significant and virtually null for CMT (n = 44). Homework practice and improved dispositional mindfulness mediated improvements in cognitive functioning in serial, as expected. Coefficients are unstandardized. Initial scores are mean item ratings: possible scores for the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire = 0–4 and for the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire = 1–5. Change was calculated as the score after the course—score before the course. Homework practice is the total sum of completed formal and informal mindfulness exercises as measured with daily structured practice records.

Figure 2

Johnoson–Neyman plot showing the observed moderation of the relationship between self-ratings of cognitive functioning before the course (average item response on the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire) and subsequent meditation practice (number of completed formal and informal mindfulness exercises above or below the sample average) by course type. Higher meditation scores indicate that participants with a given level of initial cognitive functioning completed more homework practice if they had been randomly assigned to restoration skills training (ReST) vs. a formally matched conventional mindfulness training (CMT) course. The dotted lines show the 95% confidence intervals. The thick line along the X-axis shows the range of observed values and the tick marks mark the significance regions: the levels of cognitive functioning above and below which the homework completion rates differed reliably between the courses.