Meditation Exercise Enhances Memory in Adolescents

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Domestic researchers have identified the effects of meditation exercise on adolescents. Adolescents who practiced Brain Education meditation exercise showed higher memory capacity compared to the control group. The Korea Brain Science Institute announced on the 20th that the joint research results of the research team at the International Brain Education Graduate School (Principal Investigator Professor Hyunjung Yang) were published in the international psychology journal Frontiers in Psychology.

The research team divided adolescents into an experimental group that performed Brain Education meditation exercise twice a day for 9 minutes over 3 weeks and a control group that did not, and conducted a comparative analysis. As a result, they found that the working memory of the experimental group significantly increased.

Working memory consists of the brain's ability to process and retain incoming information in a temporary memory storage in real time. It is reported to be an important component of the brain's executive functions and closely related to academic performance.

In particular, the research team observed that through brain training, neural activity in the high-β band related to information processing, which was previously unseen, was additionally activated, and this neural activity led to an increase in working memory.

First author researcher Hojung Kang said, "This study is meaningful in revealing the effects of meditation exercise on the relationship between cognitive function and adolescent brain activity," and added, "The results suggest that meditation training involving relatively short periods of high-intensity slow movements, as well as previously known dynamic exercises, can be a good tool for improving working memory, an important cognitive function."

Meanwhile, the research team utilized Gukhak Gigong (Danmudo) movements, a traditional Korean meditation exercise method, as Brain Education meditation exercise in this study.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.