Contemplative Practices and Mental Training: Prospects for American Education

TLDR

Research across neuroscience, cognitive science, developmental psychology, education, and contemplative traditions identifies self‑regulatory, self‑representational, and prosocial skills—such as empathy and compassion—as key 21st‑century educational goals that can be enhanced by contemplative practice, which induces brain plasticity supporting academic success. The study calls for focused programmatic research to determine which forms and frequencies of contemplative practice best benefit children and adolescents. Such research could refine training programs for different ages and document neural changes induced by contemplative practice.

Abstract

Drawing upon research in neuroscience, cognitive science, developmental psychology and education, as well as scholarship from contemplative traditions concerning the cultivation of positive development, we highlight a set of mental skills and socio-emotional dispositions that we believe are central to the aims of education in the 21(st) century. These include self-regulatory skills associated with emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial dispositions such as empathy and compassion. These positive qualities and dispositions can be strengthened through systematic contemplative practice. Such practice induces plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. These putative beneficial consequences call for focused programmatic research to better characterize which forms and frequencies of practice are most efficacious for which types of children and adolescents. Results from such research may help refine training programs to maximize their effectiveness at different ages and to document the changes in neural function and structure that might be induced.