A new study from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology reveals that just 30 days of guided mindfulness meditation can significantly enhance key aspects of attentional control — especially how quickly and accurately people direct their focus — regardless of age.
The study is among the first to use eye tracking, a powerful and objective measure of attention, to test the effects of mindfulness training on young, middle-aged, and older adults. The findings demonstrate that even short-term meditation can lead to measurable cognitive improvements, said USC Leonard Davis School postdoctoral researcher Andy Jeesu Kim, the study's first author.
"This study shows that mindfulness isn't just about feeling more relaxed—it can literally change the way your brain handles attention," Kim said. "And that's incredibly important for maintaining cognitive health as we age."
Why Attention Matters in Aging
As people age, they often experience slower reaction times and increased difficulty tuning out distractions. These changes are tied to a brain system called the locus coeruleus–noradrenaline (LC-NA) system, which plays a critical role in attention, arousal, and memory. Prior research, including work led by USC Leonard Davis Professor and study senior author Mara Mather , links age-related decline in this system to early Alzheimer's disease changes .
Previous investigation has also shown that mindfulness meditation can enhance brain areas involved in attention and may increase activity in the LC-NA system. However, this is the first study to examine how mindfulness training affects attention using precise eye-tracking methods and whether the benefits differ across age groups, Kim explained.
The Study: Mindfulness vs. Audiobook
The USC study enrolled 69 adults split into three age groups: young (18–30), middle-aged (50–65), and older adults (65–80). Participants were randomly assigned to practice one of two options:
- Mindfulness meditation using the Headspace app, 10–15 minutes per day for 30 days
- An audiobook control, listening to chapters from a novel for the same duration
All participants completed three in-person lab visits and performed two eye-tracking visual search tasks that measured their speed and accuracy in focusing attention and ignoring distractions.
Key Findings: Faster Focus, Stronger Control
After the mindfulness training, participants showed improvements in several core aspects of attention:
- Faster reaction times: Participants were quicker to move their eyes toward target shapes, showing more efficient visual processing.
- Improved goal-directed focus: They made more direct saccades (eye movements) toward relevant targets and were better able to resist being pulled off course by distracting objects.
- Reduced distractibility: In some tasks, participants were less likely to fixate on irrelevant but visually "loud" items.
Interestingly, the benefits were not limited to one age group.
"We expected older adults to benefit the most, but we found that mindfulness improved attention similarly across young, middle-aged, and older adults," Kim said. "This suggests mindfulness can be a useful tool at any stage of life."
However, these improvements were not reflected in self-reported mindfulness scores from questionnaires, underscoring the value of objective eye-tracking measures.
A Powerful Tool for Everyday Attention
Although mindfulness has been widely embraced for stress relief and emotional wellness, this study provides compelling evidence for its cognitive benefits, too. The improvement was particularly apparent in attention control, a mental ability that is crucial for everything from driving to reading to social interactions.
Importantly, the study also compared the effects of the mindfulness intervention to an audiobook control. While both groups showed some improvement in attention, mindfulness participants improved more quickly and more significantly in certain areas, particularly reaction speed.
What's Next
The researchers note that while the study demonstrates promising short-term benefits, future studies should explore whether longer or more intensive mindfulness training could produce even greater effects, especially for older adults facing age-related cognitive decline.
"We're excited about the potential of digital mindfulness interventions to help people support their brain health," Kim said. "It's simple, low-cost, and widely accessible. The key is consistency."
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"The effects of mindfulness meditation on mechanisms of attentional control in young and older adults: A preregistered eye tracking study," appeared in eNeuro on July 7, 2025. The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging (F32-AG076288) and the USC Center for Mindfulness Science . Along with Kim and Mather, coauthors included Keran Chen and Ying Tian of the USC Leonard Davis School.
