News Finding: It is precisely the otherworldly spiritualism that seems to shroud so many ancient spiritual traditions that compels us to believe their assertions.
Paper Finding: It is important to note that whereas no other studies have reported depletion of WMC over the predeployment period, there is ample evidence of degradation in other cognitive functions as well as changes in negative and positive affect during this interval in other cohorts .
News Context: Placebo effects are both real and beneficial, and the relaxation that stems from chanting mantras may be therapeutic in and of itself. Furthermore, mindfulness meditation--a variant that stems from the Buddhist tradition and involves fostering a nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment--was found by Goyal's group to decrease anxiety and depression. It is precisely the otherworldly spiritualism that seems to shroud so many ancient spiritual traditions that compels us to believe their assertions.
Paper Context: These are striking, given that the intention of predeployment training is to cognitively, physically, and emotionally prepare service members for deployment. It is important to note that whereas no other studies have reported depletion of WMC over the predeployment period, there is ample evidence of degradation in other cognitive functions as well as changes in negative and positive affect during this interval in other cohorts . Although our study was concerned with exploring whether MT might provide prophylaxis from functional impairments experienced in specific military contexts, the protective effects of MT observed herein suggest that MT might be effective as a resilience training protocol more generally.