Debrief: short-term meditation training results

 To recap, this is what I did: 

• Pre-test: N-back until failure (did not make it past 3-back)
• 20 minutes of mindfulness-meditation-inspired meditation for 4 days
• (Always between 1 and 4pm, set a timer for 20 minutes, sat outside, focused and redirected mindfulness on the breath)
• Post-test: N-back until failure (made it through 3-back, failed 4-back miserably)

Inspired by the short-term meditation training in Zeidan et al., 2010 where they recorded improvement in N-back after 4 days of 20-minute mindfulness meditation sessions. 

I also (somewhat) kept track of how often I mind-wandered during my daily reading, but I didn't see noticeable improvement there. (~5-8 mind-wanders per hour of reading). 

I would be surprised if getting a bit better at the N-back (making it through the 3-back in the post-test) was actually due to the meditation. I will be more convinced after I try some more meditation training routines and continue to see positive results. 

Overall, I actually hated the mindfulness meditation method of just focusing on the breath in silence. I found it excruciatingly boring and honestly was checking the timer a couple times in the last two sessions. I'm excited to try the next one though, and if it's another meditation one, hopefully I will have more patience for it!