In psychology , attention is typically divided into three sections . The first of these is alerting , which is the ability to remain attentive . The second is orienting , the act of concentrating on one sensory stimulus ; and finally , conflict monitoring , which is the process of regulating our responses in a situation of conflict . Experiments have shown that meditation of at least 3 months significantly improved the alerting of participants , whereas 8 weeks were enough to improve orienting . There is speculation that these improvements could be furthered with more frequent meditation as well . Conflict monitoring was most strongly affected by meditation , as only 20 minutes a day for 5 days resulted in a significant improvement . Research shows that just a few minutes of meditation daily can improve your ability to focus and your ability to grasp new concepts . You could be achieving more highly with less direct effort . Almost too good to be true , right ?
Furthermore , studies have also shown that meditation improves emotional regulation and processing , with participants reporting an improvement in their mood and the ability to recover from an emotional event more easily . This conclusion was not only reached through subjective self-reports but rather through fMRI scans , that detected changes in brain activity in the meditation group . These changes were the result of meditationrelated enhancements in regions responsible for pain processing and strengthening of the cognitive control mechanisms of the brain . Overall , these discoveries highlight the potential of meditation as a treatment for anxiety , psychological trauma , addiction , and improvements in your general wellbeing .