Performance on a Learning Task by Subjects Who Practice the Transcendental Meditation Technique

Ten randomly selected subjects who regularly practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique were compared with ten randomly selected nonmeditators with respect to their peiformance on a maze learning task. The meditators reached the criterion level of performance in a mean of 10.1 trials, whereas the nonmeditators required significantly more trials-a mean of22 .0 (p <.OJ; t-test). The meditators also had fewer errors per trial. The superior learning ability displayed by the meditators could be explained by decreased anxiety and improved ability to focus attention effectively.