Abstract
Visual scanning (VS) is an important component of military service members’ situation awareness. Expedient reading speed (RS) for memos, military information, and specialized military training can contribute to mission effectiveness, efficiency, and personal performance. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the impact of a 5-day Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training program on both VS and RS. Active duty and veteran military service members (n = 17) participated in the study. They completed a demographic survey, the Self-Paced Reading Test and the Visual Scanning Test before and after participating in MBSR training. While VS did not improve (p > .05), RS per word and per paragraph improved significantly (p < .05). These results suggest a need for further research on mindfulness and visual performance to clarify the relationships between the two, and to investigate the possible visual performance shaping factors of mindfulness training.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the U.S. military service members and veterans who participated in this study. This research was supported by the U.S. Army Study Program Management Office (ASPMO). Our appreciation is offered to our colleagues Mr. Gary Boykin, Ms. Jessica Villarreal, Mr. Cory Overby, and Mr. Jim Hewson. Disclaimer The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
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Rice, V., Enders, L., Jeter, A. (2020). Visual Scanning and Reading Speed Following 5-Days of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: A Pilot Study. In: Nazir, S., Ahram, T., Karwowski, W. (eds) Advances in Human Factors in Training, Education, and Learning Sciences. AHFE 2020. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1211. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50896-8_33
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