Shinshu Mindful Study: Can 8-weeks of mindfulness training change the retrieval mode of autobiographical memory?

Researchers have suggested that interoception can trigger autobiographical memory retrieval or affect the subjective sense of retrieval mode (e.g., involuntary or voluntary). This study examined whether 8-week mindfulness training aimed at improving interoceptive processing can alter autobiographical memory retrieval and perceived retrieval mode. Participants in the mindfulness group (n = 26) and waitlist control group (n = 30) completed the study. Participants in the mindfulness group showed a decrease in perceived retrieval suddenness and an increase in perceived retrieval effort in　involuntary memories, and an increase in subjective sense of generative retrieval in voluntary memories. Retrieval latency, frequency, and memory specificity did not change with training. Changes in subjective and objective measures of interoception did not predict changes in these retrieval mode related variables. The results suggest that mindfulness training leads to more deliberate and effortful memory retrieval, which may be supported by changes in meta-awareness, rather than interoceptive processing.