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Sensory memory is the first stage of memory, where information is taken in from our surroundings through the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, but its sensory register filters determine how important that information is within seconds. All sensory information (except for smell) is processed in the thalamus, which briefly determines whether it is dangerous. Most information is not important and thus not further processed (Sousa, 2022, p.41).

In preschool, this is especially important because we have to get students' attention, either through visually appealing things or sounds or by provoking any of the senses, especially since preschoolers' attention is so short. As educators, we may use novel or visually appealing toys to capture children's attention so that information in sensory memory can transfer to short-term memory, where learning and recall begin.

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Mindfulness meditation can improve both mental and physical health.

Cite This Article

American Psychological Association. (2019, October 30). Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. https://www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness/meditation

People have been meditating for thousands of years, often as part of a spiritual practice. But in more recent years, mindfulness has become a popular way to help people manage their stress and improve their overall well-being - and a wealth of research shows it's effective. Psychologists have found that mindfulness meditation changes our brain and biology in positive ways, improving mental and physical health.

What is mindfulness meditation?

Meditation can be defined in many ways. But a simple way to think of it is training your attention to achieve a mental state of calm concentration and positive emotions.

Mindfulness is one of the most popular meditation techniques. It has two main parts: attention and acceptance.

The attention piece is about tuning into your experiences to focus on what's happening in the present moment. It typically involves directing your awareness to your breath, your thoughts, the physical sensations in your body and the feelings you are experiencing. The acceptance piece involves observing those feelings and sensations without judgment. Instead of responding or reacting to those thoughts or feelings, you aim to note them and let them go.

Mindfulness classes and mindfulness-based therapies provide the tools to put those concepts into practice. Such programs might include breathing exercises, yoga and guided lessons to help you become aware of your body sensations, thoughts and feelings.

Much of the research on mindfulness has focused on two types of interventions:

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a therapeutic intervention that involves weekly group classes and daily mindfulness exercises to practice at home, over an 8-week period. MBSR teaches people how to increase mindfulness through yoga and meditation.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a therapeutic intervention that combines elements of MBSR and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat people with depression.

Researchers reviewed more than 200 studies of mindfulness among healthy people and found mindfulness-based therapy was especially effective for reducing stress, anxiety and depression. Mindfulness can also help treat people with specific problems including depression, pain, smoking and addiction. Some of the most promising research has looked at people with depression. Several studies have found, for example, that MBCT can significantly reduce relapse in people who have had previous episodes of major depression. What's more, mindfulness-based interventions can improve physical health, too. For example, mindfulness may reduce pain, fatigue and stress in people with chronic pain. Other studies have found preliminary evidence that mindfulness might boost the immune system and help people recover more quickly from cold or flu.

How mindfulness works

How could simply tuning into your thoughts and feelings lead to so many positive outcomes throughout the body? Researchers believe the benefits of mindfulness are related to its ability to dial down the body's response to stress.

Chronic stress can impair the body's immune system and make many other health problems worse. By lowering the stress response, mindfulness may have downstream effects throughout the body.

Psychological scientists have found that mindfulness influences two different stress pathways in the brain, changing brain structures and activity in regions associated with attention and emotion regulation. Scientists are also beginning to understand which elements of mindfulness are responsible for its beneficial effects. In a review of meditation studies, psychology researchers found strong evidence that people who received MBCT were less likely to react with negative thoughts or unhelpful emotional reactions in times of stress. They also found moderate evidence that people who participated in MBCT or MBSR were better able to focus on the present and less likely to worry and to think about a negative thought or experience over and over.
[Related: 6 mental health tips psychologists use]
How to get started

Ready to give it a try? Learning mindfulness is easier than ever. Mindfulness classes and interventions are widely available in settings including yoga centers, athletic clubs, hospitals and clinics, though the classes can vary in their approach. Find a therapist trained in MBSR or MBCT - interventions that have the most evidence of benefits.

A number of mindfulness-based interventions are now available online or through smartphone apps as well, although more long-term research is needed to explore how they affect the body and the brain. Still, early studies have found that online mindfulness-based interventions can have a positive effect on mental health.

It can take a little while for mindfulness meditation to feel natural and to become a part of your regular routine. But with practice, you may discover a powerful tool for relieving stress and improving well-being.

Thanks to psychologists J. David Creswell, PhD, and Bassam Khoury, PhD, who assisted with this article.

References

The Meeting of Meditative Disciplines and Western Psychology: A Mutually Enriching Dialogue Walsh, et. al., American Psychologist 2006

Mindfulness-Based Therapy: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Khoury, B., et. al. Clinical Psychology Review, 2013

Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Psychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Goldberg, S.B., et. al. Clinical Psychology Review, 2018

Mindfulness Interventions Creswell, J.D., Annual Review of Psychology, 2017

Mindfulness Training and Physical Health: Mechanisms and Outcomes Creswell, J.D., et. al., Psychosomatic Medicine, 2019

Mindfulness and Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions for Chronic Pain: Differential Effects on Daily Pain Reactivity and Stress Reactivity Davis, M.C., et. al., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2015

Mindfulness Meditation and The Immune System: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials Black, D.S., et. al. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2016

Meditation or Exercise for Preventing Acute Respiratory Infection: A Randomized Controlled Trial Barrett, B., et. al., Annals of Family Medicine, 2012

The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation Tan, Y.-Y., et. al., Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2015

How Do Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Improve Mental Health and Wellbeing? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Mediation Studies Gu, J., et. al. Clinical Psychology Review, 2015

Effectiveness of Online Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Improving Mental Health: A Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials Spijkerman, M.P.J., et. al., Clinical Psychology Review, 2016

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Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress

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Psychologists have found that mindfulness meditation changes our brain and biology in positive ways, improving mental and physical health.

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Short-term memory is information stored for a limited time before it is either forgotten or processed. There are two types: working memory and immediate memory.

According to Sousa (2022), immediate memory allows sensory data to move from the thalamus to the cortex, which is held for up to 30 seconds (p. 42). For example, immediate memory is when students are exposed to a new word and asked to repeat it. If the word is unfamiliar and lacks personal connection, the student will likely forget both the word and its meaning.

Working memory is information temporarily stored and processed in the frontal lobe. Sousa (2022) explains that it “captures our focus and demands our attention” (p. 44). Games such as “Simon Says” or giving two-step directions can help students focus and complete the task successfully. However, preschoolers need a lot of repetition and practice to transfer short-term information to long-term memory so that they can later remember it and apply it to new situations.

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Long-term memory is information that is processed and stored so that it can be retrieved throughout life. There are two types of long-term memory: declarative and nondeclarative memory. Declarative memory is when you remember names, facts, objects, and other important things. This information is typically effortless to recall, especially because it usually has an emotional component (Sousa, 2022, p.75). For example, a wedding, a funeral, or for preschoolers, the first day of school is typically the hardest in a preschooler's life.

There are also two types of declarative memory: episodic and semantic. Episodic memory occurs when preschoolers recall a particular event (Psychology Today, n.d.), like falling off their bike, going to the dentist, or having a birthday. Semantic memory is the person's long-term storage of knowledge (Sousa, 2022, p. 75). This can be as simple as preschoolers knowing their ABCs, colors, or friends' names.

Nondeclarative memory is information that cannot be explained and is implicit "without conscious awareness that it's being recalled" (Psychology Today, n.d.). For example, washing your hands or going to the bathroom is information that does "not require the intentional recall of experiences" (Sousa, 2022, p. 75). Some examples of nondeclarative memory are "procedural memory, perceptual representation system, classical conditioning, and nonassociative learning" (Sousa, 2022, p. 75). Procedural memory refers to the cognitive and motor skills of remembering how to do something, such as riding a bike or bouncing a ball. In preschool, students are beginning to develop procedural memory. The perceptual representation system allows individuals to remember information based on prior experiences. For example, if a student sees an A, they automatically say, an A—they just know. In preschool, this memory is beginning to develop. Classical conditioning is when students connect one thing to another. An example is when students hear my phone timer, they know they have five minutes to clean up, or when they hear the fire alarm, they know it is just a practice and we need to go outside away from danger. Usually, there is a stimulus that creates a response. Classical conditioning is something we learn to do. Nonassociative learning is when students get used to something and stop reacting to it. For example, in my class, the half-day hallway bell rings at noon. Initially, students would get startled by it, but not now. This is known as habituation, and sensitization is when students react more and more to something. Luckily, this has not happened in my classroom. I try to decrease sensitization because I do not want students to feel scared. When they are calm and regulated, they are more ready to learn.

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According to Sousa (2022), we constantly taking in information from our surroundings through the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. However, the brain cannot possibly remember everything, so it processes the information, organizes and stores it for later use, also known as encoding. Some information is forgotten, so it will not be stored —while other information will be kept as either short-term or long-term memories. Typically, important and meaningful information is stored in long-term memory, which can be retrieved later when needed.

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Retention and learning are two different things. Learning is when you need information for a short time. For example, learning the telephone number of the pizza delivery — you only need that information for a short time and then lose it (Sousa, 2022, p.79). Retention, however, is when information is stored in long-term memory and can be retrieved when needed —sometimes even years later. As teachers, we want students to retain all the information we teach; unfortunately, this is not always true. Information is more likely retained in long-term memory when there is sense and meaning.

Now, retention is the ability to store and use information when needed, while transfer refers to the apply new knowledge to new situations (Sousa, 2022, p.79). For example, in preschool, when students identify colors, letters, or shapes in their environment, not just in the classroom, they demonstrate retention. Another example of students learning and transferring their new knowledge to new situations is when they learn to clean up toys in their classroom and use them in other classrooms, like their specials and extracurricular activities, showing transferring and retention skills.

Retention and transfer rely on long-term memory. Certain strategies, such as rehearsing information, using the primacy-relevancy effect, and using different teaching styles (Sousa, 2022), enhance retention and transfer skills. As teachers, our job is to maximize retention so students can eventually transfer skills to other grades and throughout life.

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Chapter 3 offers strategies for enhancing retention and transfer skills, including rehearsal, the primacy-relevancy effect, and different teaching styles (Sousa, 2022).

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Rehearsal refers to how repetition enhances retention. There are two types of rehearsal: rote rehearsal and elaborate rehearsal.

Rote rehearsal is when students remember and store things in the same way they were learned (Sousa, 2022, p. 79). For example, the ABC song and other songs are examples of rote rehearsal because when asked, some preschoolers cannot answer, “What is after the letter B?” Instead of answering the question, they have to sing the song again, the same way they learned it.

Elaborative rehearsal is when students connect the information they learned to new situations (Sousa, 2022, p.80). As teachers, this is our goal: We want students to be able to learn things and apply them in new situations. For example, after direct instruction about counting, students may begin to count the number of cars or objects they collect outside, linking what they have learned to a new experience. By applying the skills, they learned to a new situation, they retain information, also known as elaborative rehearsal.

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The primacy-recency effect is the tendency for students to remember information best at the beginning and end of a lesson, where students remember more. The middle is where they are less engaged and may retain less information, also known as downtime (Sousa, 2022, p. 82).

Sousa (2022) also mentions that there is "more retention [...] when lessons are shorter and meaningful" (Sousa, 2022, p. 84), meaning shorter is better. In preschool, this is not a challenge since circle times are typically 15 minutes. Because of these short teaching windows, it is important for teachers to strategically plan how to use their time to ensure they teach important information during the beginning or end of class.

For example, in preschool, it is our job to make the first 7-11 minutes and the last 2–3 minutes of circle time as engaging, meaningful, and interactive as possible so that students can retain as much information as possible — especially since at a young age, they are like little sponges, absorbing information quickly.

Even though the middle portion (downtime) shows less retention, it can still be used effectively. This middle time can be used to practice or reinforce the new skill (Sousa, 2022, p. 110).

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Chapter 3 also mentions that retention varies with teaching styles. Since every student learns differently, there should be a variety of teaching styles. One form of teaching style is direct instruction, which is the most commonly used teaching style to teach students new information. Direct instruction is especially important in preschool since students are still learning foundational knowledge such as letters, shapes, patterns, colors, etc. During direct instruction, teachers need to use visual material, pair verbal and visual information, and practice opportunities to teach others to enhance retention (Sousa, 2022, p. 84). As preschool teachers, we constantly use visual material and verbal-visual paring strategies to support bilingual students on IEPs who benefit from differentiated and multi-sensory information.

Allowing students to practice skills is also important because sensory-rich and meaningful senses enhance retention. Additionally, strategically pairing advanced learning with those who need support can reinforce retention for both groups of students.

Regardless, no one teaching method is best; on the contrary, using a variety of approaches helps make learning more accessible and supports retention

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The hippocampus and the amygdala are associated with memory processing, transferring information from working to long-term memory (Grand Canyon University, n.d.). The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure attached to the hippocampus that plays an important role in emotions since it processes strong emotions and eventually stores them as long-term memories (Sousa, 2022, p. 17). Children who have experienced trauma may be triggered by sound, smell, or other senses, therefore triggering the amygdala, causing children to enter the fight-or-flight response. Students in this state do not “recognize the difference between a threat then and a threat now” (Lebow, 2021). It is as if they are experiencing the traumatic experience for the first time, sending stress signals to the brain, and releasing stress hormones known as cortisol.

The brain enters survival mode when a person feels extremely stressed, scared, or angry—this is known as the amygdala hijack. The amygdala hijack bypasses the cortex, which becomes less active (Lebow, 2021), reducing cognitive and executive functioning. Research states that prolonged stress impairs the ability to regulate emotions and reduces the volume of the hippocampus, thus impacting memory (Barberini et al., 2024). Memory and retention are impacted because the brain is in survival mode.

Dr. Bruce Perry mentions in his book that when people experience PTSD or traumatic experiences, they tend to lose track of time and other executive function skills (Perry & Winfrey, 2021). Dr. Bruce Perry also mentions the three R’s: Regulate, Relate, and Reason (PBS Learning Media, n.d.). In order for students to be able to reason and access higher order thinking skills, we need to help students regulate and relate. Regulate means that we help students feel safe and secure and have their psychological needs met first (McLeod, 2024). In preschool, this is essential, as I ensure students are well fed, take a good nap, and help in other ways to meet their physical needs. Relate means students have a trusted relationship with someone, which I ensure by creating a safe learning environment. Finally, students will be able to reason, but building skills from the bottom up is important since this is how our brain develops (PBS LearningMedia, n.d.). Once students are regulated and can relate to a trusted person, they can reason, retain information, and access higher-order cognitive skills.

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Mindfulness meditation can improve visuospatial processing, working memory, executive functioning, and long-term memory retrieval, reducing anxiety and fatigue (Zeidan et al., 2010). Mindfulness is mental training to be calm, concentrate, and have positive emotions (American Psychological Association, n.d.). Even though mindfulness activities can significantly help students with trauma, mindfulness activities help all students. However, there needs to be two things for mindfulness meditation to happen: attention and acceptance. Attention is when you focus on the present, breathing, and thoughts and hone in on your five senses. Acceptance is when you recognize and accept your feelings and let them go. Some mindfulness ideas that can be implemented in preschool are breathing exercises (Veerman,2017), yoga, journaling, and other activities that make students feel relaxed and present. As Dr. Bruce Perry mentions, students must be regulated before they access the cortex (PBS LearningMedia, n.d.). Of course, mindfulness is a hard skill for preschoolers to learn independently, so we must find instructional time to teach them these skills. Veerman (2017) mentions that breathing exercises can be done in a "relatively short amount of time, " allowing students to focus and contribute to higher-order cognitive skills. All in all, the ability to self-regulate and meditate is key to enhancing cognition, such as sustained attention, verbal fluency, higher-order executive processes, and working and long-term memory retrieval ((Zeidan et al., 2010). As educators, we should find ways to systematically implement mindfulness activities in our instruction to minimize disruption and stress and maximize attention to improve memory, retention, and transfer of information.

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Banikowski and Mehring (1999) offer several new ways to improve memory, retention, and information transfer. This article mentions using cues/ signals, contrasts, emotions, giving purpose, and organizing learning. For this assignment, let's focus on emotions. Emotions play a critical role in processing and regulating emotions and encoding and retrieving memories in the amygdala and hippocampus (Sousa, 2022).

Emotions can create a strong positive climate that is essential for all students, not just those who have experienced trauma. A rich learning environment is critical because students need to feel safe and want to go to school (Sousa, 2022, p. 77). As teachers, we must create an "emotional climate" to help students learn, as emotions increase the likelihood that things will be recalled in long-term memory (Banikowski & Mehring, 1999). We can do this with storytelling, such as personal stories, which can help students personally relate to one another or the teacher (Banikowski & Mehring, 1999). Storytelling allows students to recall and reshape information, allowing them to make sense of the information meaningfully (Pihl, 2022). When students personally connect with stories, they are more likely to recall and apply the lessons in real-life situations, such as showing empathy, sharing, or being kind—skills that can be transfered to other settings. settings. Celebrations, games, music, drama, tangible artifacts, pictures, and teacher modeling (Banikowski & Mehring, 199, p. 7) are all great ways to promote emotionally safe classrooms and eliminate threats. When students feel safe, especially those with traumatic experiences, they are more comfortable going to class to learn and do not demonstrate challenging behaviors but instead remember information.

Therefore, as a teacher, I am to create emotional content and an emotionally secure environment for children to make information more meaningful to my preschoolers. Not only will memorable experiences help retain information, but they can also transfer skills like empathy and problem-solving across contexts. An emotionally secure classroom is when teachers have consistent routines and rituals, which allow students to have predictability, which is essential since they may lack this at home (Hammond, 2015). When students feel emotionally safe, they are more likely to engage, behave positively, remember information, and perform other executive functions like " working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and planning" (Tucker-Drob & Grotzinger, 2024), which is essential for their academic success and personal growth.

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American Psychological Association. (2019, October 30). Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. https://www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness/meditation

Banikowski, A. K., & Mehring, T. A. (1999). Strategies to enhance memory based on brain-research. Focus on Exceptional Children, 32(2), 1–16. Love Publishing Company.

Barberini, A., Bavishi, P., Cuthbertson, M., Flaherty, S., Fong, M., Forester, W., Khan, M., Maeda, T., Qiu, R., & Sharma, R. (2024, September 12). Childhood and trauma: A neuroscience perspective. OxJournal. https://www.oxjournal.org/childhood-and-trauma-a-neuroscience-perspective/

Grand Canyon University. (n.d.). Brain-based learning. https://lc.gcumedia.com/tch520/brain-based-learning/v1.1/

Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin.

Lebow, H. I. (2021, July 2). How does PTSD affect the brain? The physical effects of trauma. Psych Central. https://psychcentral.com/ptsd/the-science-behind-ptsd-symptoms-how-trauma-changes-the-brain​

McLeod, S. (2024, January 24). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

PBS LearningMedia. (n.d.). The neurosequential model. PBS LearningMedia. https://rmpbs.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/the-neurosequential-video/stress-trauma-and-the-brain-insights-for-educators-thinktv-cet/

Perry, B. D., & Winfrey, O. (2021). What happened to you? Conversations on trauma, resilience, and healing. Flatiron Books.

Pihl, A. (2022). Children retelling stories: Responding, remembering and reshaping in early childhood education and care (Doctoral dissertation). Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. http://hdl.handle.net/2077/73699

Psychology Today. (n.d.). Types of memory. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/memory/types-of-memory#semantic-memory

Tucker-Drob, E. M., & Grotzinger, A. D. (2024). Environmental contributions to cognitive development: The role of informal learning activities. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 68, 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2024.01.005

Veerman, T. J. (2017). A deep breathing intervention for stress reduction in 5-year-old children (Doctoral dissertation, University of Tennessee). TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6345&context=utk_graddiss​

Zeidan, F., Johnson, S. K., Diamond, B. J., David, Z., & Goolkasian, P. (2010). Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training. Consciousness and Cognition, 19(2), 597–605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2010.03.014

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American Psychological Association. (2019, October 30). Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. https://www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness/meditation

Hogle, P. (2018, May–June). Brain-based learning principles for maximum retention in the virtual classroom. Training Industry Magazine. https://trainingindustry.com/magazine/may-jun-2018/brain-based-learning-principles-for-maximum-retention-in-the-virtual-classroom/

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The Neurosequential Model | Stress, Trauma, and the Brain | PBS LearningMedia

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Listen as Dr. Perry describes the neurosequential model and its significance on how we interact with our students, our own children and each other.