The Mindfulness Internal Attention (MIA) Framework: Uncovering the Attentional Mechanisms of Mindfulness Training

Attention is theorized to have a definitive role in mindfulness and its salutary effects. Yet, extant findings from more than two decades of research testing this central theoretical premise have been surprisingly mixed. To account for this paradoxical disparity between theory and findings, we propose the Mindfulness Internal Attention (MIA) framework. We theorize and review initial findings suggesting that mindfulness training primarily targets internal attention processes which operate on internally generated or stored representations and experiences. Additionally, we theorize and review findings suggesting that mindfulness training affects executive functions and working memory processes shared between internal attention and late-stage external attention. In contrast, we theorize and review findings suggesting that mindfulness training does not affect early-stage external attention processes, which do not share cognitive resources with internal attention. Finally, we propose methodological innovations and outstanding questions for future research to advance understanding of the attentional mechanisms of mindfulness training.