Brian Ostafin, assistant professor of psychology, will present “Meditation is not what you think:  Psychology research on the benefits of training the mind” Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. in Stokers Basement, Hotel Donaldson at 101 N. Broadway, as part of the Science Café series.

What has psychological science learned about how the mind works? One recent advance involves a number of findings suggesting that how we pay attention (or not) to our ongoing experience contributes to our happiness and creativity, as well as to the treatment of psychological disorders. The development of mindfulness has been defined as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally.” This presentation will review recent research on the benefits of practicing mindfulness meditation. The talk will have a focus on data from our lab regarding how such attention training can help people overcome the detrimental influence of habitual (automatic) patterns of thinking and behaving.