Paul Verhaeghen

Professor of Psychology

Research Interests

Mindfulness, self-transcendence, flourishing

About

My recent work involves the study of mindfulness as a trait and a state. In this research, we are interested in a new, broader definition of mindfulness, which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, as well as self-transcendence. We are particularly interested in how these aspects foster not just personal wellbeing, but can also be of benefit to others, by fostering wisdom, virtue, compassion, and social justice and other aspects of transcending the self. 

Historically, most of the work in my lab centered around cognitive aging: What happens to people's minds as they grow older? Much of this work boiled down to the question of the dimensionality of cognitive aging: Does it all go together when it goes? Much of that work focused on cognitive control. and working memory.  

A third research interest is creativity, more specifically the link between creativity (or, as we like to think of it, mental play), mood disorder, and different types of rumination. 

Selected Publications

• Verhaeghen, P. (2021). Mindfulness as attention training: Meta-analyses on the links between attention performance and mindfulness interventions, long-term meditation practice, and trait mindfulness. Mindfulness, 12, 564-581.
• Verissimo, J, Verhaeghen, P. Goldman, N., Weinstein, M., & Ullman, M. T. (2021). Aging yields improvements as well as declines across attention and executive functions. Nature Human Behavior.
• Verhaeghen, P., & Aikman, S. N. (2020). How the mindfulness manifold relates to the five moral foundations, prejudice, and awareness of privilege. Mindfulness, 11, 241-254.
• Karbach. J., & Verhaeghen, P. (2014). Making working memory work: A meta-analysis of executive control and working memory training in younger and older adults. Psychological Science, 25, 2027-2037.
• Verhaeghen, P. (2011). Aging and executive control: Reports of a demise greatly exaggerated. Current Directions in Psychological Sciences, 20, 174-180.