Mindful attention prevents mindless impulses.

Three studies illustrate that mindful attention prevents impulses toward attractive food. Participants received a brief mindfulness
procedure in which they observed their reactions to external stimuli as transient mental events rather than subjectively real
experiences. Participants then applied this procedure to viewing pictures of highly attractive and neutral food items. Finally,
reactions to food stimuli were assessed with an implicit approach-avoidance task. Across experiments, spontaneous approach
reactions elicited by attractive food were fully eliminated in the mindful attention condition compared to the control condition,
in which participants viewed the same items without mindful attention. These effects were maintained over a 5-minute distraction
period. Our findings suggest that mindful attention to one’s own mental experiences helps to control impulsive responses and
thus suggest mindfulness as a potentially powerful method for facilitating self-regulation.