Autonomic Regulation and Sustained Attention during Mindfulness with Touchless Physiological Monitoring in Preadolescents

Brief, mindfulness training—paired with touchless physiological monitoring—can measurably boost focus and reduce stress, in real-world classrooms. Educational systems worldwide face persistent barriers to sustaining attention, reducing stress, and improving achievement, particularly in socioeconomically diverse schools. This challenge was addressed by integrating affective computing, cognitive neuroscience, and educational practice in a two-year, staggered quasi-experimental study of 96 students aged 7–13 in a San Francisco school district, including a Title I cohort. The staggered implementation meant that all participants ultimately received the intervention, precluding inclusion of a no-treatment control group. The program—a developmentally tailored mindfulness and breathing intervention integrated with camera-based physiological monitoring and cognitive assessments—was delivered over 4–5 weeks in weekly 30-minute, facilitator-led sessions. Students showed reduced stress ( p = 0.012) and improved sustained attention (reaction-time variability ↓39.8 ms, p < 0.001). Gains spanned both high- and lower-performing learners, peaking during the fall–winter term. While positive, non-significant trends were observed in standardized math and reading scores, these academic results were not statistically significant. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) trajectories indicated physiological stability in intervention groups. These findings suggest that enhanced autonomic regulation (indexed by HRV stability) may underlie improved sustained attention and academic growth.