When making smart decisions, you often have to consider both positive and negative information, which can be difficult when the latter sparks concern and anger. For example, people often don’t want to know if they failed a test, a bad medical report, or a betrayal by a close friend because of the emotions they elicit. However, such avoidance can add new layers to the problem at hand.

A recent study by Elliott Ash, a professor of law, economics, and data science at ETH Zurich, looked at this negative information avoidance, or cognitive bias, to understand how it can be reduced to help people make better decisions. The findings showed that regular mindfulness meditation can reduce this tendency, according to a press release from ETH Zurich.

According to the researchers, mindfulness meditation is the practice of sitting still with your eyes closed, observing, but not responding to, your breath, physical sensations, thoughts and emotions, according to the statement. Previous research has shed light on how meditation has a positive effect on the mind and body. Studies have shown that 15 minutes of meditation a day can help reduce stress and increase your ability to focus.

This study, involving 261 participants, showed that it also helps people cope with negative information. “Study participants who meditated every day for two weeks were better equipped to simply observe their negative emotions and calmly accept them,” Ash said in the statement.

The results showed that people who practiced mindfulness meditation every day for two weeks were less likely to avoid negative information. These findings demonstrated how mindfulness meditation can increase people’s resistance to uncomfortable emotions, allowing them to process negative information more objectively. “Someone who deals well with negative emotions will also want to know what could go wrong as a result of a particular decision,” Ash explained in the statement.

Therefore, meditation training could help people make better decisions. Since people who meditate regularly are more likely to consult information to which they might react negatively, they tend to be better informed.

These findings complement the results of a 2015 study, Calm and smart? A selective review of the effects of meditation on decision making. published in Frontiers in Psychology – which suggested that meditation interventions may be effective in promoting good decision making.