Contemplative Clinical Science
Topic Archives:
Concurrent Session 2 – Exploring Sleep Paralysis
The exploration of non-ordinary states of consciousness can have a potentially deep impact on our understanding of ourselves and the world. These states, however, are difficult to bring into a scientific discourse due to issues connected to their properties of reproducibility and ineffability. But these obstacles do not pose impossible challenges. Recently, there has been …
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Concurrent Session 2 – The Social Side of Mindfulness: From Lab to Life
Traditional contemplative perspectives emphasize social benefits of mindfulnessand meditation, yet little research has investigated their social implications. Social situations involve distinct challenges for regulating affect, including the involvement of others’ emotions. This presentation briefly summarizes our prior lab-based work demonstrating that trait mindfulness predicts neural and behavioral responses consistent with efficient top-down attention to and …
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Concurrent Session 1 – Varela’s Promise: A Search for the Neural Correlates of the Phenomenological Reduction
In 1999, alongside Natalie Depraz and Pierre Vermersch, Francisco J. Varelaproposed a description of the structural dynamics of becoming aware. This account proceeds through the method of phenomenological reduction (or épochè). For Varela, the emergence of a unified cognitive moment relied upon dynamic links between functionally specialized regions of the brain. We propose an investigative …
Concurrent Session 1 – Can We Measure Mental Balance? Scientific and Contemplative Perspectives On Equanimity
In light of a growing interest in contemplative practices such as meditation, the emerging field of contemplative science has been challenged to describe and objectively measure how these practices affect health and well-being. We recently proposed that equanimity could serve as a measurable outcome of contemplative practices, both in basic science investigations and in clinical …
Concurrent Session 1 – Investigating the Phenomenal and Neurocognitive Matrix of Mindfulness-Related Practices
Mindfulness meditation practices can be conceptualized as a set of attention-based, regulatory, and self-inquiry training regimes cultivated for various ends, including the training of well-being and psychological health. This panel discusses conceptual issues related to the construct of mindfulness in psychological research and reviews recent, nonclinical work in this area. Instead of proposing a single …
Concurrent Session 1 – Yoga’s Self-Regulatory Functions in Promoting Psychological Health: A Proposed Model
Research suggesting beneficial effects of yoga on myriad aspects of psychological health has proliferated in recent years, yet there is currently no overarching framework by which to understand yoga’s beneficial effects. In this session, we provide a theoretical framework and systems-based conceptual model of yoga that focuses on self-regulation. We begin by contextualizing yoga in …
Concurrent Session 1 -Neurocognitive Processes of Addiction: A Therapeutic Role for Mindfulness?
Several neurocognitive processes have been implicated in addiction, including motivated attention, reward processing, emotion regulation, stress reactivity, delay discounting, and inhibitory control. These processes appear to depend on functionally integrated cortico-limbic-striatal circuits whose dysfunction supports the acquisition, maintenance, and reinstatement of addictive behaviors. Novel interventions that target the neurocognitive processes underlying addictive behavior may hold …
Concurrent Session 1 – Remote Emotional Memory for Depictions of Human Suffering Following an Intensive Meditation Intervention
Meditation training is presumed to influence individuals’ emotional engagement with others’ suffering. Although evidence is accumulating for the prosocial effects of intensive practice in meditation, little is known about how training may alter primary cognitive representations of compassion-eliciting stimuli. We assessed individuals’ remote (six-year) incidental memory for emotional images viewed both before and after a …
Concurrent Session 1 – Validation of the Perceived Compassion Scale
A self-report scale measuring perceived compassion, in its embodied and functional aspects, will be presented, including preliminary psychometric validation results. There has been some debate as to whether compassion can be measured through self-report. Neff’s Self-Compassion Scale, possibly the most widely used instrument, operationalizes compassion in terms of mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness. Others (e.g., …
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