A Parent-Child Mindfulness Based Training (PC-MBT) program was developed to examine whether children who learned strategies of emotion regulation and self-compassion prior to completing a working memory training program would show greater subsequent gains in memory capacity. A secondary aim was to determine whether measures of brain structure and function would reflect training-related changes in …
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Self-compassion and the need of self-preservation
Terror management theory research suggests that self-esteem acts as an anxiety buffer and high self-esteem can reduce implicit death thoughts and worldview defense. Our research investigated self-compassion that enhances wellbeing by making people feel safe and secure, whereas self-esteem makes people feel superior and sometimes unrealistically self-confident. Results in our series of studies failed to …
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The varieties of contemplative experience
Meditation practices and interventions, derived from contemplative religious traditions, have become increasingly popular in clinical, educational and scientific research contexts. Meditation is being applied to the treatment of a wide range of psychiatric conditions, from depression to psychosis, and implemented in schools, businesses and prisons to promote performance and wellbeing and decrease stress and anxiety. …
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Effects of yogic breathing on sleep and well-being in college students: Exploration of psychophysiological mechanisms
Insomnia is a prevalent health concern in older adults with numerous adverse consequences. Prior research suggests that the sleep disturbance and related complaints are driven by physiological hyperarousal and deficiencies in the autonomic nervous system, particularly parasympathetic activity, that inhibit healthy sleep-wake regulation. Pharmacological treatments are not viable long-term, and current behavioral and contemplative interventions …
The effect of MBSR on episodic and prospective memory function in aging adults
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a state of cognitive decline between typical aging and dementia characterized by impaired memory function, particularly for episodic memory—the capacity to mentally relive past experiences—and prospective memory—the ability to recollect future intentions. People diagnosed with MCI are 20-50% more likely to develop dementia over a period of 2 to 3 …
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Neural effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in remitted patients with chronic history of depression
Clinical evidence suggests that MBCT is an effective intervention to prevent relapse in major depression. The mechanisms underlying the positive effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on different forms of human suffering have been studied extensively in healthy populations. However, little has been done to extend this research to study the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying …
Making the right choice: Combining neuroimaging, computational modelling, and first-person report methodologies to unveil neural mechanisms of human flourishing
While the combined use of computational modelling and experimental techniques in neuroscience has been fruitful for studying decision-making, it has mostly focused on general principles of reward-based decision-making and has not been utilized to examine wider implications for human well-being. On the other hand, the emerging field of positive psychology has provided a framework for …
Mechanisms of Meditation and Consequences for Clinical Practice
Mindfulness and meditation are increasingly used in clinical practice to treat conditions such as depression, anxiety and addiction. However, the fundamental mechanisms underlying these practices are not yet well-known and theoretical frameworks are sparse. Two important explanatory mechanisms that will be considered in this workshop are sticky thinking (cognitive fusion) and the sense of self. …
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Intrinsic neural characteristics predict the effectiveness of MBSR training on fear extinction and stress reduction
The proposed research aims to derive individual neural characteristics from data-driven analysis of resting state fMRI to predict the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training on fear extinction and stress reduction. This project aims to capture the individual variability in the amplitudes of spontaneous brain activity and neural network properties, and relate such variability …
Effects of training in loving‐kindness meditation on underlying approach and avoidance motivations
The goal of this study is to examine the multi-modal effect of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) training on the motivational system evidenced by amygdala responding and behavioral tendencies to approach the world. We will also examine the extent to which LKM training can reduce levels of anxious and depressive symptomatology. We predict that LKM training will …
