Preliminary evidence about the effects of meditation on interoceptive sensitivity and social cognition.
Behavioral and brain functions : BBF December 23, 2013 Margherita Melloni, Lucas Sedeño, Blas Couto et al.
Long-term and short-term meditators showed lower anxiety and depression than non-meditators, but no improvement in executive function or social cognition, except for lower personal distress scores on empathy. Meditators did not differ from non-meditators in cardiac interoceptive sensitivity, measured by a heartbeat detection task. The authors suggest that mindfulness meditation may not influence cardiac interoception, possibly because awareness of heartbeat sensations is not emphasized in mindfulness or vipassana practice.