Kirk Warren Brown - The Consciousness Library

ENIGMA-Meditation: Worldwide Consortium for Neuroscientific Investigations of Meditation Practices.

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging April 1, 2025 Saampras Ganesan, Fernando A Barrios, Ishaan Batta et al. 6 citations

Meditation is a family of ancient and contemporary contemplative mind-body practices that can modulate psychological processes, awareness, and mental states. Over the last 40 years, clinical science has manualized meditation practices and designed various meditation interventions that have shown therapeutic efficacy for disorders including depression, pain, addiction, and anxiety. Over the past...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.10.015 Full text Meditation Mindfulness Consortium Enigma +1

Pattern Theory of Selflessness: How Meditation May Transform the Self-Pattern

Mindfulness August 1, 2024 Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Kirk Warren Brown, Shaun Gallagher et al. 22 citations

Abstract For many centuries, scholars and philosophers from wisdom traditions in different cultures have reported and discussed non-self states of consciousness. These states can be both short-term (state, transitory) and long-term (trait, lasting) conditions. However, in psychology, the importance of a healthy self is usually emphasized, and some theorists have dismissed the idea of “selfless”...

DOI: 10.1007/s12671-024-02418-2 Full text Meditation Mindfulness Psychotherapist Public health +3

Inside the mindful moment: The effects of brief mindfulness practice on large-scale network organization and intimate partner aggression.

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience December 1, 2023 Hadley Rahrig, Liangsuo Ma, Kirk Warren Brown et al.

Mindfulness can produce neuroplastic changes that support adaptive cognitive and emotional functioning. Recently interest in single-exercise mindfulness instruction has grown considerably because of the advent of mobile health technology. Accordingly, the current study sought to extend neural models of mindfulness by investigating transient states of mindfulness during single-dose exposure to...

DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01136-x Full text Attention Functional connectivity Prefrontal cortex Regulation

The Self-Pattern and Buddhist Psychology

Mindfulness April 11, 2023 Shaun Gallagher, Antonino Raffone, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana et al. 49 citations

Abstract In this paper, we address core insights from Buddhist psychology about mind-body phenomena and the self, and we relate such insights to the notion of the self-pattern developed in the pattern theory of self. We emphasize the dynamic, temporal and enactive characteristics of the self-pattern, consistent with the core Buddhist notion of non-self. Although there is no one-to-one mapping...

DOI: 10.1007/s12671-023-02118-3 Full text Buddhism Mindfulness Flexibility engineering Self psychology +4

The (In)flexible self: Psychopathology, mindfulness, and neuroscience.

International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP 2023 Fabio Giommi, Prisca R. Bauer, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana et al. 70 citations

Clinical and neuroscientific evidence indicates that transdiagnostic processes contribute to the generation and maintenance of psychopathological symptoms and disorders. Rigidity (inflexibility) appears a core feature of most transdiagnostic pathological processes. Decreasing rigidity may prove important to restore and maintain mental health. One of the primary domains in which rigidity and...

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100381 Full text Cognitive neuroscience Neuroimaging Rigidity Transdiagnostic processes

Meta-analytic evidence that mindfulness training alters resting state default mode network connectivity

Scientific Reports July 18, 2022 Hadley Rahrig, David R. Vago, Matthew A. Passarelli et al. 83 citations

Abstract This meta-analysis sought to expand upon neurobiological models of mindfulness through investigation of inherent brain network connectivity outcomes, indexed via resting state functional connectivity (rsFC). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of rsFC as an outcome of mindfulness training (MT) relative to control, with the hypothesis that MT would increase cross-network...

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15195-6 Full text Default mode network Mindfulness Anterior cingulate cortex Meta-analysis +8

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction increases stimulated IL-6 production among lonely older adults: A randomized controlled trial

Brain, behavior, and immunity May 1, 2022 Emily K. Lindsay, J. D. Creswell, Harrison J. Stern et al.

Loneliness is a potent psychosocial stressor that predicts poor health and mortality among older adults, possibly in part by accelerating age-related declines in immunocompetence. Mindfulness interventions have shown promise for reducing loneliness and improving markers of physical health. In a sample of lonely older adults, this two-arm parallel trial tested whether mindfulness training...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.05.001 Full text

Comparing impacts of meditation training in focused attention, open monitoring, and mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy on emotion reactivity and regulation: Neural and subjective evidence from a dismantling study

Psychophysiology February 19, 2022 Kirk Warren Brown, Daniel R. Berry, Kristina Eichel et al. 38 citations

Commonly conducted mindfulness-based trainings such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) highlight training in two key forms of meditation: focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM). Largely unknown is what each of these mindfulness practices contributes to emotional and other important training outcomes. This dismantling trial...

DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14024 Mindfulness meditation Reactivity psychology Cognition Psychotherapist +1

Disrupting The Resting State: Meta-Analytic Evidence That Mindfulness Training Alters Default Mode Network Connectivity

Research Square January 6, 2022 Hadley Rahrig, David R. Vago, Matthew A. Passarelli et al. 2 citations

Abstract This meta-analysis sought to expand upon neurobiological models of mindfulness through investigation of inherent brain network connectivity outcomes, indexed via resting state functional connectivity (rsFC). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of rsFC as an outcome of mindfulness training (MT) relative to structurally-equivalent programs, with the hypothesis that that MT...

DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1189676/v1 Full text Default mode network Mindfulness Anterior cingulate cortex Meta-analysis +8

Short-Term Training in Mindfulness Predicts Helping Behavior Toward Racial Ingroup and Outgroup Members

Social Psychological and Personality Science November 18, 2021 Daniel R. Berry, Catherine S. J. Wall, Justin D. Tubbs et al. 29 citations

A randomized controlled trial tested whether mindfulness training would increase lab-based and in vivo spontaneous helping behaviors toward racial outgroup members. First, across conditions, those scoring higher in baseline trait mindfulness showed higher levels of preintervention lab-based and ecological momentary assessment (EMA)-based helping behavior. Next, short-term (4-day) training in...

DOI: 10.1177/19485506211053095 Ingroups and outgroups Trait Mindfulness meditation Developmental psychology +1

Punishment on Pause: Preliminary Evidence That Mindfulness Training Modifies Neural Responses in a Reactive Aggression Task

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience July 23, 2021 Hadley Rahrig, James M. Bjork, Camila Tirado et al. 17 citations

Reactive aggression, a hostile retaliatory response to perceived threat, has been attributed to failures in emotion regulation. Interventions for reactive aggression have largely focused on cognitive control training, which target top-down emotion regulation mechanisms to inhibit aggressive impulses. Recent theory suggests that mindfulness training (MT) improves emotion regulation via both...

DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.689373 Mindfulness Aggression Prefrontal cortex Cognition +2

Mindfulness and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease July 21, 2021 Yingqi Gu, Yi Zhu, Kirk Warren Brown 12 citations

ABSTRACT: Understanding the underlying mechanisms of mindfulness has been a hot topic in recent years, not only in clinical fields but also in neuroscience. Most neuroimaging findings demonstrate that critical brain regions involved in mindfulness are responsible for cognitive functions and mental states. However, the brain is a complex system operating via multiple circuits and networks,...

DOI: 10.1097/nmd.0000000000001388 Mindfulness Executive functions Neuroimaging Neuropsychology +6

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Buffers Glucocorticoid Resistance Among Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Psychosomatic Medicine March 3, 2021 Emily K. Lindsay, J. David Creswell, Harrison J. Stern et al. 18 citations

OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness interventions have been effective for improving a range of health outcomes; however, pathways underlying these effects remain unclear. Inflammatory processes may play a role, possibly through increased resistance of immune cells to the anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids (i.e., glucocorticoid resistance, or GCR). Here, we conducted an initial examination of...

DOI: 10.1097/psy.0000000000000928 Full text Mindfulness-based stress reduction Randomized controlled trial Glucocorticoid Resistance ecology +2

Mindfulness interventions improve momentary and trait measures of attentional control: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial.

Journal of Experimental Psychology General September 24, 2020 Brian Chin, Emily K. Lindsay, Carol M. Greco et al. 49 citations

Mindfulness interventions have been shown to improve several subcomponents of attention; however, the psychological mechanisms driving these improvements are unknown. Mindfulness interventions train individuals to monitor present moment experiences while adopting an attitude of acceptance toward these experiences. We conducted a theoretically driven randomized controlled trial to test the...

DOI: 10.1037/xge0000969 Mindfulness Attentional control Psychological intervention Randomized controlled trial +6

Self-Regulation Without Force: Can Awareness Leverage Reward to Drive Behavior Change?

Perspectives on Psychological Science August 28, 2020 Vera U. Ludwig, Kirk Warren Brown, Judson A. Brewer 69 citations

To reach longer-term goals and live aligned with their values, people typically must regulate their behavior. Effortful self-control is one way to achieve this and is usually framed as a forceful struggle between lower-level impulses and higher-level cognitive control processes. For example, people may restrain themselves from eating cake in order to lose weight. An alternative avenue of...

DOI: 10.1177/1745691620931460 Mindfulness Ventromedial prefrontal cortex Cognitive psychology Self-control +8

Brief mindfulness training enhances cognitive control in socioemotional contexts: Behavioral and neural evidence

PLoS One July 19, 2019 Jordan T. Quaglia, Fadel Zeidan, Peter G. Grossenbacher et al. 64 citations

In social contexts, the dynamic nature of others' emotions places unique demands on attention and emotion regulation. Mindfulness, characterized by heightened and receptive moment-to-moment attending, may be well-suited to meet these demands. In particular, mindfulness may support more effective cognitive control in social situations via efficient deployment of top-down attention. To test this,...

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219862 Mindfulness Socioemotional selectivity theory Cognition Cognitive psychology +1

Mindfulness training and systemic low-grade inflammation in stressed community adults: Evidence from two randomized controlled trials

PLoS One July 11, 2019 Daniella K. Villalba, Emily K. Lindsay, Anna L. Marsland et al. 59 citations

Mindfulness interventions have garnered significant attention as a complementary health treatment for many physical and psychological conditions. While some research has shown that mindfulness training can decrease psychological and physiological stress responses, it remains unclear whether mindfulness training impacts inflammation-a predictor of poor health outcomes. In addition, little...

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219120 Mindfulness Psychological intervention Randomized controlled trial Intervention counseling +1

Psychological mechanisms driving stress resilience in mindfulness training: A randomized controlled trial.

Health Psychology May 23, 2019 Brian Chin, Emily K. Lindsay, Carol M. Greco et al. 107 citations

OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness interventions have been shown to reduce stress; however, the mechanisms driving stress resilience effects are not known. Mindfulness interventions aim to teach individuals how to: (a) use attention to monitor present moment experiences; with (b) an attitude of acceptance and equanimity. A randomized controlled dismantling trial (RCT) was conducted to test the prediction...

DOI: 10.1037/hea0000763 Mindfulness Randomized controlled trial Clinical psychology Psychological resilience +3

How mindfulness training promotes positive emotions: Dismantling acceptance skills training in two randomized controlled trials.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology December 1, 2018 Emily K. Lindsay, Brian Chin, Carol M. Greco et al. 221 citations

Mindfulness meditation interventions-which train skills in monitoring present-moment experiences with a lens of acceptance-have shown promise for increasing positive emotions. Using a theory-based approach, we hypothesized that learning acceptance skills in mindfulness interventions helps people notice more positive experiences in daily life, and tested whether removing acceptance training from...

DOI: 10.1037/pspa0000134 Mindfulness Psychological intervention Affect linguistics Randomized controlled trial +2

How mindfulness training promotes positive emotions: Dismantling acceptance skills training in two randomized controlled trials

August 21, 2018 Emily K. Lindsay, Brian Chin, Carol M. Greco et al. 9 citations

Mindfulness meditation interventions – which train skills in monitoring present-moment experiences with a lens of acceptance – have shown promise for increasing positive emotions. Using a theory-based approach, we hypothesized that learning acceptance skills in mindfulness interventions helps people notice more positive experiences in daily life, and tested whether removing acceptance training...

DOI: 10.31231/osf.io/hk5gp Mindfulness Psychological intervention Affect linguistics Randomized controlled trial +2

When less is more: mindfulness predicts adaptive affective responding to rejection via reduced prefrontal recruitment

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience May 24, 2018 Alexandra Martelli, David Chester, Kirk Warren Brown et al. 31 citations

Social rejection is a distressing and painful event that many people must cope with on a frequent basis. Mindfulness-defined here as a mental state of receptive attentiveness to internal and external stimuli as they arise, moment-to-moment-may buffer such social distress. However, little research indicates whether mindful individuals adaptively regulate the distress of rejection-or the neural...

DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy037 Full text Mindfulness Prefrontal cortex Cognitive psychology Developmental psychology +2

Mindfulness increases prosocial responses toward ostracized strangers through empathic concern.

Journal of Experimental Psychology General 2018 Daniel R. Berry, Athena H. Cairo, Robert J. Goodman et al. 176 citations

Four studies tested the proposition that mindfulness and its training fostered prosociality toward ostracized strangers. In discovery Study 1, dispositional mindfulness predicted greater empathic concern for, and more helping behavior toward, an ostracized stranger. Using an experimental design, Study 2 revealed that very briefly instructed mindfulness, relative to active control instructions,...

DOI: 10.1037/xge0000392 Mindfulness Prosocial behavior Empathic concern Psycinfo +4

Acceptance lowers stress reactivity: Dismantling mindfulness training in a randomized controlled trial

September 28, 2017 Emily K. Lindsay, Shinzen Young, Joshua M. Smyth et al. 9 citations preprint

Objective: Mindfulness interventions, which train practitioners to monitor their present-moment experience with a lens of acceptance, are known to buffer stress reactivity. Little is known about the active mechanisms driving these effects. We theorize that acceptance is a critical emotion regulation mechanism underlying mindfulness stress reduction effects. Method: In this three-arm parallel...

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/4se5m Mindfulness Psychological intervention Coping psychology Clinical psychology +6

Mindfulness Meditation Training and Executive Control Network Resting State Functional Connectivity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Psychosomatic Medicine March 22, 2017 Adrienne A. Taren, Peter J. Gianaros, Carol M. Greco et al. 212 citations

OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness meditation training has been previously shown to enhance behavioral measures of executive control (e.g., attention, working memory, cognitive control), but the neural mechanisms underlying these improvements are largely unknown. Here, we test whether mindfulness training interventions foster executive control by strengthening functional connections between dorsolateral...

DOI: 10.1097/psy.0000000000000466 Mindfulness Meditation Attentional control Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex +6

Brief mindfulness meditation training reduces mind wandering: The critical role of acceptance.

Emotion November 7, 2016 Hayley Rahl, Emily K. Lindsay, Laura E. Pacilio et al. 171 citations

Mindfulness meditation programs, which train individuals to monitor their present-moment experience in an open or accepting way, have been shown to reduce mind wandering on standardized tasks in several studies. Here we test 2 competing accounts for how mindfulness training reduces mind wandering, evaluating whether the attention-monitoring component of mindfulness training alone reduces mind...

DOI: 10.1037/emo0000250 Mindfulness Meditation Mind-wandering Psycinfo +7

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