Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
August 13, 2007
Norman A. S. Farb, Zindel V. Segal, Helen S. Mayberg et al.
1,305 citations
Two distinct forms of self-awareness—one linking experiences across time (narrative focus) and one centered on the present moment (experiential focus)—rely on different brain networks and can be dissociated through mindfulness training. In novice participants, focusing on the present reduced activity in cortical midline regions (medial prefrontal cortex) associated with narrative self-reference. In participants who completed an 8-week mindfulness course, present-moment focus produced more extensive reductions in the medial prefrontal cortex and increased engagement of a right-lateralized network including the lateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and somatosensory areas. Functional connectivity showed strong coupling between the right insula and medial prefrontal cortex in novices that was absent in the mindfulness group, indicating attentional training can uncouple these normally integrated forms of self-awareness.
Frontiers in Psychology
June 9, 2015
Norman A. S. Farb, Jennifer Daubenmier, Cynthia Price et al.
630 citations
Interoception, the sense of internal bodily signals, is essential for embodiment, motivation, and well-being but remains poorly understood. This review integrates perspectives from neuroscience, clinical practice, and contemplative studies, introducing an expanded taxonomy of interoceptive processes. It argues that many of these processes can be explained by a predictive coding model of mind-body integration, which describes tension between expected and felt body sensations. This model parallels contemplative theories and links interoception to affective and psychosomatic disorders. Maladaptive interpretation of bodily sensations may underlie many contemporary maladies, and contemplative practices may reduce these biases, restoring a sense of presence and agency.
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
June 11, 2012
Norman A. S. Farb, Zindel V. Segal, Adam K. Anderson
566 citations
Graduates of an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course, compared to a waitlisted control group, showed changes in brain activity during a task requiring attention to breathing sensations. Functional MRI revealed that mindfulness training predicted greater activity in the anterior insula, a brain region that integrates internal body sensations with external context. The training also predicted reduced activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and altered connectivity between that region and the posterior insula, the primary interoceptive cortex. Greater meditation practice was linked to more posterior insula activity and less reliance on visual brain regions during the task. These results suggest that mindfulness training produces plasticity in brain networks involved in sensing the body's internal state, similar to training-related changes seen in the external senses.
Emotion
February 1, 2010
Norman A. S. Farb, Adam K. Anderson, Helen S. Mayberg et al.
523 citations
Mindfulness training alters the brain's response to sadness, shifting activity from self-referential cortical midline regions toward right-lateralized visceral and somatosensory areas associated with body sensation. After eight weeks of mindfulness training, participants showed this distinct neural pattern during sadness provocation compared to waitlisted controls, even though both groups reported equivalent levels of sadness. The greater somatic brain response in the mindfulness group was linked to lower depression scores. Restoring balance between affective and sensory neural networks—supporting conceptual versus body-based emotion representations—may be one mechanism through which mindfulness reduces vulnerability to dysphoric reactivity.
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
February 1, 2012
Norman A. S. Farb, Adam K. Anderson, Zindel V. Segal
361 citations
Mindfulness training enhances focused attention through changes in the anterior cingulate cortex and lateral prefrontal cortex. In emotion regulation, these changes promote a nonconceptual sensory pathway as an alternative to cognitive reappraisal of negative emotion. The transition to nonconceptual awareness reduces evaluative processing supported by midline prefrontal structures, directing attention toward a limbic pathway for present-moment sensory awareness involving the thalamus, insula, and primary sensory regions. For people with affective disorders, mindfulness provides an alternative to cognitive control of negative emotion, directing attention to the transitory nature of experience. Limiting cognitive elaboration in favor of momentary awareness reduces automatic negative self-evaluation, increases tolerance for negative affect and pain, and helps engender self-compassion and empathy in people with chronic dysphoria.
Psychological Inquiry
October 2, 2015
Eric L Garland, Norman A. S. Farb, Philippe R. Goldin et al.
228 citations
Mindfulness-based interventions reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and they appear to work by changing how people appraise or relate to their thoughts and emotions rather than by eliminating negative content. The review synthesizes evidence from multiple studies showing that mindfulness training fosters decentering and acceptance, which in turn lowers psychological distress. The authors suggest that these cognitive and emotional processes are central to the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness, though the exact mechanisms remain an area of active investigation.
Psychopharmacology
January 2, 2019
Thomas Anderson, Rotem Petranker, Daniel Rosenbaum et al.
171 citations
People who currently or formerly microdosed psychedelics like LSD or psilocybin reported lower dysfunctional attitudes and negative emotionality, and higher wisdom, open-mindedness, and creativity compared to non-microdosers. These differences were observed in an online observational study using self-report questionnaires and a creativity task. The findings suggest potential benefits of microdosing, but controlled experiments are needed to confirm safety and clinical efficacy.
Frontiers in Psychology
July 10, 2020
Rotem Petranker, Thomas Anderson, Norman A. S. Farb
66 citations
Psychedelic research is experiencing a resurgence after decades of prohibition, driven by dissatisfaction with conventional mental health care and pioneering work by organizations like MAPS. Positive media coverage and commercial interests have accelerated hype, creating risks of conflicts of interest and lowered scientific standards. To avoid a replication crisis similar to those in psychology and medicine, researchers must adopt rigorous, transparent methods from Open Science: preregistration, open materials and data, reporting constraints on generality, and encouraging replication. The paper provides a pragmatic checklist and discusses how higher standards can build a trustworthy psychedelic science as these substances re-enter research and society.
PLoS One
September 7, 2022
Geissy Lainny de Lima-Araújo, Geovan Menezes de Sousa, Thatiane Aparecida Mendes et al.
64 citations
A brief three-day mindfulness training increased interoceptive sensibility—the self-reported tendency to notice and attend to body signals—in 40 healthy young adults naive to meditation, compared with an active control group. Five of eight subdomains of interoceptive sensibility improved after the training, but interoceptive accuracy (objective performance on a heartbeat-detection task) did not change. The increase in interoceptive sensibility statistically mediated reductions in state anxiety, suggesting a plausible mechanism for the anxiolytic effects of brief mindfulness practices.
NeuroImage Clinical
January 1, 2022
Norman A. S. Farb, Philip A. Desormeau, Adam K. Anderson et al.
15 citations
Neural reactivity to sad mood—specifically deactivation in somatosensory brain regions—was a stable marker of depression relapse risk in remitted patients, regardless of whether they received Cognitive Therapy or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. In contrast, reduced activation in the left lateral prefrontal cortex after treatment predicted lower relapse risk, suggesting that therapy may work by dampening cognitive control processes and enhancing sensory integration. The findings point to two distinct factors in depression vulnerability: an enduring sensory deactivation pattern that signals relapse risk, and a modifiable prefrontal response that can be targeted by prophylactic interventions.
November 1, 2018
Thomas Anderson, Rotem Petranker, Daniel Rosenbaum et al.
11 citations
preprint
People who regularly consume small amounts of psychedelics like LSD or psilocybin—a practice called microdosing—report lower levels of dysfunctional attitudes and negative emotionality, and higher levels of wisdom, open-mindedness, and creativity compared to those who do not microdose. This pre-registered study, the first to investigate microdosing and mental health, recruited participants from online forums. Although promising, the findings are preliminary and warrant controlled experimental research to test safety and clinical efficacy. Microdosing may offer clinical benefits without the hallucinogenic effects of full-dose psychedelic therapy.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
April 1, 2025
Saampras Ganesan, Fernando A Barrios, Ishaan Batta et al.
6 citations
Meditation practices, which have shown therapeutic benefits for conditions like depression, pain, addiction, and anxiety, have been studied with neuroimaging over the past decade. However, existing neuroscientific models are based on small, heterogeneous datasets, limiting generalizability and replicability. The ENIGMA-Meditation consortium is the first worldwide collaborative effort to conduct systematic meta- and mega-analyses of globally distributed neuroimaging data using standardized methods. This framework aims to improve statistical power and address multidomain heterogeneity in meditation practice types, experience, and experimental design. The consortium will generate rigorous neuroscientific insights into the mechanisms underlying meditation's therapeutic effects on psychological and cognitive attributes.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
April 1, 2025
Clemens C C Bauer, Daniel A Atad, Norman A. S. Farb et al.
3 citations
The observer effect—the idea that observing a phenomenon changes it—is often seen as a problem to control, but this paper argues it should be actively studied and used. Mindfulness practices, which cultivate present-moment, nonjudgmental awareness, are proposed as a way to account for and intentionally harness this effect. In research, mindfulness training may help participants give more precise self-reports by reducing reactive biases. Evidence suggests mindfulness improves interoceptive awareness and reduces automatic judgment, potentially increasing measurement validity. Clinically, therapies often aim to make unconscious patterns observable; mindfulness cultivates meta-awareness, allowing individuals to observe cravings or anxiety without reactivity, facilitating psychological change. The paper proposes developing an observer-effect index to code observer influence.
April 8, 2024
Saampras Ganesan, Aki Tsuchiyagaito, Greg J Siegle et al.
2 citations
preprint
Meditation practices, which have been adapted into manualized interventions for conditions like depression, pain, addiction, and anxiety, show therapeutic promise, but their neuroscientific basis remains unclear. Current neuroimaging studies rely on small, heterogeneous datasets that vary in practice types, participant experience, clinical targets, and imaging methods, limiting generalizability and replicability. To address this, the ENIGMA-Meditation consortium was formed as a global collaboration to conduct systematic meta- and mega-analyses of distributed neuroimaging data using standardized methods. This framework aims to improve statistical power and rigorously characterize the neural mechanisms underlying meditation's effects on psychological and cognitive attributes, advancing the field of contemplative neuroscience.
BJPsych Open
February 16, 2026
Zeina Beidas, Anya Ragnhildstveit, Adam Blackman et al.
1 citation
This is a protocol for a phase II trial testing whether very low doses of psilocybin (2 mg, a microdose) can safely and effectively treat major depressive disorder. Forty adults with MDD will receive either psilocybin or a placebo once weekly for four weeks, then all will receive psilocybin for another four weeks. The trial will measure changes in depression symptoms, mood, well-being, attention, creativity, mindfulness, and pro-sociality. Results will be published regardless of outcome. The findings are expected to guide future research on dose regimens, effect sizes, and the role of expectancy bias, and to inform debates about sub-threshold versus threshold doses of psilocybin.
BJPsych Open
May 13, 2026
Zeina Beidas, Anya Ragnhildstveit, Adam Blackman et al.
This is a correction notice for a previously published study protocol. The original protocol describes a phase II double-blind placebo-controlled randomised partial crossover trial investigating microdosing psilocybin for major depressive disorder. No new findings or data are presented.
Research Square
February 23, 2026
Rotem Petranker, Norman A. S. Farb, Omer A. Syed et al.
Repeated low doses of psilocybin were safe and well tolerated in adults with major depressive disorder but did not show greater antidepressant effects than placebo. In a randomized, double-blind trial, 39 participants received either 2 mg psilocybin or placebo weekly for four weeks. Both groups reported similar reductions in depression scores on the PHQ-9 (psilocybin: -5.4; placebo: -6.0) and other measures. The microdose-first group showed slightly more improvement on a dysfunctional attitudes scale than the placebo-first group. No serious adverse events occurred, and symptom reductions continued during an open-label phase. Trial participation itself contributed to clinically meaningful improvement.
November 16, 2025
Zeina Beidas, Anya Ragnhildstveit, Adam Blackman et al.
preprint
A phase II trial will test whether microdosing psilocybin (2 mg weekly) outperforms placebo for major depressive disorder. Forty adults will receive either psilocybin or placebo for four weeks, then all will receive psilocybin for another four weeks. Depression symptoms and other measures will be assessed at baseline, after four weeks, and after eight weeks, with follow-ups for two years. The study aims to clarify whether microdosing has genuine antidepressant effects or whether benefits are due to expectancy, and to inform future dose regimens and the therapeutic role of sub-threshold versus threshold doses.
UNC Libraries
November 8, 2020
Norman A. S. Farb, Philippe R. Goldin, Barbara L. Fredrickson et al.
Mindfulness is often described as non-evaluative awareness, but its traditional purpose was to foster eudaimonic well-being. The Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory proposes that mindfulness enhances interoceptive attention, which increases cognitive flexibility, enabling reappraisal of adversity and savoring of positive experiences. This process is theorized to deepen meaning-making and engagement with life, addressing a gap in psychological research on how mindfulness influences emotion regulation and sense of meaning.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
January 1, 2020
Helen Y. Weng, Jarrod A Lewis-Peacock, Frederick M Hecht et al.
Multi-voxel pattern analysis of fMRI data can recognize five internal attentional states—breath attention, mind wandering, self-referential processing, attention to feet, and attention to sounds—in individual participants with accuracy well above chance (over 41% vs. 20% chance). In a mixed sample of 16 experienced meditators and novices, classifiers trained on a directed attention task successfully identified these states in 87.5% of participants. When applied to a separate 10-minute meditation session, the classifiers indicated that participants spent more time attending to breath than mind wandering or self-referential processing. The findings suggest that objective, participant-level measurement of mental states during meditation is feasible, potentially improving assessment of internally-oriented attention cultivated by meditation.