A six-week randomized trial compared mindfulness training to an active control condition in healthy adults. Both groups improved on a response-inhibition task, but only the mindfulness group showed reduced emotional conflict on an affective Stroop task. The mindfulness group also showed greater dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity during executive processing, suggesting increased use of top-down control. No overall group differences emerged for negative affect-related reaction times or brain responses. However, participants who practiced mindfulness the most showed improved response inhibition and greater recruitment of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and right anterior insula during negative-valence processing. The findings indicate that mindfulness training engages distinct neural mechanisms at progressive stages and that optimal application may depend on context.
Meditation research mostly examines neurophysiology, but the actual moment-to-moment experience of meditating—what it feels like at different stages and in different practices—remains largely unstudied. This article reports a pilot project that used 'micro-phenomenological' interview methods to help meditators describe their lived experience with rigor and precision. The results show that such detailed descriptions can deepen understanding of meditation, improve practice, and inform teaching, revealing a valuable but overlooked dimension of contemplative science.
Micro-phenomenology, an interview and analysis method for investigating subjective experience, can be turned on itself to reveal quality criteria. In a pilot series of five interviews, experienced micro-phenomenology researchers recalled one successful and one challenging instance of using the method. An auto-ethnographic dialogue between the authors illustrates the planning, conducting, and analysis of these interviews. An unexpected finding emerged: researchers judge the quality of an interview partly based on a sense of connection or contact between interviewer and interviewee. The article discusses this finding in relation to the method's means and intentions and suggests directions for future research.
Long-term meditation practice is associated with structural differences in the lower brainstem, specifically higher gray matter density in regions involved in cardiorespiratory control. Using magnetic resonance imaging, experienced meditators showed greater gray matter density in lower brainstem regions compared to age-matched nonmeditators. These structural differences may explain cardiorespiratory parasympathetic effects and traits, as well as cognitive, emotional, and immunoreactive impacts observed in studies of various meditation practices.