Shedding Light on Changes in Subjective Experience During an Intensive Contemplative Retreat: The Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology Questionnaire.
Oussama Abdoun, Arnaud Poublan-Couzardot, Stéphane Offort, Giuseppe Pagnoni, Antoine Lutz
Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science July 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100474 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 53 |
| Population | Experienced meditators |
| Duration | 10-day intensive retreat |
| Topics | Meditation Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Experience sampling Pain Reflexivity Temporal dynamics |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key findings | Over 60% of the dimensions assessed by the LAMP questionnaire exhibited significant change during the retreat, with distinct temporal trajectories reflecting meditation type and individual expertise. |
Abstract
A significant share of meditation research relies on trait psychometric measures of mindfulness, which neglect the complex and dynamic unfolding of experiential processes entailed by meditation over time. However, there have been a few attempts to capture ongoing changes in experience during meditation. In this study, we integrated and expanded on 3 of these previous approaches to create a novel instrument, which we called the Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology (LAMP). This questionnaire encompasses contextual, conative, affective, somatic, attentional, cognitive, and metacognitive domains. Fifty-three experienced meditators completed the LAMP after each meditation session during an intensive 10-day retreat. We modeled the time courses of the individual answers to each question using generalized additive modeling and automatically clustered participants using group-based trajectory modeling. Over 60% of the dimensions assessed by LAMP exhibited significant change during the retreat across the group, following distinct temporal trajectories. These trajectories reflected differences between meditation types (chiefly, focused attention and open monitoring) and individual expertise, supporting a previously proposed multidimensional phenomenological model of mindfulness-related practices. We also identified 3 clusters of individual temporal trajectories associated with prior meditative experience and difficulties experienced during the retreat. Finally, we replicated and extended core findings from mindfulness research on pain regulation. The proposed multidimensional experience-sampling approach provides a rich characterization of the dynamic aspects of meditative experience and may be used to deepen our knowledge of the phenomenology and mechanisms of meditation and meditation-based interventions.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The phenomenology of near-death experiences Subjects who reported near-death experiences | 1980 | Retrospective study | n = 78 |
| Visual Phenomenology of the LSD Flashback Persons with a history of LSD use | 1983 | Observational cohort | n = 123 |
| The neurophenomenology of neutral hypnosis. Individuals of high, medium, and low hypnotizability | 2013 | Observational cohort | n = 37 |
| The Phenomenology of Acute Organic Psychosis Patients with acute organic psychosis and acute schizophrenics | 1987 | Observational cohort | n = 148 |
| EEG oscillatory states as neuro-phenomenology of consciousness as revealed from patients in vegetative and minimally conscious states. Brain-damaged patients with disorders of consciousness and healthy-conscious subjects | 2012 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- Where is my mind? A neurocognitive investigation of mind blanking. Trends in Cognitive Sciences March 12, 2025
- Deep computational neurophenomenology: a methodological framework for investigating the how of experience. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2025
- Vipassanā Meditation in Contemporary Psychiatry: Transformation of a Buddhist Practice into a Mental Health Intervention Kamali: Jurnal Ilmu Agama June 26, 2026
- Meditation-Specific Neural Predictors of State Mindfulness During Eyes Open Meditation Mindfulness May 11, 2026
- Modulation of sensory attenuation by intensive meditation practice: an active inference perspective Neuroscience of Consciousness November 7, 2025
and 1 more in the library
Cites 24
- Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Assessment January 27, 2006
- The toronto mindfulness scale: Development and validation Journal of Clinical Psychology 2006
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists PLoS One May 24, 2017
- Mindfulness Meditation and Psychopathology Annual Review of Clinical Psychology December 11, 2018
and 19 more in the library