Looping Effects and the Cognitive Science of Mindfulness Meditation
Oxford Scholarship Online October 19, 2017 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190495794.003.0003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that mindfulness, from an enactive perspective, is a mode of skillful, embodied cognition dependent on the whole body and environment, not merely a neural phenomenon. |
Abstract
Cognitive neuroscience tends to conceptualize mindfulness meditation as inner observation of a private mental realm of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, and tries to model mindfulness as instantiated in neural networks visible through brain imaging tools such as EEG and fMRI. This approach confuses the biological conditions for mindfulness with mindfulness itself, which, as classically described, consists in the integrated exercise of a whole host of cognitive and bodily skills in situated and ethically directed action. From an enactive perspective, mindfulness depends on internalized social cognition and is a mode of skillful, embodied cognition that depends directly not only on the brain, but also on the rest of the body and the physical, social, and cultural environment.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 10
- Believing in the Powers of Mindfulness: A Thematic Narrative Approach and the Development of a New Scale Mindfulness June 21, 2023
- Meditation in the Pali Social Imaginary I Rethinking Meditation September 14, 2023
- From flow to mystical experiences: Connecting entropy and fluency along the unifying framework of cognitive continuum Philosophical Psychology December 16, 2025
- Meditation in the Pali Social Imaginary II Rethinking Meditation September 14, 2023
- Meditation and the Ethic of Autonomy Rethinking Meditation September 14, 2023
and 5 more in the library