Preliminary evidence about the effects of meditation on interoceptive sensitivity and social cognition.
Margherita Melloni, Lucas Sedeño, Blas Couto, Martin Reynoso, Carlos Gelormini, Roberto Favaloro, Andrés Canales-Johnson, Mariano Sigman, Facundo Manes, Agustin Ibanez
Behavioral and Brain Functions December 23, 2013 DOI: 10.1186/1744-9081-9-47 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Long-term meditators, short-term meditators who completed an MBSR program, and non-meditator controls |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Meditation practice did not improve cardiac interoceptive sensitivity or most social cognition measures compared to non-meditators. |
Abstract
Interoception refers to the conscious perception of body signals. Mindfulness is a meditation practice that encourages individuals to focus on their internal experiences such as bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions. In this study, we selected a behavioral measure of interoceptive sensitivity (heartbeat detection task, HBD) to compare the effect of meditation practice on interoceptive sensitivity among long term practitioners (LTP), short term meditators (STM, subjects that completed a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program) and controls (non-meditators). All participants were examined with a battery of different tasks including mood state, executive function and social cognition tests (emotion recognition, empathy and theory of mind). Compared to controls, both meditators' groups showed lower levels of anxiety and depression, but no improvement in executive function or social cognition performance was observed (except for lower scores compared to controls only in the personal distress dimension of empathy). More importantly, meditators' performance did not differ from that of nonmeditators regarding cardiac interoceptive sensitivity. Results suggest no influence of meditation practice in cardiac interoception and in most related social cognition measures. These negative results could be partially due to the fact that awareness of heartbeat sensations is not emphasized during mindfulness/vipassana meditation and may not be the best index of the awareness supported by the practice of meditation.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 28
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Prospects for a clinical science of mindfulness-based intervention. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal Cell Reports Medicine 2023
- Effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Body Awareness in Patients with Chronic Pain and Comorbid Depression Frontiers in Psychology June 30, 2016
- Future directions in meditation research: Recommendations for expanding the field of contemplative science PLoS One November 7, 2018
and 23 more in the library
Cites 5
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Mindfulness meditation training alters cortical representations of interoceptive attention Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience June 11, 2012
- Interoceptive awareness in experienced meditators Psychophysiology May 22, 2008
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy improves emotional reactivity to social stress: results from a randomized controlled trial. Behavior Therapy October 1, 2011