Experiencing meditation - Evidence for differential effects of three contemplative mental practices in micro-phenomenological interviews.
Marisa Przyrembel, Tania Singer
Consciousness and Cognition July 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.04.004 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 57 |
| Population | Meditation practitioners |
| Interventions | Breathing meditation Observing-thought meditation Loving-kindness meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Contemplative science First-person data Linguistic inquiry Mental training |
| Key findings | Micro-phenomenological interviews reveal distinct affective, bodily, and sensorial fingerprints for breathing meditation, observing-thought meditation, and loving-kindness meditation. |
Abstract
Despite increasing interest in effects of meditation, systematic in-depth research on how it qualitatively feels to engage in different kinds of contemplative practices is still missing. To fill this gap, we explore the validity of Micro-phenomenological Interviews (MpI) to assess experiences during breathing meditation (BM), observing-thought meditation (OTM), and loving-kindness meditation (LKM). We performed psycholinguistic analyses, quantitative ratings and qualitative explorations of 104 MpI (N = 57). All results reveal differential affective, bodily and sensorial fingerprints: BM-transcripts contain the most body-related vocabulary, specifically sensations in nose and abdomen. OTM-transcripts contain the most cognition-related vocabulary. OTM is experienced in head and face. LKM-transcripts contain the most vocabulary related to socio-affective processes. LKM is associated to love, sensations around the heart, and warmth. The LKM-outcomes were replicated with another independent set of MpI. These findings verify the merit of MpI as a scientific tool to gain reliable first-person data beyond questionnaires or rating scales.