Trait Mindfulness Is Associated With Lower Pain Reactivity and Connectivity of the Default Mode Network.

Higher trait mindfulness—the tendency to be mindful without formal training—is linked to greater pain tolerance and less pain catastrophizing. In 40 healthy volunteers naive to meditation, those scoring higher on trait mindfulness showed higher pain thresholds and lower pain catastrophizing. Brain scans revealed that trait mindfulness was associated with reduced connectivity within the default mode network, a set of brain regions tied to self-focused thought and rumination, and increased connectivity between that network and somatosensory areas that process bodily sensations. These neural patterns mirror those seen after formal mindfulness training, suggesting that even without practice, natural variations in mindfulness help people cope with pain by shifting brain activity toward sensory experience and away from emotional elaboration.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Mindfulness-based training reduces pain in clinical and experimental settings. Evidence suggests that these beneficial effects are facilitated via an increased focus on the present moment and a reduced emotional enhancement of pain. Most of the existing literature has focused on mindfulness as a learned skill and on the neural mechanisms that underlie the acquisition of this skill. It is unknown whether similar mechanisms are associated with trait mindfulness in the absence of training and whether these mechanisms confer the ability to cope with pain. To determine this, we measured trait mindfulness and pain responsivity in 40 healthy volunteers naive to mindfulness meditation. As a feature of interest, we targeted the default mode network (DMN), a network of interacting brain regions associated with processes such as introspective thought, mind wandering, and rumination. As extant studies have implicated the DMN in the beneficial effects of mindfulness, we examined resting-state connectivity of the precuneus, a core DMN node. Higher trait mindfulness was associated with higher pain thresholds (r = .43, P < .01) and lower pain catastrophizing (r = -.51, P < .01). Consistent with the neural mechanisms of trained mindfulness, higher trait mindfulness was associated with lower connectivity between the nodes of the DMN. It was also associated with higher connectivity between the DMN and somatosensory cortices. These findings are consistent with the processes taught in formal meditation training, namely increased focus on sensory experience and a decrease in emotional appraisal processes, indicating that behavioral and neurological mechanisms described in the interventional mindfulness literature also underlie trait mindfulness prior to any formal training. PERSPECTIVE: Mindfulness research mostly focuses on mindfulness as a trained skill rather than a trait. Consistent with trained-mindfulness studies, we demonstrate that mindfulness is associated with variations in neural connectivity linked to sensory and evaluative processes. These findings indicate that trait mindfulness serves as a marker for individual differences in pain coping.