Dispositional mindfulness and the attenuation of neural responses to emotional stimuli

People who are more mindful show reduced brain responses to highly arousing unpleasant images, as measured by the late positive potential (LPP) of event-related brain potentials. High arousal unpleasant images generally elicited larger LPP responses, replicating past research. More mindful individuals had lower LPP responses to these images, even after accounting for trait attentional control. In contrast, neuroticism and negative affectivity were linked to larger LPP responses to the same images. Mindfulness was also associated with lower LPP responses to motivationally salient pleasant images (erotica). These findings suggest that mindfulness shapes early neural processing of emotional stimuli, which may contribute to healthier emotional functioning.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Considerable research has disclosed how cognitive reappraisals and the modulation of emotional responses promote successful emotion regulation. Less research has examined how the early processing of emotion-relevant stimuli may create divergent emotional response consequences. Mindfulness--a receptive, non-evaluative form of attention--is theorized to foster emotion regulation, and the present study examined whether individual differences in mindfulness would modulate neural responses associated with the early processing of affective stimuli. Focus was on the late positive potential (LPP) of the event-related brain potential to visual stimuli varying in emotional valence and arousal. This study first found, replicating past research, that high arousal images, particularly of an unpleasant type, elicited larger LPP responses. Second, the study found that more mindful individuals showed lower LPP responses to high arousal unpleasant images, even after controlling for trait attentional control. Conversely, two traits contrasting with mindfulness--neuroticism and negative affectivity--were associated with higher LPP responses to high arousal unpleasant images. Finally, mindfulness was also associated with lower LPP responses to motivationally salient pleasant images (erotica). These findings suggest that mindfulness modulates neural responses in an early phase of affective processing, and contribute to understanding how this quality of attention may promote healthy emotional functioning.