Minding one’s emotions: Mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness.

Mindfulness training alters the brain's response to sadness, shifting activity from self-referential cortical midline regions toward right-lateralized visceral and somatosensory areas associated with body sensation. After eight weeks of mindfulness training, participants showed this distinct neural pattern during sadness provocation compared to waitlisted controls, even though both groups reported equivalent levels of sadness. The greater somatic brain response in the mindfulness group was linked to lower depression scores. Restoring balance between affective and sensory neural networks—supporting conceptual versus body-based emotion representations—may be one mechanism through which mindfulness reduces vulnerability to dysphoric reactivity.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Recovery from emotional challenge and increased tolerance of negative affect are both hallmarks of mental health. Mindfulness training (MT) has been shown to facilitate these outcomes, yet little is known about its mechanisms of action. The present study employed functional MRI (fMRI) to compare neural reactivity to sadness provocation in participants completing 8 weeks of MT and waitlisted controls. Sadness resulted in widespread recruitment of regions associated with self-referential processes along the cortical midline. Despite equivalent self-reported sadness, MT participants demonstrated a distinct neural response, with greater right-lateralized recruitment, including visceral and somatosensory areas associated with body sensation. The greater somatic recruitment observed in the MT group during evoked sadness was associated with decreased depression scores. Restoring balance between affective and sensory neural networks-supporting conceptual and body based representations of emotion-could be one path through which mindfulness reduces vulnerability to dysphoric reactivity.