Mindfulness and psychological process.
Emotion February 1, 2010 DOI: 10.1037/a0018360 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Cognitive psychology Affect linguistics Narrative Psychotherapist Communication |
| Citations | 264 |
| Key findings | Mindfulness training helps people distinguish mental simulations from actual circumstances, altering emotional processing, pain response, brain structure, working memory, and narrative coherence. |
Abstract
The author reviews the articles in the Special Section on Mindfulness, starting from the assumption that emotions evolved as signaling systems that need to be sensitive to environmental contingencies. Failure to switch off emotion is due to the activation of mental representations of present, past, and future that are created independently of external contingencies. Mindfulness training can be seen as one way to teach people to discriminate such "simulations" from objects and contingencies as they actually are. The articles in this Special Section show how even brief laboratory training can have effects on processing affective stimuli; that long-term meditation practitioners show distinct reactions to pain; that longer meditation training is associated with differences in brain structure; that 8 weeks' mindfulness practice brings about changes in the way emotion is processed showing that participants can learn to uncouple the sensory, directly experienced self from the "narrative" self; that mindfulness training can affect working memory capacity, and enhance the ability of participants to talk about past crises in a way that enables them to remain specific and yet not be overwhelmed. The implications of these findings for understanding emotion and for further research is discussed.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 64
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Inside the Mindful Mind Current Directions in Psychological Science December 1, 2013
- Regular, brief mindfulness meditation practice improves electrophysiological markers of attentional control Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Mindful attention reduces neural and self-reported cue-induced craving in smokers Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience November 22, 2011
and 59 more in the library
Cites 10
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression August 21, 2006
- Metacognitive awareness and prevention of relapse in depression: Empirical evidence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 2002
- Minding one’s emotions: Mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness. Emotion February 1, 2010
- Effects of mindfulness on meta-awareness and specificity of describing prodromal symptoms in suicidal depression. Emotion February 1, 2010
and 5 more in the library