Personalized prediction of response to three meditation practices: A randomized controlled trial
Otto Simonsson, Christian A. Webb, Mini Ruiz, Walter Osika, Jayanth Narayanan, Micael Dahlen, Wolfgang Lutz, Brian Schwartz, Boyu Ren, Cortland J. Dahl, Richard J. Davidson, Matthew J. Hirshberg, Simon B. Goldberg
Behaviour Research and Therapy August 10, 2026 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2026.105141 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Preregistered Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 5,049 |
| Population | Representative samples of US and UK adult populations with regards to age, sex, and ethnicity |
| Interventions | Mindfulness Self-compassion Gratitude |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Brief meditation practices (mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude) modestly improved negative affect compared to a control condition, and individual response could be predicted from pre-intervention characteristics. |
Abstract
Despite decades of meditation research, there is a lack of preregistered and well-powered studies that investigate the effects of brief meditation practices on subjective wellbeing and use data-driven approaches to predict response to these interventions. Using representative samples of the US and UK adult populations with regards to age, sex, and ethnicity (N = 5049), we conducted a preregistered and well-powered randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of three brief (5-10 min) meditation practices (i.e., mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude) relative to a control condition. We also examined whether a data-driven approach can predict an individual's response to these interventions from their pre-intervention characteristics. Taken together, our findings suggest that brief meditation practices modestly improve an aspect of subjective wellbeing (negative affect) and such response can be predicted using pre-intervention characteristics. Future prospective randomized trials should examine algorithm-guided intervention assignment to directly test the potential of personalized meditation recommendations to improve subjective wellbeing.
Comparable studies
Other randomized controlled trials on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Healthy employees in a work environment | 2003 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 41 |
| Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Recovered recurrently depressed patients | 2000 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 145 |
| Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Working adults | 2008 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 139 |
| Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Undergraduate Chinese students | 2007 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 40 |
| Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. Recovered recurrently depressed patients | 2004 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 73 |
Citations in the library
Cites 12
- Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Assessment February 29, 2008
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Brief mindfulness training for negative affectivity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology June 25, 2018
- How mindfulness training promotes positive emotions: Dismantling acceptance skills training in two randomized controlled trials. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology December 1, 2018
- Testing the Efficacy of a Multicomponent, Self-Guided, Smartphone-Based Meditation App: Three-Armed Randomized Controlled Trial JMIR Mental Health November 27, 2020
and 7 more in the library