The heartbeat evoked potential does not support strong interoceptive sensibility in trait mindfulness.
Charles Verdonk, Marion Trousselard, Caroline di Bernardi Luft, Takfarinas Medani, Jean-Baptiste Billaud, Céline Ramdani, Frédéric Canini, Damien Claverie, Aurore Jaumard-Hakoun, François Vialatte
Psychophysiology October 2021 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13891 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 17 |
| Population | Healthy participants |
| Duration | Five minutes of resting-state condition per session, replicated three times in three distinct sessions |
| Measures | heartbeat evoked potential (HEP), Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Heartbeat evoked potential Interoception |
| Key findings | HEP amplitude did not correlate with trait mindfulness, and although HEP amplitude correlated positively with self-reported body awareness, this association was unreliable over time; HEP showed poor individual-level reliability across sessions. Self-reported trait mindfulness and body awareness correlated reliably. The authors suggest objective and subjective measures of body awareness may be independent, and that the HEP might not support the proposed increased subjective body awareness in trait mindfulness. |
Abstract
The enhancement of body awareness is proposed as one of the cognitive mechanisms that characterize mindfulness. To date, this hypothesis is supported by self-report and behavioral measures but still lacks physiological evidence. The current study investigated relation between trait mindfulness (i.e., individual differences in the ability to be mindful in daily life) and body awareness in combining a self-report measure (Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness [MAIA] questionnaire) with analysis of the heartbeat evoked potential (HEP), which is an event-related potential reflecting the cortical processing of the heartbeat. The HEP data were collected from 17 healthy participants under five minutes of resting-state condition. In addition, each participant completed the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory and the MAIA questionnaire. Taking account of the important variability of HEP effects, analyses were replicated with the same participants three times (in three distinct sessions). First, group-level analyses showed that HEP amplitude and trait mindfulness do not correlate. Secondly, we observed that HEP amplitude could positively correlate with self-reported body awareness; however, this association was unreliable over time. Interestingly, we found that HEP measure shows very poor reliability over time at the individual level, potentially explaining the lack of reliable association between HEP and psychological traits. Lastly, a reliable positive correlation was found between self-reported trait mindfulness and body awareness. Taken together, these findings provide preliminary evidence that the HEP might not support the increased subjective body awareness in trait mindfulness, thus suggesting that perhaps objective and subjective measures of body awareness could be independent.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cites 18
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica April 28, 2011
- Interoception, contemplative practice, and health Frontiers in Psychology June 9, 2015
- Interoceptive awareness in experienced meditators Psychophysiology May 22, 2008
- The relationship between mindfulness and objective measures of body awareness: A meta-analysis Scientific Reports November 22, 2019
and 13 more in the library