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Metacognition of intentions in mindfulness and hypnosis.

Peter Lush, Peter L N Naish, Zoltan Dienes

Neuroscience of Consciousness 2016 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niw007 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Experimental study Peer reviewed
Population Highly hypnotisable people, less hypnotisable people, long-term mindfulness meditators, and non-meditators
Measures Libet's task
Topics Meditation
Keywords Libet Hypnosis Judgements of agency Sense of agency
Key findings Highly hypnotisable people reported a later time of awareness of a motor intention than less hypnotisable people, while meditators reported an earlier time than non-meditators. Two further studies replicated the hypnotisability finding and found a negative relationship between trait mindfulness and this measure. The authors argue that hypnotic response and meditation involve opposite processes.

Abstract

In a famous series of experiments, Libet investigated the subjective timing of awareness of an intention to move, a task that can be considered a metacognitive judgement. The ability to strategically produce inaccurate metacognitions about intentions has been postulated to be central to the changes in judgements of agency common to all hypnotic responding. Therefore, differences in hypnotisability may be reflected in Libet's measure. Specifically, the ability to sustain inaccurate judgements of agency displayed by highly hypnotisable people may result from their having coarser higher order representations of intentions. They, therefore, should report a delayed time of intention relative to less hypnotisable individuals. Conversely, mindfulness practice aims at accurate metacognition, including of intentions, and may lead to the development of finer grained higher order representations of intending. Thus, the long-term practice of mindfulness may produce an earlier judgement of the time of an intention. We tested these groups using Libet's task, and found that, consistent with predictions, highly hypnotisable people reported a later time of intention than less hypnotisable people and meditators an earlier time than non-meditators. In a further two studies, we replicated the finding that hypnotisable people report later awareness of a motor intention and additionally found a negative relationship between trait mindfulness and this measure. Based on these findings, we argue that hypnotic response and meditation involve opposite processes.

Comparable studies

Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) 2003 Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study
Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. 2008 Controlled laboratory experiment
Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. 2012 Two studies: correlational study and experimental study
Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence 2009 Experimental study
Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population 2006 Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition

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