Effects of brief mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation on associative memory for sad events: A registered report.
Pierrick Laulan, Jérôme Cuadrado, Ulrike Rimmele
Journal of experimental psychology. Applied October 1, 2026 DOI: 10.1037/xap0000587 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Preregistered Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 106 |
| Population | Young adults |
| Intervention | Mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation induction |
| Duration | 20-min meditation induction |
| Measures | four-alternative forced-choice associative memory test, emotional ratings |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Sad events were remembered less accurately and less coherently than neutral events. A brief mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation induction did not reliably attenuate these sadness-related memory costs, with Bayesian analyses favoring the null for associative memory accuracy and remaining inconclusive for memory coherence. The authors suggest these findings identify boundary conditions for brief contemplative inductions. |
Abstract
Negative emotion can enhance memory for emotional items while impairing the associative binding and coherence of episodic events. We tested whether a brief combined mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation induction could attenuate sadness-related memory costs for multielement social events. Following preregistration, 113 young adults completed a 20-min mindfulness/loving-kindness meditation induction or matched active control, and 106 were retained for analysis after preregistered exclusions. Participants encoded events composed of a sad or neutral face, an object, and a scene, then completed a four-alternative forced-choice associative memory test and emotional ratings for faces and events. Sad events were remembered less accurately and less coherently than neutral events. However, the mindfulness/loving-kindness meditation induction did not reliably attenuate these memory costs. Bayesian analyses favored the null for associative memory accuracy and remained inconclusive for memory coherence. The intervention also did not reliably modulate emotional responses to sad versus neutral material. Emotional ratings revealed a dissociation between stimulus levels: Sad faces showed the aversive profile, whereas ratings of events were more mixed, suggesting that contextualized social sadness may carry a more complex meaning than a simple aversive cue. These findings identify boundary conditions for brief contemplative inductions and suggest that memory coherence may be an informative end point for future work on emotional memory integration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
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 |