Humans can experience a rich array of conscious experience, including highly stable, positive, and refined states of non-ordinary perception that can be elicited through advanced meditation. Here, we present the first group-level, ultra-high-field (7T) fMRI study of jhana advanced concentration absorption meditation (ACAM-J). We combined local (regional homogeneity), mesoscale (connectivity...
Given the growing societal interest in how our environment influences time perception, in a world that is more volatile and going at a faster pace than ever, there is an increased need for the understanding of how attentional states and awareness impact time perception. In the current study we aimed at assessing the role of both internally and externally directed attention on temporal...
Research SquareNovember 11, 2025Hatice Pars, Merve Akay
preprint
Abstract Background: Nursing students are particularly vulnerable to psychological distress due to the combined demands of academic performance and clinical training. The COVID-19 pandemic has further intensified these stressors. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have shown promising results in reducing anxiety, stress, and emotional dysregulation in student populations. However, there is...
Mindfulness practice is often described as yielding a “quieter mind,” yet the specific cognitive mechanisms underlying this experience remain understudied. This research investigates how focused attention (FA) meditation influences automatic semantic processing through a series of conflict-based tasks (e.g., Stroop). In a between-groups design, participants were randomly assigned to either...
Purpose: Youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) are an underserved and difficult-to-reach population that experiences a disproportionate burden of trauma and stress compared to their housed peers. Prolonged trauma and stress can impact the development of negative emotions, reactive stress responses, and impulsive decision-making, which can lead to risk-taking behaviors. Growing research shows...
Homework is a key factor in the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions, yet there is no standardized method for measuring homework adherence, particularly in interventions targeting female sexual dysfunction (FSD). This study aimed to describe current methods used to assess homework adherence in research on mindfulness-based interventions for FSD. A descriptive secondary analysis was...
This paper explores how a mindfulness approach can support young children’s well-being in nursery schools. The research draws on a small-scale qualitative research project with four maintained nursery schools in the South of England. In total there were 33 participants including 5 early years professionals and 27 children aged between 3 and 4 years. An action research approach was adopted...
In this study, subject-independent (inter-subject), multiple-session electroencephalography (EEG) data classification was tested for loving-kindness meditation (LKM) and non-meditation. This is a novel study that extends our previous work on intra-subject, multiple-session classification. Here, two meditation techniques, LKM-Self and LKM-Other, were independently compared with non-meditation....
Measuring subjective experience during meditation remains methodologically challenging due to reliance on verbal self-reports for embodied phenomena. To address this, we developed the Meditation Pictographic Scale (MPS) using a first-person phenomenological approach. We developed and validated the MPS across four phases: (1) qualitative interviews to refine pictographic items; (2)...
Abstract Objectives Mindfulness practices mediated by immersive virtual reality (VR) have emerged as a novel mediator to deliver and potentially enhance mindfulness experiences and psychological well-being. Although psycho-technology is widely applied in clinical populations there remains a lack of methodological studies evaluating best practices for delivering such interventions to promote...