This project is investigating the effects of mindfulness training during early childhood. Because the neural networks supporting cognitive control and executive function are undergoing major developmental change during this period, implementing mindfulness training during the preschool years may be especially beneficial. However, given that young children have a very limited ability to focus for extended …
Continue reading “The effects of mindfulness meditation training in early childhood”
We have previously studied the positive impact of mindfulness meditation (MBSR) on perceptual-motor awareness and self-agency. In this present project we aim to study the neural mechanisms underlying these meditation-related positive changes. We specifically aim to study the EEG spectral power and coherence signatures related to visuomotor performance and perceptual-motor awareness before and after an …
The purpose of my study is to investigate the single and joint effects of a mindfulness education program for children (MIndUp) and a mindfulness-based stress reduction program for teachers (SMART-in-Education) on elementary school children’s social and emotional well-being, classroom behaviors, and stress reactivity, and academic achievement. This study will contribute to the question of whether …
Research suggests that mindfulness-based interventions may improve psychological wellbeing. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of these interventions are unclear. The present investigation examined the relationship between self-control and mindfulness meditation practice. Self-control, which is positively correlated with wellbeing, is considered a resource that can be depleted: after completing one self-control task, poorer performance typically …
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The present study assesses the effects on brain processing of a well-characterized self-referential paradigm involving the brain response to hearing self vs. other names in advanced practitioners from meditative traditions towards the ends of the two poles on the meditative spectrum. The assessed practitioners will be from the Himalayan Yoga tradition utilizing focused attention techniques …
The interpersonal processes of learning mindfulness were explored by analyzing the transcripts of the teacher-student interactions in the Dialogue and Inquiry periods of the MBSR course, informed by video-assisted process recall interviews of teacher and students. The purpose of the study was to describe and understand the process of learning and teaching mindfulness as a …
Continue reading “Relational processes in learning mindfulness: An action-theoretical perspective”
Emotional reactivity, the negative response to stress, is a rare predictor of relapse risk following recovery from MDD. ‘Trait’ mindfulness, the tendency to non-judgmentally engage with experience, has been linked to lower levels of emotional reactivity in a community sample, and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has shown initial promise in reducing the risk of depressive …
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This study aimed to understand the structure of paying attention to better train mental health clinicians in their client sessions. The study focused on expert meditators who are also psychotherapists because meditators are specifically trained to pay attention to their experience. This study provided rich descriptions of the meditators’ experience using a specific interview method. …
By refining awareness of present-moment experiences, mindfulness purportedly increases physiological awareness. However, existing evidence of this is limited and inconclusive. One key population whose health is known to improve with awareness of certain physiological information is diabetics. Greater awareness of blood glucose levels can help diabetes patients to manage the disease. Thus, if mindfulness improves …
Studies assessing the relationship between self-focus and emotion processing are sparse. Evaluative self-focus may lead to attenuated affective response (Silvia et al, 2000), and is likely to be underpinned by dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activation (DMPFC). This is in contrast to non-judgmental, non-evaluative, present moment awareness which is the goal of Mindfulness, and likely to be …
Continue reading “The impact of evaluative vs. experiential self-focus on emotional response”
