contemplative neuroscience ii emiliana simon-thomas

Contemplative Neuroscience II

Emiliana Simon-Thomas

How can we study the effects of meditation on the brain?

1. Compare the brains of people who are expert meditators to the brains of people who never meditated.

2. Teach people how to meditate and examine: a) Does meditation practice causes changes in the

brain between before and after meditating?b) Are there differences in the brains of people that

learn and practice meditation compared to people that learn and practice another skill?

What can we measure?

1. Anatomical changes: cortical thickness, connectivity

2. Functional changes: activity during meditation, passive background activity, reactions to stimuli

3. Behavior (presumed to be produced by brain activation) during laboratory tasks

a) Stimulus detectionb) Cognitive performancec) Emotional experienced) Social factors: sharing, cooperation

But how do we teach people, especially non-buddhists, how to meditate?

Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

100s of studies on MBSR have been done by many many scientists around the world

Many have adapted MBSR to specific needs:• Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy• Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting

Education• Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention• Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPS)…

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

Jon Kabat-Zin (1982)

Delivered MBSR to hospital patients with intractable chronic pain: 50% of people showed more than 50% reduction in pain.

How? By uncoupling the sensory dimension of the pain experience from the affective/evaluative alarm reaction and reducing the experience of suffering.

Kabat-Zinn & Davidson (2003)• Worked with 41 employees from a local technology

company.• 25 employees did MBSR• 16 employees were on a “wait list”

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

T1 T2

8 weeks: MBSR or WAITING

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

MBSR reduces trait anxiety

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

MBSR increases left>right hemispheric assymetry

MBSR increases immune response to flu vaccine

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

Today, there are 1000s of published studies on MBSR, showing benefits in many different contexts for many different kinds of people.

A possible underlying mechanism: Mindfulness increases willingness to tolerate uncomfortable emotions and sensations and emotional acceptance and decreases the impact and time needed to recover from negative emotional events.

Hozel et. al. (2010) Harvard Medical School• Recruited 33 people• 16 did MBSR• 17 were on a “wait list”

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

T1 T2

8 weeks: MBSR or WAITING

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

MBSR led to increased gray matter density in the hippocampus

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

MBSR led to increased gray matter density in the temporal parietal junction and posterior cingulate.

MBSR སྦྱོ� ང་བརྡར་བསྒྲུབས་པའི� ་རྗེ� ས་སུ་ས� མས་ངལ་ཆག་པའི� ་ཚོ� ད་དཔག་དང་ཁམ་ཙི� ག་ཀླད་ཞོ� ར་མང� ན་པའི� ་འིགྱུར་བ་གཉི� ས་

བར་ལྟོ� ས་བཅས་ཀྱི� ་འིབྲེ� ལ་བ་ཡོ� ད།

Cliff Saron, Ph.D., UC Davis

The Shamatha Project

Shamatha Meditation(1) mindfulness of breathing to induce relaxation of body and mind, and facilitate calming of compulsive thinking and sensory distraction(2) observing mental events (“settling the mind in its natural state”) to enhance attentional stability and vividness(3) observing the nature of consciousness (“awareness of awareness”) to increase the stability and vividness of attention(4) loving-kindness to arouse a heartfelt wish that self and others will experience genuine happiness and its causes, replacing resentment and hatred with a spirit of forgiveness;(5) compassion to arouse a heartfelt wish that self and others will be free of suffering and its causes, thereby overcoming apathy and aloof indifference(6) empathetic joy to arouse delight in one’s own and others’ successes, joys, and virtues, thus countering inclinations toward envy(7) equanimity to arouse an impartial, unconditional sense of affectionate concern for all beings, regardless of their closeness to or distance from oneself.

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha study team (2005)• 30 people did a 3 month Shamatha meditation retreat at a

remote mountain location guided by Alan Wallace (6-10 hrs/day)

T1 T2

3 months: Shamatha or WAITING

(+ measures during Shamatha)

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha led to finer visual perceptual acuity

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha was associated with longer Telomeres = healthier aging

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha was associated with improved social emotional functioning

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha was associated with changes in characteristic brain oscillatory activity

Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB), UC San Francisco

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CEB

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CEB

CEB was associated with decreased negative emotions, healthier cardiovascular responses to stress, quicker recovery from stress and more pro-social behavior on tasks and in conversations.

CEB team (2008)• Recruited 82 female school teachers

T1 T2

8 weeks: CEB

Barbara Fredrickson, University of North Carolina: Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM)

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: LKM

Fredrickson’s team• Recruited 67 people from a local computer company• 67 did LKM• 72 were on a “wait list”

T1 T2

8 weeks: LKM or WAITING

(+ measures during LKM training)

People trained in Loving Kindness Meditation showed increased positive emotions, including: love, joy, gratitude, contentment, hope, pride, interest, amusement,and awe

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Loving Kindness

Richard Davidson, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

MBSR, Mindfulness & Compassion Training

Davidson & Weng (2012)• Recruited 41 people

– 21 did Compassion Training– 20 did Reappraisal Training

T1 T2

2 weeks: CT or RT

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Compassion Training

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Compassion Training

Very brief, virtual compassion training led to greater connectivity between DLPFC and reward signaling regions, which predicted greater generosity.

Tania Singer, Ph.D., Max Planck Institute, Germany

Compassion/Loving Kindness Training

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Compassion Training

Again, brief, compassion training led to greater activation of reward signaling regions, similar to that observed in an expert.

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Compassion Training

Singer’s team (now)• 11 month contemplative training: attentional control, body

and self-awareness, healthy emotion regulation, self-care, empathy, compassion and perspective taking in Leipzig, Germany.

Emory – Tibet Partnership

Cognitively Based Compassion Training (CBCT)

Emory University Team (2010)• 45 participants did compassion training, 44 did

“health class”

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

T1 T2

6 weeks: CBCT or Health

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

CBCT led to lower ratings of negative mood after a social stress experience

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

More CBCT practice predicted less stress-related substances in the blood after a stress experience.

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

More CBCT practice predicted less stress-related substances in the blood.

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

Emory, Harvard, University of Arizona Team (Now)• Compassion Attention Longitudinal Study

Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE), Stanford University: Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT)

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CCT

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CCT

More CCT practice predicted less worry and less suppression of emotional experiences.

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Compassion & FA training

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Compassion & FA training

Both compassion and focused attention meditation training predicted greater willingness to help.

In Summary