contemplative neuroscience ii emiliana simon-thomas

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Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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Page 1: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Contemplative Neuroscience II

Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Page 2: 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?

Page 3: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 4: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 5: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Page 6: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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)…

Page 7: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas
Page 8: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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.

Page 9: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 10: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

MBSR reduces trait anxiety

Page 11: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

MBSR increases left>right hemispheric assymetry

Page 12: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

MBSR increases immune response to flu vaccine

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

Page 13: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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.

Page 14: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 15: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

MBSR led to increased gray matter density in the hippocampus

Page 16: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: MBSR

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

Page 17: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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།

Page 18: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Cliff Saron, Ph.D., UC Davis

The Shamatha Project

Page 19: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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.

Page 20: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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)

Page 21: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Page 22: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha led to finer visual perceptual acuity

Page 23: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha was associated with longer Telomeres = healthier aging

Page 24: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha was associated with improved social emotional functioning

Page 25: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Shamatha

Shamatha was associated with changes in characteristic brain oscillatory activity

Page 26: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB), UC San Francisco

Page 27: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CEB

Page 28: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 29: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 30: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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)

Page 31: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 32: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Richard Davidson, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

MBSR, Mindfulness & Compassion Training

Page 33: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 34: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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.

Page 35: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Compassion/Loving Kindness Training

Page 36: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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.

Page 37: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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.

Page 38: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Emory – Tibet Partnership

Cognitively Based Compassion Training (CBCT)

Page 39: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 40: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

Page 41: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

Page 42: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

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

Page 43: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

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

Page 44: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

Page 45: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CBCT

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

Page 46: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

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

Page 47: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CCT

Page 48: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: CCT

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

Page 49: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Compassion & FA training

Page 50: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

Neuroscientific study of Meditation Training: Compassion & FA training

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

Page 51: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas
Page 52: Contemplative Neuroscience II Emiliana Simon-Thomas

In Summary