Effects of a Neuroscience-Based Mindfulness Meditation Program on Psychological Health (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Mindfulness and meditation have a rich historical tradition, and a growing scientific base of evidence supports their use in creating positive psychological and neuroplastic changes for practitioners. Though meditation can be taught in various ways, the scientific community has yet to systematically study different types of meditation on neuropsychological outcomes, especially as it pertains to digital implementation. Therefore, it is critical that the instruction of mindfulness be evidence-based as meditation is being used in both scientific and clinical settings. OBJECTIVE This study investigated the use of teacher cueing and the integration of neuroscience education into a meditation program. Compassion cueing was chosen as the element of experimental manipulation as traditional lineages of Buddhist meditation teach compassion for self and others as one of the primary outcomes of meditation. We hypothesized that participants receiving compassion cueing would have enhanced neuropsychological outcomes over participants receiving functional cueing, and that gains in neuroscience knowledge would relate to neuropsychological outcomes. METHODS Participants (n=89) were recruited via social media, university listservs, and local businesses of interest. Those with English proficiency and access to a digital device for study implementation were included, and those with recent trauma or diagnosed and untreated mental illness were excluded. Participants were randomized to receive either functional cueing (control group) or compassion cueing (experimental group), and engaged with five, 10-minute meditations a week for the duration of four weeks. All intervention sessions were administered through digital presentation. All participants completed momentary assessments before and after the daily intervention as well as pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. RESULTS Participants demonstrated significant benefits over time including increased mindfulness and self-compassion, decreased depression, and gains in neuroscience content; however no significant between group differences were found. Daily scores from each day of the intervention showed a significant shift from active towards settled. Importantly, long-term increases in mindfulness were positively correlated to changes in compassion and self-compassion and negatively correlated to changes in anxiety and depression. Finally, the acute effects of meditation were significantly correlated to the longitudinal outcomes, especially those relevant to mindfulness. CONCLUSIONS We developed a novel neuroscience-based education meditation program, which enhanced self-regulation as evidenced by improved mindfulness, self-compassion, and mood state. Our findings demonstrate the behavioral importance of engaging with mindfulness meditation and reinforces the idea that the benefits of meditation are independent of teacher cueing behavior. Future studies will need to investigate the brain-based changes underlying these meditation-induced outcomes.