Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning.

Abstract

We examined the impact of training-induced improvements in self-regulation, operationalized in terms of response inhibition, on longitudinal changes in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning. Data were collected from participants undergoing 3 months of intensive meditation training in an isolated retreat setting (Retreat 1) and a wait-list control group that later underwent identical training (Retreat 2). A 32-min response inhibition task (RIT) was designed to assess sustained self-regulatory control. Adaptive functioning (AF) was operationalized as a single latent factor underlying self-report measures of anxious and avoidant attachment, mindfulness, ego resilience, empathy, the five major personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience), difficulties in emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and psychological well-being. Participants in Retreat 1 improved in RIT performance and AF over time whereas the controls did not. The control participants later also improved on both dimensions during their own retreat (Retreat 2). These improved levels of RIT performance and AF were sustained in follow-up assessments conducted approximately 5 months after the training. Longitudinal dynamic models with combined data from both retreats showed that improvement in RIT performance during training influenced the change in AF over time, which is consistent with a key claim in the Buddhist literature that enhanced capacity for self-regulation is an important precursor of changes in emotional well-being.

Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state

“…The program taught in this study was a simplified version of a comprehensive meditation training program fully described in (Wallace, 2006). The latter program is regularly taught in the form of 3-month intensive retreats, as was the case in the Shamatha Project—a longitudinal study aimed at investigating a broad range of health-related outcomes and effects on basic physiology and brain function (MacLean et al, 2010; Jacobs et al, 2011; Sahdra et al, 2011; Saggar et al, 2012). It should be noted that, while the 3-month retreat program introduces elements of compassion training as well as Buddhist ethics, these components were not taught in the MAT program in this study to avoid possible confounds with the CBCT program described below.…”

“…This program has been used principally in the form of 3-month intensive retreats, as was the case in the Shamatha Project—a longitudinal study aimed at investigating a broad range of health-related outcomes and effects on basic physiology and brain function (MacLean et al, 2010; Jacobs et al, 2011; Sahdra et al, 2011; Saggar et al, 2012). The training includes two components of attention, which have been called focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM) (Lutz et al, 2008b), also known as concentrative attention and receptive attention, respectively (Brown, 1977; Valentine and Sweet, 1999; Jha et al, 2007; Austin, 2009).…”

Effects of a 9-Day Shamatha Buddhist Meditation Retreat on Attention, Mindfulness and Self-Compassion in Participants with a Broad Range of Meditation Experience

“…Similarly, Sahdra et al (2011) found an increased response inhibition after a 3-month retreat involving 6 to 10 h of daily meditation training. This response predicted adaptive socio-emotional functioning assessed through self-reported measures of anxiety, mindfulness, psychological well-being, and emotional regulation.…”

Neuroimaging Data From a Single Participant Before and After a Meditation Retreat: a Proof of Concept Study

“…Other researchers have found increased response inhibition in the meditation group, compared with the waiting list, after 3 months of a meditation retreat, which consisted of 6-10 h of daily meditation training-including Shamatha and the Four Immeasurables (meditations on loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity, and empathetic joy). This response predicted adaptive socioemotional functioning assessed through self-report measures of anxiety, mindfulness, psychological well-being, and emotional regulation (Sahdra et al 2011). After the same retreat, the meditation group had increased emotional responses to suffering characterized by enhanced sympathetic concern for, and reduced aversion to, the suffering of others (Rosenberg et al 2015).…”