Preliminary evidence about the effects of meditation on interoceptive sensitivity and social cognition.
| Autores | Melloni L, Sedeño L, Couto JB, Lic. Reynoso M., Gelormini C, Favaloro RR, Canales-Johnson AF, Sigman M, Manes F,Ibanez A. |
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| Año | 2013 |
| Journal | Melloni L, Sedeño L, Couto JB, Lic. Reynoso M., Gelormini C, Favaloro RR, Canales-Johnson AF, Sigman M, Manes F,Ibanez A. |
| Volumen | 09:47 |
| Abstract | Background: Interoception refers to the conscious perception of body signals. Mindfulness is ameditation that encourages individuals to focus on their internal experiences such as bodilysensations, thoughts, and emotions. In this study we selected a behavioral measure ofinteroceptive sensitivity (heartbeat detection task, HBD) to compare the effect of meditationpractice on interoceptive sensitivity among long term practitioners (LTP), short term meditators(STM, subjects that completed a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program) andcontrols (non-meditators). All participants were examined with a battery of different tasksincluding mood state, executive function and social cognition tests (emotion recognition,empathy and theory of mind).Findings: Compared to controls, both meditators’ groups showed lower levels of anxiety anddepression, but no improvement in executive function or social cognition performance wasobserved (except for lower scores compared to controls only in the personal distress dimensionof empathy). More importantly, meditators´ performance did not differ from that ofnonmeditators regarding cardiac interoceptive sensitivity.Conclusion: Results suggest no influence of meditation practice in cardiac interoception and inmost related social cognition measures. These negative results could be partially due to the factthat awareness of heartbeat sensations is not emphasized during mindfulness/vipassanameditation and may not be the best index of the awareness supported by the practice ofmeditation. |
| Otra información | En este trabajo estudiamos el efecto de la meditación de largo (grupo 1: vipassana) y corto plazo (grupo 2: mindfulness) respecto a un grupo control (grupo 3) en la sensibilidad interoceptiva (o consciencia de las señales corporales cardiacas) y en tareas de cognición social. Se observaron efectos de la meditación en el estado de ánimo general y en una dimensión afectiva de la empatía. La meditación no influyo sensibilidad interoceptiva cardiaca, lo cual sugiere que esta medida no es el mejor indicador de conciencia corporal influenciada por la práctica de mindfulness/vipassana. |