Plasticity of the Compassionate Brain

Summary

The purpose of the study is to look at the long term effects of a complex socio-affective mental training program on a neuroscientific-, hormonal-, behavioral-, biological, and subjective measures-level. The training protocol consists of a variety of meditation and other mental health techniques, which are trained over the period of 3-9 months (13 weeks per Module; 1-3 Modules)

Conditions

• Healthy Subjects

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Presence - Perspective - Affect

PRESENCE: Cultivate attentional skills \& interoceptive body awareness. 2 exercises: "Breathing Meditation" \& "Body Scan". PERSPECTIVE: Focus on cognitive aspects of compassion; take perspectives on thoughts, the self, \& other people; observe more macroscopic dynamics within oneself, your inner "parts"; do not fully identify with them / be aware of their transiency; strengthen the ability to detach from one's own perspective, take the perspectives of others, trying to understand their thoughts, motives, feelings. 2 exercises: "Observing-thoughts Meditation" \& "Perspective Dyad". AFFECT: Cultivate emotional/motivational aspects of compassion; cultivate a sense of benevolence, love, care, "opening the heart" for oneself and others; work with obstacles, e.g. fear, anger or sadness ("emotion acceptance"); pro-social motivations as an alley towards loving / benevolent feelings and as a consequence of them. 2 exercises: "Loving-kindness Meditation" \& "Affect Dyad".

BEHAVIORAL

Presence - Affect - Perspective.

As specified above however the order is interchanged between the cohorts TC1 and TC2.

BEHAVIORAL

Affect

AFFECT: Cultivate emotional/motivational aspects of compassion; cultivate a sense of benevolence, love, care, "opening the heart" for oneself and others; work with obstacles, e.g. fear, anger or sadness ("emotion acceptance"); pro-social motivations as an alley towards loving / benevolent feelings and as a consequence of them. 2 exercises: "Loving-kindness Meditation" \& "Affect Dyad".

Sponsors & Collaborators

• European Research Council

  collaborator OTHER

• Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Tania Singer, Prof. Dr. · Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Max Age

55 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-01-31

Primary Completion

2016-02-29

Completion

2016-02-29

Countries

• Germany

Study Locations