Cognition and Emotion in Meditation: A Comparison Between Mindfulness and Compassion Standardized Programs

Summary

The study is aimed at comparing the differential effects of two widely used standardized meditation programs: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) in general population samples.

To address this goal, the effects will be measured by self-report questionnaires belonging to different domains (mindfulness, compassion, well-being, psychological distress, and psychological functioning) as well as information processing measures (i.e., Attentional Blink), and psychophysiological measures (EEG and EKG).

Changes will be assessed immediately after finishing the 8-week programs and through several inter-session assessments. Data analysis will include the mean change scores differences, as well as novel network analysis procedures to assess topological reorganization of constructs derived from the programs.

Conditions

• Well-being
• Emotion Regulation
• Cognitive Control
• Attention
• Psychological Distress
• Psychophysiologic Reaction
• Compassion
• Mindfulness

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

The MBSR is an 8-week standardized program (Kabat-Zinn, 1990) consisted of 2.5-hour of face-to-face weekly sessions, and 45 minutes of daily home formal and informal practices. Training will be conducted in groups of 20-30 participants. During the program, different mindfulness practices are performed, including focused attention on the breath, open monitoring of awareness in body-scanning, prosocial meditation (i.e. loving kindness and compassion) and gentle yoga. Training is delivered by certificated instructors by the University of Massachusetts Centre for Mindfulness (https://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/).

BEHAVIORAL

Compassion Cultivation Training

The CCT is an 8-week standardized program (Jinpa, 2010; Jazaieri et al. 2013, 2014) consisting of 2.5-hour of face-to-face weekly sessions and 30 minutes of daily home formal and informal practices. Training will be conducted in groups of 20-30 participants. The CCT consists of six sequential steps: 1) Settling the mind and learn how to focus it; 2) Loving kindness and compassion for a loved one practice; 3) Loving kindness and compassion for oneself practice; 4) compassion toward others, embracing shared common humanity and developing appreciation of others; 5) compassion toward others including all beings; and 6) active compassion practices (Tonglen) which involve explicit evocation of the altruistic wish to do something about others' suffering. CCT program is delivered by certificated instructors by the University of Stanford Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (http://ccare.stanford.edu/).

OTHER

Control Group

A group of participants, matched by age, gender, and meditation experience is selected to compare their performance on experimental lab tasks in relation to the MBSR and CCT participants.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad Complutense de Madrid

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Carmelo Vazquez, PhD · School of Psychology (Complutense University)

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-05-01

Primary Completion

2019-12-01

Completion

2020-12-15

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations