Cognitive Neuroscience of Mindful emotion regulation Dusana Dorjee, Ph.D.

What is mindfulness?  “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003, p. 145).  Mechanisms of mindfulness (Shapiro et al., 2006) –Intention –Attentional control –Specific attitude towards experience marked by acceptance and friendliness

Mindfulness and the brain BRAIN → MIND -Changes in the brain cause us to feel happy, sad etc. -Physical changes to the brain induced by medication or surgery change the way we feel MIND → BRAIN -Neuroplasticity - what we do with our mind influences the way our brain works and looks -Neurons that fire together wire together (Hebb) -Voluntary mental practice as a source of well-being

From well-being to the brain ATTENTION EMOTIONS INTENTIONS REACTIVITY AWARENESS THOUGHTS LANGUAGE

Investigating changes in attention and emotion regulation as a result of mindfulness Attention Executive Function Emotion RegulationLanguage Autonomous Nervous System

electrophysiology Brain structure vs electrophysiology  Brain structure – –Tangible effects on the size of the brain – –Changes relevant to slow- down in aging BUT – –Difficult to relate to specific behavior – –Delayed or detached from immediate cognitive processing and behavior – –Sources of the changes in brain structure not clear  Electrophysiology –Electrophysiology - an trace changes in neuronal firing with millisecond accuracy –Are functionally specific (easier to relate to cognitive function) BUT –Specific neural sources are not entirely clear –More difficult to translate into non-specialist language

EEG measures   Oscillatory electrical activity of the brain measured in microvolts   Oscillation frequency distinguishes EEG frequency bands linked to changes in consciousness

Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation (Davidson et al., 2003)  Participants –25 participants tested before and after 8-week MBSR training –16 controls –Average age 36 (range 23-56)  Task –Measures of EEG prefrontal α-asymmetry  Left prefrontal activation – approach-oriented behaviour, positive emotions  Right prefrontal activation – avoidance-oriented behaviour, negative emotions

Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation (Davidson et al., 2003)  Baseline EEG prefrontal α- asymmetry at Time 1 and Time 3  Higher numbers indicate left- sided activation  EEG prefrontal α- asymmetry in response to negative emotion induction

Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation (Davidson et al., 2003)  Antibody rise from the 3- to 5-week to the 8- to 9- week  Correlation between change in EEG prefrontal α-asymmetry from Time 1 to Time 2 and rise in antibody titers

Emotion regulation strategies and mindfulness (Chambers, Gullone, & Allen, 2009)  Basic emotion regulation strategies –Cognitive reappraisal  Reinterpretation of the cognitive stimulus to modify its emotional impact –Suppression  conscious inhibition of emotional expression  Mindfulness and emotion regulation –Less suppression and some cognitive reappraisal –Novel emotion regulation techniques marked by exposure and decrease in rumination

Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling (Creswell et al., 2007)  Participants –27 right-handed undergraduates  Task - Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) Affect-labeling Gender-labeling Affect-labeling Gender-labeling

Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling (Creswell et al., 2007)  Affect labeling > gender labeling contrast  Amygdala was negatively correlated with self-reported mindfulness during affect- labeling

Minding One’s Emotions: Mindfulness Training Alters the Neural Expression of Sadness (Farb et al., 2010)  Participants –20 participants scanned after 8-week MBSR course –16 waiting list controls  Task –Watching a set of sad or neutral clips, 45s long –Only 8 sad clips and 8 neutral clips!

Minding One’s Emotions: Mindfulness Training Alters the Neural Expression of Sadness (Farb et al., 2010)  Red – MT > Control, Blue – Control > MT  Increased activation in somatosensory cortex in the MBSR group

Effects of MBSR on Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder (Goldin & Gross)  Participants –14 participants with social anxiety disorder (SAD)  Intense fear of evaluation in social and performance situations  Task –18 anxiety-related self-beliefs –E.g. ‘People always judge me’ –Responded to with breath or distraction focused attention (A) –Counting control task (B)

Effects of MBSR on Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder (Goldin & Gross)  Improvement in anxiety and depression symptoms  Reduced amygdala activity and stronger recruitment with attention- related regions

Mindfulness practice results in an immediate cortisol drop (Dorjee et al.)

Effects on N400 as a marker of emotion regulation (Dorjee et al) ms µV Related-Pre Unrelated-Pre Related-Post Unrelated-Post N400 P6

Dispositional Mindfulness effects on semantic processing (Dorjee et al)  Correlating mindfulness with semantic congruency effect (N=20, r=-0.49, p<0.05)

Overall Summary   Mindfulness practice improves the intricate balance between systems of attention, emotion and language   Specifically – –It improves the ability to direct attention at will and in this way supports emotion regulation – –It teaches new emotion regulation strategies that are very fast and effective in coping with challenging stimuli as they enter our field of attention – –Mindfulness results in long-term changes in trait positive affect – –Long term practice of mindfulness leads to the ability to decrease the reactivity of the autonomous nervous system with immediate effects on stress-related hormone production (cortisol)

Thanks to collaborators   Guillaume Thierry   Emeka Enwesor   Shantha Perera   Jesslyn Becker   Aaron Jolly   John Parkinson   Jon Darrall-Rew   Niall Lally   And all research participants!

THANK YOU