Longitudinal effects of mediation on empathic behavior and neural activity

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research will use a randomized and controlled, longitudinal paradigm to assess whether a program that trains mindfulness and attention (MAT) meditation affects empathy. Novice subjects will be randomized to the meditation condition or to a control condition, and validated self-report indices of empathy, anxiety, and mindfulness will be collected before and after the intervention to assess the psychosocial outcomes of meditation. Functional neuroimaging (fMRI) of a commonly-used empathy-for-pain task will be conducted pre- and post-intervention to explore the neural changes underlying these psychosocial outcomes. An emerging neurobiological model of human empathy that proposes an affective and a cognitive component to the empathic response will be evaluated in order to assess neurological outcomes. The relationship between empathic responding and negative dispositionality will be explored by evaluating whether meditation decouples empathy from anxiety. It is hypothesized that (1.) Subjects randomized to the MAT intervention will have enhanced empathy compared to those randomized to the control condition. (2.) Subjects randomized to the MAT intervention will have increased neural activity in the anterior insula and medial prefrontal cortex during an empathy-for-pain task. (3.) Subjects randomized to the MAT condition will have a decrease in the relationship between empathy and heart rate variability (HRV), and a decrease in the relationship between neural activity in the anterior insula and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, an area linked with perceived distress. Prior to implementation of this research proposal, I will receive training in all relevant physiological and neuroimaging techniques, as well as in the theoretical bases of Buddhist contemplative philosophy and meditation. In this way, the aims of this proposal are directly related to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine's missions to rigorously explore complementary healing practices as well as to train researchers in complementary and alternative medicine. This project will have direct relevance to public health, as it will help determine whether mindfulness meditation enhances empathy, and it will elucidate the neurological changes that underlie psychosocial outcomes. These results will be widely disseminated in order to inform the diverse domains in which meditation is utilized to increase human well-being. Moreover, by investigating a technique which may increase empathy, our results may be used to enhance prosocial behavior, and may inform the treatment of psychopathologies marked by a lack of empathy, such as autism and psychopathy.