Longitudinal effects of mediation on empathic behavior and neural activity

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究将使用随机和受控的纵向范式来评估训练正念和注意力（MAT）冥想的程序是否会影响同理心。将被试新手随机分为冥想组和对照组，在干预前后收集经验证的共情、焦虑和正念自我报告指数，评估冥想的社会心理结果。功能神经成像（fMRI）是一种常用的共情疼痛任务，将在干预前和干预后进行，以探索这些社会心理结果背后的神经变化。一种新兴的人类共情神经生物学模型提出了共情反应的情感和认知成分，将被评估，以评估神经学结果。通过评估冥想是否能将共情与焦虑解耦，探讨共情反应与消极倾向之间的关系。假设(1)；随机分配到MAT干预组的受试者比随机分配到对照组的受试者有更强的共情能力。(2)。随机分配到MAT干预组的受试者在进行疼痛共情任务时，脑岛前部和内侧前额叶皮层的神经活动增加。(3)。随机分配到MAT条件下的受试者，共情和心率变异性（HRV）之间的关系会减弱，而与感知痛苦相关的前岛和前扣带皮层背侧的神经活动之间的关系也会减弱。在实施这项研究计划之前，我将接受所有相关的生理和神经成像技术的培训，以及佛教冥想哲学和冥想的理论基础。这样，这项提案的目标与国家补充和替代医学中心的使命直接相关，该中心的使命是严格探索补充治疗实践，并培训补充和替代医学的研究人员。这个项目将与公共卫生直接相关，因为它将有助于确定正念冥想是否能增强同理心，并将阐明作为心理社会结果基础的神经学变化。这些结果将被广泛传播，以告知不同的领域，冥想被用来增加人类的福祉。此外，通过研究一种可能增加共情的技术，我们的研究结果可能用于增强亲社会行为，并可能为以缺乏共情为特征的精神病理学（如自闭症和精神病）的治疗提供信息。

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.