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）冥想的计划是否会影响同理心。新手受试者将被随机分配到冥想条件或对照条件，并在干预前后收集移情，焦虑和正念的有效自我报告指数，以评估冥想的心理社会结果。将在干预前和干预后对常用的疼痛同理心任务进行功能性神经成像（fMRI），以探索这些心理社会结果背后的神经变化。一个新兴的神经生物学模型的人类同理心，提出了情感和认知组件的同理心反应将进行评估，以评估神经系统的结果。同理心反应与负性倾向之间的关系将通过评估冥想是否会使同理心从焦虑中消失来探讨。假设（1.）与随机分配到对照组的受试者相比，随机分配到MAT干预组的受试者将增强同理心。（2.）随机接受MAT干预的受试者在对疼痛的移情任务期间，前额叶皮层和内侧前额叶皮层的神经活动将增加。（3.）被随机分配到MAT条件的受试者将减少同理心和心率变异性（HRV）之间的关系，以及前额叶和背侧前扣带皮层（与感知痛苦相关的区域）的神经活动之间的关系。在实施这项研究计划之前，我将接受所有相关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。通过这种方式，该提案的目的与国家补充和替代医学中心的任务直接相关，即严格探索补充治疗实践以及培训补充和替代医学的研究人员。该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，并将阐明心理社会结果背后的神经变化。这些结果将被广泛传播，以告知冥想被用来增加人类福祉的不同领域。此外，通过研究一种可能增加同理心的技术，我们的研究结果可能被用来增强亲社会行为，并可能为缺乏同理心的精神病理学（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.