Mindfulness and Attention - Bangor University · Mindfulness and Attention Dr Peter Malinowski Liverpool John Moores University. Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour

Mindfulness and AttentionDr Peter MalinowskiLiverpool John Moores UniversityResearch Centre for Brain and Behaviour

www.meditation-research.org.uk 1

2015 Conference03 – 07 July 2015, Chester

for personal use only

Mindfulness meditation practice

Mindfulness meditation: “The heart of the practice is to cultivate a dispassionate, observant state of mind, where all arising thoughts and emotions are recognised as mental events without ascribing any specific value to them. (Malinowski, 2008)


Malinowski, P. (2008). Mindfulness as psychological dimension: concepts and applications. Irish Journal of Psychology, 29(1), 155-166.

Meditation: “self-regulation practices that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary control and thereby foster general mental well-being and development and/or specific capacities such as calm, clarity, and concentration”. (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006)


ATTENTIONin (mindfulness) meditation practice



Asanga:

Mindfulness and introspection are taught, for the first prevents attention from straying from the meditative object, while the second recognizes that the attention is straying.Mahāyāna-sūtra-alamkāra: XVIII: 53.


~ 4th Century CE


smṛti (tib.: dran pa) mindfulness; recollection; retention; sustaining the attention upon an object without being distracted

samprajñāna (tib.: shes bzhin) introspection, ‘clear comprehension’, reflective knowledge of one’s mental and bodily states; “meta-cognition”


Dreyfus, G. (2011). Is mindfulness present-centred and non-judgmental? A discussion of the cognitive dimensions of mindfulness. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(01), 41-54.Wallace, B. A. (1999). The Buddhist Tradition of Samatha: Methods for refining and examining consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6 (2–3). 175-187.

manasikāra orienting of attention towards object and selecting it



Malinowski, P. (2013). Neural mechanisms of attentional control in mindfulness meditation. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7, 8.

smṛti

too excited

too lax


SamathaQuiescence / calm abiding

a serene attentional state in which the hindrances of excitation and laxity have been thoroughly calmed




(10%)(90%)

MacLean, K. A. et al. (2010). Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention. Psychological Science, 21(6), 829-839.

3 month meditation retreat (N=30) vs

waitlist control (N=30)

MacCoon, D. G., et al. (2014). No sustained attention differences in a longitudinal randomized trial comparing Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction versus active control. PloS One, 9(6), e97551.

8 week MBSR (N=27) vs

Health Enhancement Prog. (N=26)



MacCoon, D. G., et al. (2014). No sustained attention differences in a longitudinal randomized trial comparing Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction versus active control. PloS One, 9(6), e97551.

MacLean, K. A. et al. (2010). Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention. Psychological Science, 21(6), 829-839.


Novice MeditatorsIncentive Novice MeditatorsExperienced MeditatorsLeast Hours Experienced MeditatorsMost Hours Experienced Meditators

Novices

Experts least

Experts most

Brefczynski-Lewis, J. A., et al. (2007). Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners. PNAS, 104(27), 11483–11488.




Early Stage Middle Stage Advanced Stage

Effortful doing

Effort to reduce mind wandering Effortless being

Tang, Y. Y., Hölzel, B. K., & Posner, M. I. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4), 213-225.


Stages of Samadhi (Kamalashila)

1. Directed attention 2. Continuous attention 3. Resurgent attention 4. Close attention5. Tamed attention6. Pacified attention7. Fully pacified attention8. Single-pointed attention9. Attentional balance10. Shamatha


Wallace, B. A. (2006). The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind. Wisdom Publications.

Cascading waterfall

River quickly flowing through gorge

River slowly flowing through valleyOcean with no wavesMount Meru


Stages of Samadhi (Kamalashila)

1.

2.

3. Resurgent attention 4.

5.

6.

7. Fully pacified attention8. Single-pointed attention 9.

10.



Still takes effort to ward off excitation and laxity

One still forgets the meditative object entirely for brief periods

Subtle imbalances of attention swiftly rectifiedfor personal use only

8. Single-pointed attention

You can now sustain a high level of samadhi, or highly focused attention, free of the imbalances of even the subtlest laxity and excitation for at least three hours or so. Only the slightest degree of effort at the beginning of each session is needed to ward off these obstacles, and you continue in your practice motivated by the power of enthusiasm.




Beyond ‘mindfulness proper’

Non-dual Mindfulness

From the non-dual Innateist perspective, if one is cultivating smṛti (Pali, sati) and manasikāra, then one is cultivating ignorance because one is only strengthening the subject-object structures of awareness – the very structures that are the subtlest manifestation of ignorance itself.(Dunne, 2011, p.77)


Dunne, J. (2011). Toward an understanding of non-dual mindfulness. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(01), 71-88.


ATTENTIONin cognitive neuroscience



Networks of Attention

• Alertness• Raising ones state of alertness• Sustaining ones alertness

• Orienting• Shifting focus to new content / object / experience• Disengaging focus from content / object / experience

• Executive Control• Resolving conflict• Monitoring responses• Shifting/switching between task sets

Raz, A. & Buhle, J. (2006). Typologies of attentional networks. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7(5), 367-379.Fan, J. et al. (2005). The activation of attentional networks. Neuroimage, 26, 471-479.


The three attention networks

Alerting

Orienting

Executive

Posner, M. I. & Rothbart, M. K. (2007). Research on attention networks as a model for the integration of psychological science. Annual Reviews of Psychology, 58, 1–23.



Malinowski, P. (2013). Neural mechanisms of attentional control in mindfulness meditation. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7, 8.


WHAT HAPPENS DURING MEDITATION?



Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation

Hasenkamp, W., et al. (2012). Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation: a fine-grained temporal analysis of fluctuating cognitive states. Neuroimage, 59(1), 750-760.



Hasenkamp, W., et al. (2012). Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation: a fine-grained temporal analysis of fluctuating cognitive states. Neuroimage, 59(1), 750-760.



Event-related potentials (ERPs)


1000ms

N1(N100)

N2(N200)

N400

P2(P200)

P3(P300) P600

Event


Reduced distraction during meditation

Cahn, B. R., & Polich, J. (2009). Meditation (Vipassana) and the P3a event-related brain potential. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 72(1), 51-60.

Standard Tone(80%)

Oddball Tone(10%)

White NoiseDistracter

(10%)

P2

Auditory oddball paradigm



Reduced distraction during Vipassana meditation

ERPs to distractor stimuli during Vipassana meditation reduced compared to control conditionReduced automated reactivity and evaluative processing

Control Condition(free-wandering non-emotional thoughts)

Meditation Condition(body scan a la S.N. Goenka)


Cahn, B. R., & Polich, J. (2009). Meditation (Vipassana) and the P3a event-related brain potential. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 72(1), 51-60.


TRANSFER TO‘OUTSIDE’ OF MEDITATION?



Sustained attention after meditation retreat

Slagter et al. (2009). Theta phase synchrony and conscious target perception: impact of intensive mental training. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(8), 1536-1549.

The attentional blink effect

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Relative position of T2 after T1

Cor

rect

det

ectio

n of

T2

[%]

short

long



Event-Related Potentials: more balanced attention

In ‘no-blink’ trials the P3b amplitude for T1 became reduced Attention is allocated more consistently over time

Slagter, H. A., Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Francis, A. D., Nieuwenhuis, S., Davis, J. M., et al. (2007). Mental training affects distribution of limited brain resources. PLoS Biology, 5(6), e138.

Blink trials

No-Blink trials

Non-meditators Meditators

0ms 1000ms

P3b

pre-retreatpost-retreat



Less resource-demanding stimulus processing

Participants with the largest reduction in the P3b also showed the largest reduction of the timing variability of the theta oscillation (4–8 Hz) after successful detection of T2

Meditation may lead to more consistent and less resource-demanding stimulus processing

Slagter, H. A., Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Nieuwenhuis, S., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Theta phase synchrony and conscious target perception: impact of intensive mental training. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(8), 1536-1549.


Challenging sustained attention


+

+

500-800ms

2000ms

500-800ms

8300ms

Multiple object tracking task:

Mindful breath awareness (N=17) vs Progressive Muscle Relaxation (N=17)6 x 1h sessions over 8 weeks; 10-15 minutes practice per day, at least 3 x per weekSteady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) to index involved neural network activity

Schöne, B., Malinowski, P., & Gruber, T. (2015). Mindfulness meditation facilitates the formation of expert networks: A steady state visually evoked potential study. Paper presented at the Psychologie & Gehirn, Frankfurt (a.M.), 04-06 June 2015.

1-4 circles marked

1 circle probed





0.65

0.67

0.69

0.71

0.73

0.75

0.77

Pre Post

Accuracy

MCG ACG


0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

Pre Post

SSVEP amplitude

MCG ACG


Reduced neural resources involved while performance improved


DOES (MINDFULNESS) MEDITATION IMPROVE META-COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS?(transfer to ‘outside’ of meditation)



1. 3 weeks mindful breath awareness vs waitlist control

2. 8 weeks mindful breath awareness vs brain gym (55-75yrs)

3. 16 weeks mindful breath awareness vs waitlist control

Three studies




Inhibitory Control Monitoring

Overridethe pre-potent response (to respond differently)

Inhibitthe pre-potent

response(to stop execution)

Response monitoring

Observe response selection

Performance monitoring

Observe accuracy

Meta-cognitive control


INHIBITORY CONTROL:Overriding the pre-potent response



Posterior N2-Effect (160 – 240ms)

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0T1 T2 T3

Ampl

itude

(µv)

MeditationControl

Increased attentional selectivity

REDBROWNBLUE

REDBROWNBLUE

16 weeks

Moore, A.W., Gruber T., Derose, J. & Malinowski, P. (2012). Regular, brief mindfulness meditation practice improves electrophysiological markers of attentional control. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 18.


Control processes involved in overriding automatic responses require less resources

Posterior P3 (310 – 380ms) congruent incongruent

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

T1 T2 T3

ampl

itude

(µv)

Time

MG

CG

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

T1 T2 T3

ampl

itude

(µv)

Time

MG

CG

16 weeks



Localisation of differences (T3 – T1)

ControlGroup

MeditationGroup

Increased attentional focus(N2; 160 – 240ms)


www.meditation-research.org.uk 3916 weeks

Reduced neural resource requirements for resolving stimulus conflicts

(P3; 310 – 380ms)


INHIBITORY CONTROLInhibiting a pre-potent response



P3 ERP component:Index of inhibiting response execution

(go-nogo task)


“GO!” (75%)

“NOGO!” (25%)

P3

noGo

Go

3 weeks


Fronto-central no-go P3a:


75%

25%

3 weeks

Pozuelos, et al. – manuscript in preparation

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0T1 T2

ampl

itude

(µv)

Meditators

Non-Meditators

Improved response inhibition


fronto-central nogo P3a


T

C

Go (60%)

No-Go (40%)0

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

4T1 T2

ampl

itude

(µv)

Meditators

Non-Meditators

Improved response inhibition(in older adults)

Malinowski et al. – manuscript in preparation


MONITORINGOf response selection



Fronto-central N2 ERP


-3.0

-2.5

-2.0

-1.5

-1.0

-0.5

0.0T1 T2

ampl

itude

(µv)

MeditatorsNon-Meditators

8 weeks

Improved response monitoringBut no condition-specific effects

(in older adults)

TWO

SAD

SAD

FUN

FUN

FUN

BOX

BOX

BOX

BOX

incongruent

negative

positive

neutral

Malinowski et al. – in revision


MONITORINGOf performance / response accuracy



Teper, M., & Inzlicht, M., (2013) SCAN

Error Related Negativity (ERN)

• Fronto Central Negativity• 0-100 ms after response

Yeung, N., Botvinick, M & Cohen, J. (2007)Psychological Review


Fronto-central ERN (“false alarms”)


Pozuelos, et al. – manuscript in preparation

-3.0

-2.5

-2.0

-1.5

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

T1 T2

ampl

itude

(µv)

Meditators

Non-Meditators

Improved performance monitoringCorrelation with practice time:r = -.626


Summary: “meta-cognitive effects”Clear indication of functional plasticity of meta-cognitive functions

• Inhibitory Control• Overriding• Inhibiting execution

• Monitoring• Response selection• Performance

The transfer from meditation practice to performance on tasks ‘outside’ of meditation needs to be studied.


T

TWO

BLUE


THE LINK TO AFFECTIVE PROCESSES



Teper, M., & Inzlicht, M., (2013) SCAN

Error Related Negativity(ERN)

Feedback Related Negativity(FRN)

Teper, M., & Inzlicht, M., (2014) Emotion

“press button when 1 sec has passed”

+ - ?

REDBROWNBLUE


FRN Difference Wave


Rewarding feedback Aversive feedback

High levels of non-judgemental acceptance

less reactivity to immediate reward feedback


Summary• Various aspects of sustained attention and of executive

control functions are improved by simple, brief mindfulness meditation practice.

• Engaging/training cognitive core processes duringmeditation appears to generalise to performance and neural activity outside of meditation

• First studies investigating the link between attentional and affective processes are being investigated



Funding and support from …

BIAL Foundation (Portugal)

Institute for Health Research (LJMU)

Ministry of Science & Innovation (Spain)

Pain Relief Foundation (UK)

Karma Kagyu Diamond Way Buddhist Retreat Center (Spain)

Adam Moore (LJMU)Naomi Fisher (LJMU)Kate Diggory (LJMU)Paul Lattimore (LJMU)Rebecca Hort-Atkinson (LJMU)Bethan Mead (Liverpool)Geraldine Thomas (Mindflow)Jennifer Derose (Chester)

Thomas Gruber (Osnabrück)Benjamin Schöne (Osnabrück)Martin Bernhof (Osnabrück)Gernot Supp (Hamburg)J. Paul Pozuelos (Granada)Charo Rueda (Granada)Alberto Chiesa (Bologna)

www.meditation-research.org.uk

People involved…




Dirk Vorberg

Ronald Hübner

Matthias Müller

Thomas Gruber

Hannah NydahlLama Ole Nydahl

Lama JigmeRinpoche

Sherab GyaltsenRinpoche

Lopön TsechuRinpoche

HH 17th KarmapaTrinley Thaye Dorje

14th KunzigShamar Rinpoche


Thank you!


www.meditation-research.org.uk

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Mindfulness and Attention - Bangor University · Mindfulness and Attention Dr Peter Malinowski Liverpool John Moores University. Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour