Neural Bases of Meditation,

Emotion Regulation

and Self-ProcessingPhilippe Goldin, PhD

Clinically Applied Affective Neuroscience

Stanford University

Goal

Social Anxiety

Understand and Reduce Suffering

MeditationMethods

Brain-Behavioral

Mechanisms

Regulatory Cortical System

EmotionLimbic System

Mental States

Fly stuck on sundew leaves

Fluid mountain stream

Lutz et al. 2008

Attention-based

meditations:

-Focused Attention

- Open Monitoring

Lutz et al. 2008

Focused Attention

• Directing and sustaining attention on a selected object (e.g. breath sensation)

• Detecting mind wandering and distracters (e.g. thoughts, images, memories, emotions)

• Disengagement of attention from distracters and shifting of attention back to the selected object

• Cognitive reappraisal of distracter (e.g. ‘just a thought’, ‘it is okay to be distracted’)

Contemplation

• Focused attention on the breath

Open Monitoring

• No explicit focus on any object

• Non-reactive meta-cognitive monitoring

• Awareness of automatic cognitive and emotional interpretations of experience

Contemplation

• Open monitoring of any and all experience

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

• Formal meditation practice– Breath focused – Body scan– Attention shifting to different

sensory modalities– Compassion / Loving-kindness

• Informal meditation practice– Meaningful pauses

• Yoga / Stretching

Many Types of Meditation• Concentration

– Focused attention– Image (visualization)– Sound (mantra)– Open monitoring

• Analytic-linguistic-reasoning– Death meditation– Generating loving-kindness,

empathy, compassion

• Emptiness/Shunyata– Dissolving mistaken view of nature

of self

Definition of Mindfulness

“Paying attention

in a particular way,

on purpose,

in the present moment,

and non-judgmentally”

Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4

AttentionAlerting re-orienting, executive control

Intention, motivation

Experiential approach

Attitude

Acceptance, Curiosity

In the Present

Process Model of Mindfulness Meditation

Follow Breath

Attention

Concentration

Focused

Open

Distraction

Attention

Ruminate / Worry

Mindless wandering

Fantasizing

Regain Attentional Focus

Attitude

Self-Judgment

Self-Criticism

Kindness

Curiosity

Intention

Stress / symptom reduction

Increase well-being

Self-exploration

Mechanisms of Mindfulness Training?

• Emotion Regulation

• Attention Regulation

• Self-Referential Processing

Regulatory Cortical System

Emotional ReactivityLimbic System

Neural Model of Emotion Regulation

+/-

Threat

Affective state

Fear, Anxiety

Regulatory

SystemsSelf

Language

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Levels of Brain Analyses

fMRI Brain Activation

Negative Self-Belief

Neural Firing Neural Circuit

Oxygenated hemoglobin

Amygdala

↑CBV, CBF, OxyHb, BOLD signal

People think

I am socially

incompetent

Tasks

• Emotion Regulation

of Negative Self-Beliefs

• Self-Referential Processing

of positive and negative social traits

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social Anxiety Disorder

• Lifetime prevalence: 12.1%

• 4th most common psychiatric condition

• Early onset– 80% before age 18 (Otto et al., 2001)– Usually precedes development of

depression, substance abuse, other anxiety disorders

– Highest high school dropout rate for all anxiety disorders

Autobiographical Social Situation

At a job I had about 6 years ago, I was supposed to introduce myself to a group of 5 or 6 new employees. The president of the company was speaking first, and then I was supposed to say a few words. My anxiety grew to such a heightened level right before I had to get up to speak, that I needed to leave the room and the building. I had to take a walk for about a half an hour before I even got up the courage to go back into the building to admit to my manager what I had done and how I had failed.

Client x

Negative Self-Beliefs

1. Something is wrong with me

2. I am inferior compared to others

3. People think I’m an idiot

4. I am going to blush and make a fool of myself

Contemplation

• Lean back

• Rest in your mind & body

• Source of suffering? Deep held distorted

self-belief

• What would freedom look like for you?

Study StructureBaseline Assessments

WellnessMBSR

Post-Assessments

CBT Waitlist

Follow-Up Assessments

Behavior Emotion

Cognition

Rate

Reactivity to

Negative

Self-Belief

12s

Implement

Regulation

Strategy

12s

Rate

3s60s

Emotion Regulation Task

Autobio

Social

Situation

Mindful Awareness

Attention Distraction

Cognitive Reappraisal

Meta-cognitive shift to observation

Count backwards from 168 by 1s

RateRate

3s

Re-interpret the meaning of the belief

Emotion Regulation Results

EmotionLimbic System

threat

Regulation

modulation

Improved Emotion RegulationPost-MBSR

-50

-45

-40

-35

-30

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

** p<.01

****

**

% R

edu

ctio

n i

n N

egat

ive

Em

oti

on Cognitive

ReappraisalMindful Awareness

Attention Distraction

Clinical Symptom Results

Pre- to Post-Intervention Improvement

-40

-35

-30

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

BFNE LSAS BDI

CBT MBSR Waitlist Wellness

* P<.05, ** P<.005, *** P<.001

***

** ****

***

* *

Pre

-to

-Po

st R

edu

ctio

n

Neural Results

Regulatory Cortical System

EmotionLimbic System

REACT Negative Self-Beliefs

• Wellness– No changes

• MBSR– Right DLPFC– Bilateral posterior Insula– Left Inferior Parietal Lobule

Cluster threshold:

Voxel p<.005 & vol>162 mm3

Cluster p<.01

RRR

REACT: AmygdalaB

OL

D %

Sig

na

l Ch

an

ge

Re

lati

ve

to N

eu

tral

1.5s 3s 6s4.5s 9s 12s7.5s 10.5s

Negative Self-Belief

0s

Emotion Rating

y=-4

L

35 SP Baseline

-0.8

-0.7

-0.6

-0.5

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0.0

0.1

0.2

REACT: AmygdalaB

OL

D %

Sig

nal

Ch

ang

e R

elat

ive

to N

eutr

al

1.5s 3s 6s4.5s 9s 12s7.5s 10.5s

Negative Self-Belief

* p<.05

0s

Emotion Rating

y=-4

L

35 SP BASELINE 15 SP Post-WELLNESS

-0.8

-0.7

-0.6

-0.5

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0.0

0.1

0.2

REACT: AmygdalaB

OL

D %

Sig

nal

Ch

ang

e R

elat

ive

to N

eutr

al

1.5s 3s 6s4.5s 9s 12s7.5s 10.5s

Negative Self-Belief

* p<.05

0s

Emotion Rating

y=-4

L

*

15 SP Post-MBSR

Neural Substrates of Attention

Alerting

Orienting

Executive Control

http://www.sacklerinstitute.org/~jinfan/

Michael Posner & Jin Fan

L

Z = 42 X= -2 Y = 27

R

MBSR Enhanced Attention Regulation

Post > Pre-MBSR during

Mindful Awareness vs. Attention Distraction

-1.6

-1.4

-1.2

-1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.0

0.2

0.4

MINDFUL AWARENESSamygdalaB

OL

D %

Sig

nal

Ch

ang

e re

lati

ve t

o N

eutr

al

1.5s 3s 6s4.5s 9s 12s7.5s 10.5s

Negative Self-Belief

* p<.05

0s

Emotion Rating

y=-4

L

35 SP BASELINE 15 SP Post-WELLNESS

-1.6

-1.4

-1.2

-1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.0

0.2

0.4

BO

LD

% S

ign

al C

han

ge

rela

tive

to

Neu

tral

1.5s 3s 6s4.5s 9s 12s7.5s 10.5s

Negative Self-Belief

* p<.05

0s

Emotion Rating

y=-4

L

*

15 SP Post-MBSR

MINDFUL AWARENESSamygdala

Summary of MBSR for Social Anxiety

Negative Self-Beliefs

Emotion Reactivity

Limbic System

Attention Regulation

Cognitive Regulation

Sensory/Visceral

Cognitive Reappraisal of Negative Self-Beliefs Post > Pre-CBT

Language

Self-regulation

Attention regulation

Contemplation

• SELF

Meta-Analysis of Self-Referential Processing

Cortical midline structures: ventromedial prefrontal, dorsomedial prefrontal, posterior cingulate/precuneus

Statistical analysis based on 27 PET and fMRI studies on self-related tasks published between 2000 and 2004; Northoff et al. 2006, NeuroImage

Forms of Self Processing• Analytic/Narrative Self

– Past-future oriented – Fixed self-concept– Rumination

• Experiential Self– Present moment focused– Continuously changing experience of self– Reduced problems with memory,

depression, and anxiety

Watkins & Teasdale, 2003; Farb et al 2008

loved terrific admired JOLLY BRAVE

3 s

*

UPPER case?

Describes ME?

POSITIVE valence?

1.5 s

3 s

15 s

19.5 s

REJECTED coward regretful AFRAID embarrassed

or

Self-Referential Processing Task

Self-Referential Processing

15 Healthy Controls 16 Social Phobics

Cluster threshold:

Voxel p<.001 & vol>162 mm3

Cluster p<.01

MBSR ModifiesSelf-Referential Endorsement

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Pre Post

Positive Negative

Time x Valence, F=5.60, p<.05, partial eta2 = .41

MBSR

% S

elf-

En

do

rsem

ent

Mindfulness Training and Self-ViewReduction in neural bases of analytic/narrative self

Linguistic processing

Self-referential processing

Cognitive appraisal

Summary of Mindfulness Training Effects

Threat

Emotion Reactivity

Limbic System

Attention Regulation

Cognitive Regulation

Self

Language

= Psychological

Flexibility

Regulatory Cortical System

EmotionLimbic System

Empathy/Compassion

Neuroscience is investigating:

- how we understand another person’s mind

- take their perspective and experience emotional resonance

- neural bases of training in empathy/compassion

"I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance." – Pablo Casals

Paul Ekman’s Model for Compassion

Emotion Recognition

Emotion Recognition

Emotion Resonance

Emotion Resonance

IdenticalIdentical ReactiveReactive

Familial Compassion

Familial Compassion

Heroic Compassion

Heroic Compassion

Sentient Compassion

Sentient Compassion

Global Compassion

Global Compassion

Motor Imitation in Infants

Meltzoff, AN, Moore MK. Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates. Science, 1977;198.

Neural Bases of Understanding Others’ Pain

• Cognitive perspective taking - mental representation of other; social cognition

• Empathy - in responses to pain, disgust, taste, and touch - emotion, sensation

MPC, medial prefrontal cortex; ACC, anterior cingulate cortex; AI, anterior insula; SII, secondary somatosensory cortex; TP, temporal poles; STS, superior temporal sulcus; TPF, temporo-parietal junction.

Hein, Singer, Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 2008

Clinically Applied Affective Neuroscience Laboratory & Collaborators

Mentors

James Gross Gary Glover

Stanford University

UC San Diego

Murray Stein Greg Brown John McQuaid

Marsha Bates

Rutgers University

Brenna Bry

Funding

Thank you for your attention

Resources

• For social anxiety disorder

contact the CAAN lab:

– Call 650-723-5977

– Email: caan.cbt@gmail.com

– Visit: www-psych.stanford.edu/~caan

Meditation

• Spirit rock: http://www.spiritrock.org

– Check out: Sitting Groups Led by Spirit Rock

Teachers throughout the Bay Area

• SF Zen Center

– http://www.sfzc.org/

• SF Buddhist Center

– http://sfbuddhistcenter.org/

Study StructureBaseline Assessments

WellnessMBSR

Post-Assessments

CBT Waitlist

Follow-Up Assessments

Behavior Emotion

Cognition

Clinically Applied Affective NeurosciencePsychology Department

Stanford University650-723-5977

caan.cbt@gmail.comwww-psych.stanford.edu/~caan

YouTube talks:Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation

Neuroscience of Emotion

Study StructureBaselineAssessments

WellnessMBSR

Assessments

Home Practice

020406080

100120140160180200

Formal Body Scan Informal Yoga Total

020406080

100120140160180200

Group Individual Total

Min

ute

s p

er W

eek

Min

ute

s p

er W

eek

Mindfulness

Aerobic Exercise

Autobiographical Social Situations

* p<.05

Error bars = SD

*

1. How vividly can you re-imagine or re-experience that situation NOW?

2. How much humiliation, embarrassment or shame did you feel when you experienced this situation when it happened?

3. How much humiliation, embarrassment or shame do you feel NOW when you recall this situation?

4. How much do you actively avoid situations similar to this event?

Very Much

Not At All

1

2

3

4

5

React Observe

Negative Emotion Ratings forNegative Self-Beliefs

Neg

ati

ve E

moti

on

p2=.58

p2=.41

Mindful

p2 = partial eta2 effect size measure

35 SPBaseline

15 SPPost-MBSR

15 SPPost-WELLNESS

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

MBSR Wellness

LS

AS

Time1 Time2

Social Anxiety SymptomsLiebowitz Social Anxiety Scale Total

*** P<.001

***p

2 =.50

Pre Post

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

MBSR Wellness

BD

I

Time1 Time2

Depression SymptomsBeck Depression Inventory-II

* P<.05

*p

2=.31

Pre Post

If you are distressed by anything external [or internal],

the pain is not due to the thing itself,

but to your estimate of it;

and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)167 A.C.E.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Self

Cognitions

EmotionsBehaviors

Regulatory Cortical System

Emotional ReactivityLimbic System