正念冥想训练水平对情绪加工的影响

越来越多的研究表明,正念冥想训练影响情绪加工。本文从正念冥想训练水平（包括临时训练、短时训练和长期训练）角度出发,系统回顾了不同水平的正念冥想训练对情绪加工的调节效应。综述发现,不同水平正念冥想训练都能够提高个体情绪调节能力,临时正念冥想训练作为一种有效的情绪调节方法影响情绪加工,而短期正念冥想训练和长期禅修训练通过增加个体正念意识,增强个体情绪接受力影响情绪加工。未来的研究需进一步在区分正念冥想训练时间和正念冥想训练类别基础上,探讨正念冥想训练影响情绪加工的认知神经机制。     

利他惩罚的发生机制及其神经基础

利他惩罚是指个体为惩罚违反社会规范的人而自愿个人支付成本,它在人类合作演化过程中扮演着重要的作用。"认知控制"与"情绪满足"被用来阐述利他惩罚的产生机制。而神经层面的研究也发现,利他惩罚主要涉及以背外侧前额叶皮层为主的基于规则的系统和包括纹状体、内侧前额叶皮层以及脑岛等脑区在内的情绪驱动系统。此外,5-羟色胺、多巴胺等神经递质可能是利他惩罚行为发生的神经生化基础。未来研究除了需进一步深入探讨与整合利他惩罚的发生机制、神经机制、基因机制以外,还应注重利他惩罚在自然情境下的研究。     

药物成瘾者决策缺陷的特征、机制及干预

药物成瘾者存在决策缺陷, 并表现出冲动性、风险寻求、奖赏失调、躯体内感信号缺失等特征。神经影像学研究表明药物滥用导致成瘾者背外侧前额皮层、前扣带回、眶额叶皮层、腹内侧前额皮层、杏仁核、脑岛等脑区受损, 这些损伤是引发其决策缺陷的主要原因。认知训练有利于提高个体的决策能力, 如目标管理训练和正念冥想等可以增强个体工作记忆、促进自我觉察和以目标为导向的行为; 而非侵入性脑刺激则可以直接改变与成瘾者决策相关脑区的激活状态, 从而提升与决策相关的认知功能。总体而言, 未来认知训练和非侵入性脑刺激在成瘾干预方面仍有广阔的拓展空间。     

一个测量抑郁症的重要神经指标:静息额叶脑电活动的不对称性

额叶脑电活动的不对称性指即指额叶脑电图(electroencephalogram,EEG)偏侧化,其考察的是左侧额叶和右侧额叶alpha波(8~13 Hz)的活动。越来越多的研究证据表明,静息额叶EEG偏侧化程度与抑郁症密切相关。回顾国内外关于静息额叶EEG偏侧化与抑郁症之间关系的研究结果和现状,发现静息额叶EEG偏侧化程度与抑郁水平负相关,患有抑郁症个体的静息额叶EEG相对右侧化,伴随着右侧额叶更大的活动;从短期和长期而言,抑郁个体静息额叶EEG偏侧化具有稳定性;静息额叶EEG偏侧化对个体的抑郁水平具有预测作用。除此之外,静息额叶EEG偏侧化可能反应了背外侧前额叶皮层的活动,其中,左侧背外侧前额叶皮层可能在抑郁症的形成中起了一个主要的作用。未来的研究可致力于进一步探讨静息额叶EEG偏侧化预测抑郁症的神经机制、静息额叶EEG偏侧化对抑郁水平预测的可应用性,尝试通过训练(比如,正念冥想训练)来改变抑郁个体的静息额叶EEG偏侧化程度,进而缓解个体的抑郁水平。     

社会两难情境下的合作选择:自我利益和集体利益间的权衡

社会两难是个人利益与集体利益冲突的情景。在这种情景下,合作选择强调个体是通过分享使集体利益最大化,而非个人利益最大化。"自我控制"、"信任"与"内疚厌恶"被用来阐述两难情境下合作选择的机制。而神经层面的研究也发现,合作选择主要涉及以背外侧前额叶皮层为主的执行控制脑区、以腹内侧前额叶为主的情绪调节脑区,以及包括纹状体、伏隔核和眶额叶等在内的奖赏相关脑区。未来研究需从完善研究方法和内容、深化内在机制以及整合合作决策的神经机制等几个方面着手。     

内疚的认知和情绪活动及其脑区调控

内疚是个体做出危害他人的行为或违反道德准则之后产生的良心上的反省, 对行为负有责任的一种负性体验。内疚在道德规范和人际社会中具有重要的作用。研究者主要采取自我报告范式、情境模拟范式、过失范式和经济博弈范式考察内疚的发生发展及其功能。近年来, 研究者尝试揭示内疚脑机制, 研究发现内疚主要激活前额叶皮层和脑岛等脑区, 前额叶可能与内疚的认知成分相关, 而脑岛主要与内疚的情绪成分相关。未来的研究需要采用多种技术手段进一步考察内疚的认知神经机制。     

身体活动对情绪的影响及其脑机制

身体活动不仅有助于提高人的生理机能, 还具有改善心境、调节情绪的功能。有规律的身体活动不仅能够增强个体的积极情绪, 提升幸福感和自尊感, 也可以缓解消极情绪、矫治情绪障碍。关于身体活动对情绪影响的脑神经机制, 研究者先后提出神经递质假说、大脑可塑性假说、前额叶偏侧化假说和双模型假说。进一步的研究需要控制运动强度对身体活动情绪效益的影响, 比较不同类型身体活动的情绪调节效果, 同时考察基因、神经生长及社会互动等因素对情绪的交互作用。     

非情绪与情绪背景下行为抑制时外侧前额叶的功能分化:一项fNIRS研究

采用功能性近红外脑成像技术(f NIRS),结合事件相关设计,在非情绪与情绪背景下,测量个体完成go/no-go任务时外侧前额叶皮层氧合血红蛋白浓度(Hb O)的变化。结果发现:在非情绪背景下,行为抑制时双侧背外侧前额叶皮层和右眶额叶皮层负激活;在情绪背景下,行为抑制时双侧背外侧前额叶皮层和眶额皮层负激活,情绪与行为抑制的交互作用显著负激活双侧腹外侧前额叶皮层。结果表明:在非情绪与情绪背景下,双侧背外侧前额叶和右眶额叶皮层可能以神经抑制的活动形式参与行为抑制反应;腹外侧前额叶皮层可能不是行为抑制的重要脑区,但对情绪与行为抑制整合具有重要意义,特别是在负性情绪背景下,双侧腹外侧前额叶皮层可能以更大程度的神经抑制活动参与到情绪与行为抑制交互作用中来。     

自我惩罚：影响因素、模型与展望

自我惩罚是个体在违反社会规范后,自愿使自己承受伤害或蒙受损失的行为。自我惩罚会受到负性情绪、补救机会、代偿机会和性别的影响。情绪模型和互惠模型分别从情绪和互惠的角度阐述了自我惩罚的认知机制。根据近期的研究结果,可以推测自我惩罚与前扣带回、脑岛、右外侧眶额叶皮层、背内侧前额叶皮层、伏隔核、腹内侧前额叶皮层有关。未来值得研究的方向有：进一步确认自我惩罚涉及的情绪成分、为互惠模型收集更多实验证据、探究自我惩罚对集体合作的影响以及开展跨文化研究。     

晚期正成分的时间-空间迁移模式在情绪调节发展研究中的应用

近二十年,使用认知神经科学手段探讨情绪调节成为了研究的热点。晚期正成分(Late Positive Potential,LPP)是情绪调节脑电研究中的一个典型成分,在不同的时间窗中分析LPP的波幅的变化及其优势激活脑区的迁移能够反映情绪调节加工过程中个体由对情绪刺激的感知到相应的认知调控过程的转变。LPP的时间-空间迁移模式被应用于情绪调节的发展研究,揭示从童年到青少年再到成年期个体情绪的潜在神经机制。研究者关注幼儿期、童年期、青少期、成人期个体在情绪调节加工过程中LPP波幅的变化及其时间-空间迁移模式特征,把不同年龄段个体情绪调节的发展特点与其大脑关键脑区(主要是前额叶)发育状况进行联系,为儿童身体发育和心理发展的主题提供更多的证据支持。未来的研究应加强对LPP在异常发展研究中应用,关注大脑发育与激素变化对LPP变化的影响,并加强对LPP调节效应的个体差异等问题的探讨。     

Mindfulness-based stress reduction effects on moral reasoning and decision making

Previous research has demonstrated that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) improves psychological functioning in multiple domains. However, to date, no studies have examined the effects of MBSR on moral reasoning and decision making. This single group design study examined the effect of MBSR on moral reasoning and ethical decision making, mindfulness, emotion, and well-being. Additionally, we investigated whether there was an association between the amount of meditation practice during MBSR and changes in moral reasoning and ethical decision making, emotions, mindfulness, and well-being. Results indicated that MBSR was associated with improvements in mindful attention, emotion and well-being. Further, amount of meditation practice was associated with greater improvement in mindful attention. Two-month follow-up results showed that, MBSR resulted in improvements in moral reasoning and ethical decision making, mindful attention, emotion, and well-being. This study provides preliminary evidence that MBSR may potentially facilitate moral reasoning and decision making in adults.     

Cognition and Emotion,Volume 24, 2010, List of Contents

Effective emotion regulation is important for high-quality social functioning. Recent laboratory-based evidence suggests that mindfulness may enhance emotion regulation in socioemotional contexts; however, little is known about mindful emotion regulation during in vivo social interactions. In a study of romantic couples, we assessed each partner's mindfulness and top-down attentional efficiency (with an Emotional Go/No-Go task) prior to sampling emotions and perceived connection with others during day-to-day social interactions. Analyses revealed that mindfulness-related differences in top-down attentional efficiency on the Emotional Go/No-Go predicted positive emotion during daily social interactions. In turn, positive emotion and two additional indices of social emotion regulation each mediated the relation between actor mindfulness and perceived social connection. In corresponding analyses, neither trait reappraisal nor suppression use predicted the outcomes, and all mindfulness relations held controlling for these strategies. Findings support a framework for investigating mindfulness and higher-quality social functioning, for which mindful emotion regulation may be key.     

Breath Versus Emotions: The Impact of Different Foci of Attention During Mindfulness Meditation on the Experience of Negative and Positive Emotions

Mindfulness meditation yields beneficial effects on the processing of emotions. However, it is still unclear whether the focus of attention during meditation influences these effects. In the present study we aimed at comparing the effects of breathing meditation and emotion-focused meditation on the immediate and delayed processing of negative and positive emotions. The study included 65 adult novice meditators who were exposed to positively and negatively valenced film clips. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions. While watching the films at t1, they were asked to mindfully focus on their breath (condition 1), on emotions (condition 2), or on nothing in particular (condition 3). Ten minutes later at t2, comparable film clips were shown but all participants watched them without taking up a mindful attitude. Dependent measures were emotional states at t1 and t2. Participants of both meditation conditions particularly showed a more preferable delayed emotional reaction to negative stimuli than participants of the control condition. Breathing meditation and emotion-focused meditation may constitute effective emotion regulation strategies to deal with negatively valenced emotional states.     

Mindfulness meditation counteracts self-control depletion

Mindfulness meditation describes a set of different mental techniques to train attention and awareness. Trait mindfulness and extended mindfulness interventions can benefit self-control. The present study investigated the short-term consequences of mindfulness meditation under conditions of limited self-control resources. Specifically, we hypothesized that a brief period of mindfulness meditation would counteract the deleterious effect that the exertion of self-control has on subsequent self-control performance. Participants who had been depleted of self-control resources by an emotion suppression task showed decrements in self-control performance as compared to participants who had not suppressed emotions. However, participants who had meditated after emotion suppression performed equally well on the subsequent self-control task as participants who had not exerted self-control previously. This finding suggests that a brief period of mindfulness meditation may serve as a quick and efficient strategy to foster self-control under conditions of low resources.     

Beyond Viral: Interpersonal Communication in the Internet Age

Contemporary scholarship on mindfulness casts it as a form of purely nonevaluative engagement with experience. Yet, traditionally mindfulness was not intended to operate in a vacuum of dispassionate observation, but was seen as facilitative of eudaimonic mental states. In spite of this historical context, modern psychological research has neglected to ask the question of how the practice of mindfulness affects downstream emotion regulatory processes to impact the sense of meaning in life. To fill this lacuna, here we describe the mindfulness-to-meaning theory, from which we derive a novel process model of mindful positive emotion regulation informed by affective science, in which mindfulness is proposed to introduce flexibility in the generation of cognitive appraisals by enhancing interoceptive attention, thereby expanding the scope of cognition to facilitate reappraisal of adversity and savoring of positive experience. This process is proposed to culminate in a deepened capacity for meaning-making and greater engagement with life.     

不同冥想类型对创造性思维的影响及作用机制

冥想与创造性的关系正逐渐被关注,澄清冥想练习对创造性思维的影响效果和作用机制对个体创新潜能的培养与提升具有重要意义。不同冥想类型对创造性思维的影响具有特异性,专注冥想主要通过注意聚焦和提升自上而下的执行控制能力来对聚合思维产生积极影响;正念冥想引起的离焦的注意状态,以及对认知灵活性和积极情绪的促进,有助于发散思维。未来应加强不同冥想类型与创造性思维的整合研究,探讨冥想影响创造性思维的脑机制,以及冥想与其他干预训练对创造性思维的不同作用机制等。     

Mindfulness and its relationship to emotional regulation

Research on the effectiveness and mechanisms of mindfulness training applied in psychotherapy is still in its infancy (Erisman & Roemer, 2010). For instance, little is known about the extent and processes through which mindfulness practice improves emotion regulation. This experience sampling study assessed the relationship between mindfulness, emotion differentiation, emotion lability, and emotional difficulties. Young adult participants reported their current emotional experiences 6 times per day during 1 week on a PalmPilot device. Based on these reports of emotions, indices of emotional differentiation and emotion lability were composed for negative and positive emotions. Mindfulness was associated with greater emotion differentiation and less emotional difficulties (i.e., emotion lability and self-reported emotion dysregulation). Mediational models indicated that the relationship between mindfulness and emotion lability was mediated by emotion differentiation. Furthermore, emotion regulation mediated the relationship between mindfulness and both negative emotion lability and positive emotion differentiation. This experience sampling study indicates that self-reported levels of mindfulness are related to higher levels of differentiation of one's discrete emotional experiences in a manner reflective of effective emotion regulation.     

PROMOTING THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS THROUGH MINDFULNESS: A FOCUS ON REGULATING DIFFICULT EMOTIONS

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explores the potential of a mindfulness programme for providing psycho-social support to international students in higher education. The article focuses on analysing the nature of emotional distress among students, how they regulate difficult emotions, and the effects of the mindfulness programme on emotion regulation. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with students before and after the mindfulness programme, and the weekly mindfulness sessions were observed. The study identified that stress, anxiety, anger, sadness, loneliness and insecurity were among the most difficult emotions experienced by international students. Through mindfulness, students improved in awareness of their emotions, learnt to relate to difficult emotions more constructively, and regulated negative emotions more effectively. Nevertheless, many suggested that they would have welcomed more attention to emotion regulation, as it was identified as a key challenge in their lives. These findings have important implications for the psycho-social well-being and academic achievement of international students.     

特质正念与控制点调节日常生活中知觉压力对消极情绪的影响

考察日常生活中知觉压力对消极情绪的动态影响,检验特质正念的调节作用,并进一步探索正念的调节作用是否在不同控制点的个体中存在差异。共有95名在校大学生完成正念注意觉知量表（MAAS）,罗特控制点量表（LOCS）,并通过动态评估的方式,完成每天2次,持续14天的在日常生活情境中针对知觉压力和消极情绪的密集型追踪测量。多层线性模型结果表明：（1）在个体内水平,个体某一时刻的知觉压力可以显著预测个体下一时刻的消极情绪;（2）个体的正念水平越高,日常生活中知觉压力对消极情绪的预测力越低;（3）个体越倾向于内控,日常生活中知觉压力对消极情绪的预测力越低;（4）个体越倾向于外控,正念对日常生活中知觉压力影响消极情绪的调节作用越强。本研究验证了正念对日常生活中压力反应的保护作用,并提示外控者在面临压力时更有可能从正念中获益。