基于心理学视域的冥想研究

冥想(meditation)是一些综合性的心理和行为训练, 它有助于个体建立一种特殊的注意机制, 达到心理上的整体提升。心理学目前对冥想的研究主要集中在冥想的脑机制及冥想的功能(心理恢复、心理发展)两个方面, 常使用的研究工具主要有量表和EEG、fMRI、SPECT等仪器设备。未来的冥想研究应该在进一步规范冥想训练技术的基础上, 侧重于各种冥想技术的比较并对冥想结果开展长期的跟踪研究。     

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。     

冥想的安全性

大量研究表明冥想有助于身心健康的维持与幸福感的提升, 但与此同时, 飞速发展的研究与实践却严重忽略了对其安全性的考察。目前, 我们对冥想各群体(临床人群、修行人、正念冥想指导者、普通练习者及大学生等)不良反应的表现、影响因素及发生与转化机制等都知之甚少, 目前国内该领域的研究尚属空白, 这是迫切需要研究者和实践者重视和严肃对待的伦理问题。国外研究表明, 总体而言, 冥想不良反应率为8.3%, 表现在认知、感知觉、情感、躯体化、意志、自我意识与社会功能等7方面内容的不适或改变, 严重的甚至出现自杀意念与行为; 冥想不良反应的影响因素包括练习者、练习、关系及健康行为等4方面的内容。中国文化下本土化研究的开展以及冥想指导者胜任力等问题是未来研究的重要方向, 分解设计、纵向设计与个人中心取向是重要的研究方法。     

冥想对注意能力的影响

所有冥想方法都要对注意进行管理, 注意是冥想的核心机制。近期研究发现, 冥想显著提高了持续性注意、执行注意和选择性注意分配等多种注意能力。认知神经科学研究发现, 冥想使注意资源分配更有效; 长期冥想者表现出更高的失匹配负波波幅和更低的β波幅; 冥想增强了中央执行网络有关脑区的功能联结, 提高了突出网络有关脑区的活动; 注意聚焦冥想降低了默认网络有关脑区的活动。另外, 作为一种提高注意能力的方法, 冥想不仅适用于注意缺陷多动障碍患者和已康复的抑郁症患者等有注意相关障碍的临床群体, 也适用于儿童和老年人等多种年龄阶段的健康群体。未来应通过追踪研究探讨冥想的长期效果; 探索冥想中注意与情绪的交互作用; 根据群体特征设计出更有针对性的冥想。     

左侧眶额皮层在自动情绪调节下注意选择中的作用：来自经颅直流电刺激的证据

前人研究表明自动情绪调节能够自上而下地影响情绪及情绪性注意过程。近来有研究提示自动情绪调节与眶额皮层(orbitofrontal cortex, OFC)有关。也有研究表明左侧OFC的激活影响负性注意偏向。本研究采用经颅直流电刺激技术, 考察阈下启动情绪控制目标条件下, 抑制左侧眶额皮层兴奋性是否影响负性注意偏向。结果发现, 使用阴极刺激抑制左侧OFC活动可以加快被试对与恐惧刺激位置一致的探测点的反应。该结果提示左侧眶额皮层是自动情绪调节下情绪性注意选择相关的重要脑区。     

冥想使人变得平和——人们对正、负性情绪图片的情绪反应可因冥想训练而降低

虽然前人已有不少研究发现冥想具有减少个体焦虑、缓解抑郁水平等功能,并且也已经揭示了冥想促进情绪调节能力的认知神经科学机理,但对于冥想会怎样调制人们对于外部施加的正、负性情绪刺激(图片)的情绪反应尚不清楚,冥想究竟会使人们对外部施加的情绪刺激的敏感性增强还是减弱?如果冥想能够调节和缓解人们的情绪反应的话,那么,这种调节作用是“双向的”(即对正性或负性情绪刺激能产生具有不同效价方向的调节作用)还是“单向的”(即对正性或负性情绪刺激产生具有相同效价方向的调节作用)?为了检验和回答上述问题,本研究以无冥想(或相关)经验的大学生为被试,通过随机实验组、控制组前后测的实验设计,考察了冥想训练能否影响被试对于正、负性情绪图片的情绪唤起.62名大学生被试被随机分配到实验组和控制组(每组31人),实验组参与连续5天、每天20 min的冥想练习,控制组在此期间的控制任务为通常的闭眼休息.结果显示:冥想组在练习过程中的脑α波指数显著升高;与控制组相比,冥想组被试对消极图片的效价评定值显著改善,这表明冥想降低了被试对负性情绪图片的情绪反应,研究还发现了冥想降低被试对正性情绪图片的积极评价倾向,从而证明对外部施加的正、负性情绪刺激而言,冥想训练的调制作用是使人们的情绪反应趋于平和.     

禅修对创造性思维的影响

禅修是一种能够对人类心理有广泛影响的训练工具。作为两种重要、相似但又不同的禅修方式, 冥想和正念对创造性思维中的发散思维和聚合思维产生了不同影响。在发散思维方面, 冥想主要通过对注意调控和无意识激活影响以及对解题动机和情绪的有效调控两方面显著增强了发散思维, 尤其是认知灵活性; 在聚合思维方面, 正念和冥想的影响相当复杂, 主要是通过聚合思维所需的执行功能和可能涉及表征重构来促进定势转移或功能固着的消除。就机制而言, 禅修对创造性思维的影响总体上不仅得益于走神时的无意识关联加工, 而且受禅修中诱发的情绪效应的调节。基于这些, 对未来研究的趋势进行了展望。     

贝叶斯因子及其在JASP中的实现

统计推断在科学研究中起到关键作用, 然而当前科研中最常用的经典统计方法——零假设检验(Null hypothesis significance test, NHST)却因难以理解而被部分研究者误用或滥用。有研究者提出使用贝叶斯因子(Bayes factor)作为一种替代和(或)补充的统计方法。贝叶斯因子是贝叶斯统计中用来进行模型比较和假设检验的重要方法, 其可以解读为对零假设H₀或者备择假设H₁的支持程度。其与NHST相比有如下优势：同时考虑H₀和H₁并可以用来支持H₀、不“严重”地倾向于反对H₀、可以监控证据强度的变化以及不受抽样计划的影响。目前, 贝叶斯因子能够很便捷地通过开放的统计软件JASP实现, 本文以贝叶斯t检验进行示范。贝叶斯因子的使用对心理学研究者来说具有重要的意义, 但使用时需要注意先验分布选择的合理性以及保持数据分析过程的透明与公开。     

食物线索注意偏向及其神经机制

与其他类型的刺激相比, 个体会优先注意食物相关刺激, 即对食物刺激的注意偏向。对影响食物线索注意偏向个体因素研究的分析发现：(1)在状态因素中, 饥饿以及与自我威胁有关的、唤起强度大的负性情绪对食物线索注意偏向有增强作用, 这在注意加工的早期和晚期都有体现; (2)在特质因素中, 行为研究发现, 相比于体重正常个体和非限制性饮食者, 超重/肥胖个体以及唤起节食目标的成功限制性饮食者没有更强的注意偏向, 但是, ERP研究发现, 在注意加工的早期阶段, 就出现了特质因素对食物线索注意偏向的影响; (3) fMRI研究发现, 对食物线索的注意过程伴随着脑岛、眶额叶皮层等与奖励相关的脑区及视觉注意网络的激活。未来研究需要：(1)从动态角度研究注意偏向, 进一步提高测量的信度; (2)使用专门的范式探究个体因素影响注意偏向的神经机制; (3)严格分离不同状态因素; (4)对被试进行严谨筛选和划分, 做好被试间的对比研究。     

正念冥想在ADHD儿童干预中的应用

正念冥想是有意识、非评判地将注意集中于当下经验的方法。近年来,正念冥想作为一种潜在的方法被引进到ADHD儿童干预领域。因为ADHD儿童的特异性,为了增加正念冥想方案对ADHD儿童的适切性,研究者从练习设置、奖励系统、解释方式和家长纳入几个方面对标准的正念减压训练方案做了改编。越来越多的研究证据表明,正念冥想训练能有效地减轻ADHD儿童的核心缺陷、改善其内外化症状和亲子关系。本文通过对已有相关实证研究的分析认为这些积极的影响可能与ADHD儿童的执行功能与去中心化等心理功能的改善有关,而大脑相关区域激活模式的变化和结构的积极改变可能是正念冥想影响ADHD儿童的神经基础。文章也提出已有研究在内容和方法学上的不足及其以后的探究方向。     

A neurocognitive model of meditation based on activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis

Meditation comprises a series of practices mainly developed in eastern cultures aiming at controlling emotions and enhancing attentional processes. Several authors proposed to divide meditation techniques in focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM) techniques. Previous studies have reported differences in brain networks underlying FA and OM. On the other hand common activations across different meditative practices have been reported. Despite differences between forms of meditation and their underlying cognitive processes, we propose that all meditative techniques could share a central process that would be supported by a core network for meditation since their general common goal is to induce relaxation, regulating attention and developing an attitude of detachment from one's own thoughts. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a quantitative meta-analysis based on activation likelihood estimation (ALE) of 10 neuroimaging studies (91 subjects) on different meditative techniques to evidence the core cortical network subserving meditation. We showed activation of basal ganglia (caudate body), limbic system (enthorinal cortex) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). We discuss the functional role of these structures in meditation and we tentatively propose a neurocognitive model of meditation that could guide future research.     

Immediate effect of two yoga-based relaxation techniques on performance in a letter-cancellation task

The performance in a six-letter cancellation task was assessed with 69 male volunteers, ages 18 to 48 years, immediately before and after two yoga-based relaxation techniques and a control session of equal duration. The techniques were Cyclic Meditation and Supine Rest. Cyclic Meditation consists of alternating cycles of yoga postures and supine rest. After both practices, the net scores were significantly higher, although the magnitude of change was more after Cyclic Meditation than after Supine Rest (24.9% versus 13.6%). There was reduction in scores for wrong cancellations after Cyclic Meditation and not after Supine Rest. The control group showed no change. The results suggest that Cyclic Meditation brings about a greater improvement in performance in this task, which requires selective attention, concentration, visual scanning abilities, and a repetitive motor response.     

运算动量效应的理论解释及其发展性预测因素

了解运算偏差的形成与发展对探索算数运算系统的内在机制具有重要意义, 早期的算数运算能力是儿童理解和进行复杂数学运算的基础。运算动量偏差是指个体在进行基本数学运算时倾向于高估加法运算结果而低估减法运算结果的一种运算偏差, 主要包括三种理论解释, 即注意转移假说、启发式解释和压缩解释。鉴于运算动量效应在成年群体中相对稳定却在不同发展阶段儿童中存在不一致的证据, 数学能力的提高与空间注意的成熟可结合不同的理论解释来阐明儿童发展过程中运算动量效应的变化趋势。未来可以进一步整合多种研究任务以揭示运算动量效应的发展轨迹, 考察数量表征系统与运算动量效应间的关联, 探究运算动量效应在不同运算符号中的稳定性, 探讨不同因素共同作用对运算动量效应的影响, 并设计有关数学能力的干预措施以减少运算动量效应这一运算偏差。     

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Medical Settings

Meditation, as a psychological intervention, has become of increasing interest to psychologists who conduct clinical research with or provide clinical services to medical populations. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a manualized program which teaches a variety of meditation techniques and has frequently been used in medical settings with mixed medical populations. The following is a review of the literature, which provides preliminary support for the effectiveness of MBSR in specific medical populations, including persons with chronic pain, cancer and heart disease. Despite these encouraging findings, experts agree that continued research is needed, especially controlled studies with more rigorous methodology.     

Occipital gamma activation during Vipassana meditation

Long-term Vipassana meditators sat in meditation vs. a control rest (mind-wandering) state for 21 min in a counterbalanced design with spontaneous EEG recorded. Meditation state dynamics were measured with spectral decomposition of the last 6 min of the eyes-closed silent meditation compared to control state. Meditation was associated with a decrease in frontal delta (1–4 Hz) power, especially pronounced in those participants not reporting drowsiness during meditation. Relative increase in frontal theta (4–8 Hz) power was observed during meditation, as well as significantly increased parieto-occipital gamma (35–45 Hz) power, but no other state effects were found for the theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–12 Hz), or beta (12–25 Hz) bands. Alpha power was sensitive to condition order, and more experienced meditators exhibited no tendency toward enhanced alpha during meditation relative to the control task. All participants tended to exhibit decreased alpha in association with reported drowsiness. Cross-experimental session occipital gamma power was the greatest in meditators with a daily practice of 10+ years, and the meditation-related gamma power increase was similarly the strongest in such advanced practitioners. The findings suggest that long-term Vipassana meditation contributes to increased occipital gamma power related to long-term meditational expertise and enhanced sensory awareness.     

Transcendental meditation and mirror-tracing skill.

Learning, performance and patterns of inter- and intra-individual variability of 32 experienced Transcendental Meditators were compared to those of 32 non-meditators. The data indicated that certain effects attributed to the practice of Transcendental Meditation (such as increased alertness and maintenance of attention, greater consistency and less anxiety) are not manifested in terms of learning and performance of a novel perceptual-motor skill.     

The protective role of long-term meditation on the decline of the executive component of attention in aging: a preliminary cross-sectional study

Life expectancy is constantly increasing. However, a longer life not always corresponds to a healthier life. Indeed, even normal aging is associated with a decline in different cognitive functions. It has been proposed that a central mechanism that could contribute to this widespread cognitive decline is an ineffective inhibitory attentional control. Meditation, to the other hand, has been associated, in young adults, to enhancement of several attentional processes. Nevertheless, attention is not a unitary construct. An influent model proposed the distinction of three subsystems: the alerting (the ability to reach and maintain a vigilance state), the orienting (the capacity of focusing attention on a subset of stimuli), and the conflict resolution or executive component (the ability to resolve conflict or allocate limited resources between competing stimuli). Here, we investigated, employing the Attentional Network Task (ANT), the specific impact of age on these three subcomponents, and the protective role of long-term meditation testing a group of older adults naïve to meditation, a group of age-matched adults with long-term practice of meditation, and a group of young adults with no previous meditation experience. We reported a specific decline of the efficiency of the executive component in elderly that was not observed in age-matched meditators. Our results are encouraging for the investigation of the potential beneficial impact of meditation on other cognitive processes that decline in aging such as memory. Moreover, they could inform geriatric healthcare prevention and intervention strategies, proposing a new approach for cognitive remediation in elderly populations.