Carolina Baptista Menezes

The Improvement of Emotion and Attention Regulation after a 6-Week Training of Focused Meditation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Self-regulatory trainings can be an effective complementary treatment for mental health disorders. We investigated the effects of a six-week-focused meditation training on emotion and attention regulation in undergraduates randomly allocated to a meditation, a relaxation, or a wait-list control group. Assessment comprised a discrimination task that investigates the relationship between attentional load and emotional processing and self-report measures. For emotion regulation, results showed greater reduction in emotional interference in the low attentional load condition in meditators, particularly compared to relaxation. Only meditators presented a significant association between amount of weekly practice and the reduction in emotion interference in the task and significantly reduced image ratings of negative valence and arousal, perceived anxiety and difficulty during the task, and state and trait-anxiety. For attention regulation, response bias during the task was analyzed through signal detection theory. After training, meditation and relaxation significantly reduced bias in the high attentional load condition. Importantly, there was a dose-response effect on general bias: the lowest in meditation, increasing linearly across relaxation and wait-list. Only meditators reduced omissions in a concentrated attention test. Focused meditation seems to be an effective training for emotion and attention regulation and an alternative for treatments in the mental health context.

Os efeitos da meditação à luz da investigação científica em Psicologia: revisão de literatura

Meditation, described as a practice of body and mind self-regulation, is characterized by a set of techniques that train the focalization of attention. Also known as a mental training, this practice characterizes a technique capable of producing psychosomatic effects. This paper presents a revision of some evidence on the benefits of meditation and its role for clinical application. A great deal of research has shown its efficacy, especially concerning its association with the reduction of symptoms related to stress and anxiety. Besides that, research has indicated that this practice can produce short and long term effects, affecting positively the cognitive and affective functions. We discuss the aspects related to the definitions and particularities of each technique and the contexts to which meditation can be linked to. Despite growing evidence on the relationship between meditation and physical and mental health, it is still necessary to carry out further investigation.

Por que meditar? A experiência subjetiva da prática de meditação

Meditation, characterized as the training of full attention to the consciousness of the present moment, has been associated with greater mental, emotional and physical well-being. This study aimed at investigating how practitioners of the passive meditation - silent and sitting - perceive the impact of their training on their daily lives. A total of 105 participants, whom had been going to a meditation center in the city of Porto Alegre for at least one month, answered an open question investigating how meditation reflects on their lives. Through content analysis six categories representing the effects of meditation were identified: cognitive, emotional, physical, spiritual, social and others. Through Poisson regression some factors associated with the categories identified were observed. It has been concluded that the subjective experience of meditation can influence life in many ways, especially concerning cognitive and emotional benefits, and that this practice could be a tool for a healthy psychological development.Meditation, characterized as the training of full attention to the consciousness of the present moment, has been associated with greater mental, emotional and physical well-being. This study aimed at investigating how practitioners of the passive meditation – silent and sitting – perceive the impact of their training on their daily lives. A total of 105 participants, whom had been going to a meditation center in the city of Porto Alegre for at least one month, answered an open question investigating how meditation reflects on their lives. Through content analysis six categories representing the effects of meditation were identified: cognitive, emotional, physical, spiritual, social and others. Through Poisson regression some factors associated with the categories identified were observed. It has been concluded that the subjective experience of meditation can influence life in many ways, especially concerning cognitive and emotional benefits, and that this practice could be a tool for a healthy psychological development.

Yoga and the Interplay between Attentional Load and Emotion Interference

This study compared 45 yoga practitioners (M age = 29.7yr., SD = 6.4) and 45 matched controls (M age = 29.3yr., SD = 6.2) on the performance of a behavioral task that assessed negative emotion interference during a high- and a low-attentional demand condition, as well as on state and trait anxiety scores. Outcomes were also compared between beginner and advanced practitioners. For the behavioral task, the final sample comprised 36 yoga and 38 control participants. The yoga group presented lower emotion interference in the high attentional condition, compared to the low attentional condition; rated emotional images as less unpleasant, compared to controls; and reported lower state and trait anxiety scores relative to controls. Also, emotion interference in the low attentional condition was lower among advanced practitioners and state anxiety was lower among practitioners attending more than two weekly yoga classes. The results suggested that yoga may help improve self-regulatory skills and lower anxiety. The psychological mechanisms underlying the relationship between yoga and emotion regulation should be further investigated in longitudinal studies.

Effects of a Brief Meditation Training on Negative Affect, Trait Anxiety and Concentrated Attention

Meditation has been associated with positive psychological outcomes, but few studies have investigated brief interventions. This randomized controlled pilot study assessed the effects of five days of focused meditation on positive and negative affect, state and trait anxiety, as well as concentrated attention in a nonclinical sample distributed in two groups (experimental = 14, 51.8% female, Mage= 23.9; control = 19, 62% female, Mage= 24.9). The instruments used were the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale, State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Concentrated Attention Test. The meditation group reduced negative affect and trait anxiety, and also improved correct responses on the attention test, relative to controls. These preliminary findings indicate that even short focused meditation training may help improve some psychological variables. It is discussed that the early manifestation of these benefits may be especially relevant to strengthen the motivation to continue and practice regularly.

Inhibitory Control and Impulsivity Levels in Women Crack Users

ABSTRACT Objective: investigate impulsivity levels and inhibitory control in women crack users and explore the relationships between impulsivity and inhibitory control. Method and Design: 52 healthy women (M = 32.83 years; SD = 9.54) and 46 crack cocaine users (M = 31.02 years; SD = 7.73), in abstinence, performed the assessment protocol included a Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a GO/No-Go Task and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale–11 (BIS-11). It was a quantitative research with cross-sectional design and control group. Results: crack group showed higher levels of impulsivity in all domains when compared to the control group (crack group M = 76.39, SD = 11.39, control group M = 58.53, SD = 10.76, p <.01). Participants from the crack group presented a significantly higher total reaction time in the Go-NoGo task (F(1,93) = 9.93, p =.002; effect size =.09, observed power =.87) and significantly more commission (F(1,93) = 7.20, p =.009; effect size =.07, observed power =.75) and omission errors (F(1,93) = 6.04, p =.01; effect size =.06, observed power =.68), in Go/NoGo Task. Groups did also significantly differ on total standard deviations suggesting that variability in total reaction time was significantly greater in the crack group. Results showed that only in the crack group there were significant correlations between Go-NoGo parameters and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Conclusions: Our findings are consistent that impulsivity and inhibitory control are closely linked to crack use in women. Future studies should consider to evaluate crack users in different withdrawal times, controlling the impact of abstinence time in the variables studied.

Processamento implícito e dependência química: teoria, avaliação e perspectivas

Recent studies have investigated the implicit cognitive mechanisms that influence the decision to use drugs and drug use behavior, such as attentional bias and reactivity to cues. Those responses are automatically elicited and can increase vulnerability to addiction and relapse. This review aimed to present theoretical perspective of dual-process models of addictive behaviors and to discuss the influence of automatic processes in drug intake, how they can be assessed, and techniques to directly modify them. The results suggest that implicit measures can assess the automatic mechanisms more accurately than explicit measures. Therefore, it is suggested that interventions aimed at the transformation of implicit cognitions can be effective alternatives for the treatment of addictive behaviors.

RUMINAÇÃO E HABILIDADES DE MINDFULNESS EM PRATICANTES E NÃO PRATICANTES DE MEDITAÇÃO

***Rumination and mindfulness skills in meditation practitioners and non practitioners***We compared mindfulness and rumination between meditators and non meditators aging 16-65 years old, and investigated correlations between these variables for each group and their relation to amount of meditative practice. Rumination and Reflection Questionnaire and Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire were used. Meditators had significantly lower scores of rumination and higher scores on the mindfulness facets observe, describe, act with awareness and not react. Act with awareness, not judge and not react negatively correlated with rumination in both groups, but association was stronger for meditators. Time in months and weekly frequency correlated positively with facets of mindfulness and negatively with rumination. Results support that meditation may foster mindfulness and reduced rumination, and corroborate the understanding that these changes are potential psychological mechanisms underlying the relationship between meditation and emotional regulation.

Gênero e a capacidade de identificação de emoções expressas pela face

Recognizing emotional expressions is enabled by a fundamental sociocognitive mechanism of human nature. This study compared 114 women and 104 men on the identification of basic emotions on a recognition task that used culturally adapted and validated faces to the Brazilian context. It was also investigated whether gender differences on emotion recognition would vary according to different exposure times. Women were generally better at detecting facial expressions, but an interaction suggested that the female superiority was particularly observed for anger, disgust, and surprise; results did not change according to age or time exposure. However, regardless of sex, total accuracy improved as presentation times increased, but only fear and anger significantly differed between the presentation times. Hence, in addition to the support of the evolutionary hypothesis of the female superiority in detecting facial expressions of emotions, recognition of facial expressions also depend on the time available to correctly identify an expression.

Yoga, psicofisiología y salud: investigación del Departamento de Estudios del Yoga, Patanjali Universidad, India

Techniques such as yoga postures, regulated breathing, relaxation, and meditation have increasingly become investigated in mainstream science. Many of these studies are carried out in India, where most of the practices originated. Here is a report of a professional experience concerning a research internship in the Yoga Research Department from Patanjali University, India, where some of these studies have been conducted. The presented results, which derive from the investigations carried out in the aforementioned department, indicate that such practices can have clinical implications for mental and physical health. Concerning physiology, depending on the particular technique, benefi ts have been noted during, immediately after or some time following the practice. Likewise, both short and long term interventions may produce positive therapeutic changes. However, this is not consistent to all conditions, hence the need to systematically investigate their applications. Psychophysiological changes seem to accompany many of these effects and this is an area that warrants more investigation, especially in Brazil, constituting an emergent fi eld linking the aforementioned techniques, psychology and neuroscience.