Interoceptive awareness in experienced meditators.

Full Abstract

Attention to internal body sensations is practiced in most meditation traditions. Many traditions state that this practice results in increased awareness of internal body sensations, but scientific studies evaluating this claim are lacking. We predicted that experienced meditators would display performance superior to that of nonmeditators on heartbeat detection, a standard noninvasive measure of resting interoceptive awareness. We compared two groups of meditators (Tibetan Buddhist and Kundalini) to an age- and body mass index-matched group of nonmeditators. Contrary to our prediction, we found no evidence that meditators were superior to nonmeditators in the heartbeat detection task, across several sessions and respiratory modulation conditions. Compared to nonmeditators, however, meditators consistently rated their interoceptive performance as superior and the difficulty of the task as easier. These results provide evidence against the notion that practicing attention to internal body sensations, a core feature of meditation, enhances the ability to sense the heartbeat at rest.

Author information

Author/s: Khalsa, Sahib S (SS); Rudrauf, David (D); Damasio, Antonio R (AR); Davidson, Richard J (RJ); Lutz, Antoine (A); Tranel, Daniel (D);

Affiliation: Neuroscience Graduate Program, Department of Neurology, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. sahib-khalsa(-atsign-)uiowa.edu

Grants: F31 AT003061-01A1 (Agency:NCCAM NIH HHS) ; F31 AT003061-02 (Agency:NCCAM NIH HHS) ; F31AT003061 (Agency:NCCAM NIH HHS) ; R01 DA022549 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; R01 DA022549-01 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; R01 DA022549-02 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; R01 DA022549-03 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; U01 AT002114-01A1 (Agency:NCCAM NIH HHS) ; U01AT002114-01A1 (Agency:NCCAM NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Psychophysiology (Psychophysiology), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jul; vol 45 (issue 4) : pp 671-7

Dates: Created 2008/06/27; Completed 2008/09/10; Revised 2009/07/02;

PMID: 18503485, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 7/3/2009, IMS Date: )

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