Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Neural Mechanisms of Improved Emotion Regulation Following Mindfulness Training: an fMRI Study

Objective

Training in mindfulness, the non-judgmental observation of experiences as they arise in the present moment, has been increasingly and successfully applied to the treatment of normative stress conditions and mental disorders. Yet, the neurological mechanisms that underlie the reported improvements are still largely unknown. This longitudinal study will investigate the influence of mindfulness training on a key underpinning of mental health, namely emotion regulation, and its associated brain activity. Healthy participants will be randomly assigned to either a validated eight week Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program or to a control condition. In a pre-post investigation, participants’ subjective reactions to aversive emotional stimuli (affective facial expressions) will be assessed, as will the associated brain activation using fMRI. We hypothesize that after the training the MBSR participants will rate the pictures as less aversive compared to control participants. Furthermore, the MBSR participants will show a patter of brain activation indicative of improved emotion regulation, relative to control participants. Finally, the effect of MBSR on the gray matter structure of the brain will be investigated.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Topic(s)

Call for proposal

FP7-PEOPLE-IOF-2008
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

MC-IOF - International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF)

Coordinator

JUSTUS-LIEBIG-UNIVERSITAET GIESSEN
EU contribution
€ 232 967,52
Address
LUDWIGSTRASSE 23
35390 GIESSEN
Germany
Region
Berlin Berlin Berlin
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data