Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective.

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Antoine Lutz, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center; Amishi P. Jha, University of Miami; John Dunne, Emory University; Clifford D. Saron, University of California Davis
• Language: English
• Date: 2016-10-01
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0039585
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: American Psychologist
• Volume: 70
• Issue: 7
• Start Page: 632
• End Page: 658
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported for AL by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) P01AT004952, by an International Re-integration Grant (IRG), FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, ERC Consolidator Grant (BRAINandMINDFULNESS, 617739) and by a gift from the Adam J. Weissman foundation, for APJ by Dept of Army Grant W81XWH-12-2-0051 and W81XWH-11-2-0124, for CDS by Fetzer Institute grant #2191 and John Templeton Foundation grant 39970, and for JDD by the Hershey Family Foundation.
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

There has been a great increase in literature concerned with the effects of a variety of mental training regimes that generally fall within what might be called contemplative practices, and a majority of these studies have focused on mindfulness. Mindfulness meditation practices can be conceptualized as a set of attention-based, regulatory, and self-inquiry training regimes cultivated for various ends, including wellbeing and psychological health. This article examines the construct of mindfulness in psychological research and reviews recent, nonclinical work in this area. Instead of proposing a single definition of mindfulness, we interpret it as a continuum of practices involving states and processes that can be mapped into a multidimensional phenomenological matrix which itself can be expressed in a neurocognitive framework. This phenomenological matrix of mindfulness is presented as a heuristic to guide formulation of next-generation research hypotheses from both cognitive/behavioral and neuroscientific perspectives. In relation to this framework, we review selected findings on mindfulness cultivated through practices in traditional and research settings, and we conclude by identifying significant gaps in the literature and outline new directions for research.