Meditation and Decision Making Study III

NCT02313779 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 12-2428R01AT007884-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 240
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The overarching goal of the proposed research is to investigate the role of emotions in facilitating successful lifestyle change, defined as healthy behavioral decisions repeated daily, or near daily. Participants are asked to make two lab visits during the course of four weeks to complete electronic questionnaires, be monitored for psychophysiological activity (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, respiration), and listen to a guided meditation audio track. Additionally, between the two visits participants will be asked to complete weekly surveys that ask about daily meditation practice (outside of the lab) and general emotions.

Conditions

Meditation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Change in positive emotions (as measured by the Modified Daily Emotions Scale)

  Modified Daily Emotions Scale (mDES) - This measure of explicit positive affect has been successfully used by the PI in multiple studies to detect changes in positive emotion. Previous work by the PI found that Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the mDES positive emotion composite variable was 0.93 in sample of mid-life community adults similar to those anticipated for this study.

  Baseline and Weeks 1, 2, and 3

• Change in nonconscious incentive salience (as measured by the Affect Misattribution Procedure)

  Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) - This measure of nonconscious incentive salience has acceptable internal consistency for an indirect measure of affect (.69 - .90) and has been found to predict judgments and behavioral outcomes above and beyond self-report measures.

  Baseline and Weeks 1, 2, and 3

• Changes in meditation time

  Self-reported meditation time recorded daily and weekly. In addition, meditation track play times will be recorded from the iPod.

  Weeks 1, 2, and 3

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Cardiac Vagal Tone

  Baseline

Study Arms (4)

Neutral

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Reading passage about brain function which is masked as a news article.

Behavioral: Lovingkindness Meditation (LKM); Behavioral: Mindfulness Meditation

Lovingkindness Meditation (LKM)

EXPERIMENTAL

Lovingkindness guided meditation experienced in the laboratory and 6 additional LKM meditations taken home on the iPod.

Behavioral: Lovingkindness Meditation (LKM)

Mindfulness Meditation

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Mindfulness guided meditation experienced in the laboratory and 6 additional Mindfulness meditations taken home on the iPod.

Behavioral: Mindfulness Meditation

Positivity

EXPERIMENTAL

Reading passage about prioritizing positive emotions which is masked as a news article.

Behavioral: Lovingkindness Meditation (LKM); Behavioral: Mindfulness Meditation

Interventions

Lovingkindness Meditation (LKM) BEHAVIORAL

Compassionate behavior training (REVISE)

Lovingkindness Meditation (LKM); Neutral; Positivity

Mindfulness Meditation BEHAVIORAL

Mindfulness Meditation; Neutral; Positivity

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 35 Years - 64 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Fluent in written and spoken English, with a high school reading level
• Willingness or interest in learning to meditate
• Computer literate with internet access

You may not qualify if:

• Individuals who are able to read Chinese logographs
• Individuals who have or have had a regular meditation practice, defined as having attended a 6-week or longer meditation class, practicing meditation at least 3 days a week for up to 6-weeks.
• Individuals with allergies to adhesive materials

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Barbara L. Fredrickson, PhD: lead
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

UNC PEP Lab

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27514, United States

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Fredrickson BL, Cohn MA, Coffey KA, Pek J, Finkel SM. Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008 Nov;95(5):1045-1062. doi: 10.1037/a0013262.

  PMID: 18954193 BACKGROUND

• Carmody J, Baer RA, L B Lykins E, Olendzki N. An empirical study of the mechanisms of mindfulness in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. J Clin Psychol. 2009 Jun;65(6):613-26. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20579.

  PMID: 19267330 BACKGROUND

• Johnson KJ, Waugh CE, Fredrickson BL. Smile to see the forest: Facially expressed positive emotions broaden cognition. Cogn Emot. 2010 Feb 19;24(2):299-321. doi: 10.1080/02699930903384667.

  PMID: 23275681 BACKGROUND

• Payne BK, Cheng CM, Govorun O, Stewart BD. An inkblot for attitudes: affect misattribution as implicit measurement. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2005 Sep;89(3):277-93. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.89.3.277.

  PMID: 16248714 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Mindfulness

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities

Study Officials

• Barbara L Fredrickson, PhD

  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Nonconscious Affective and Physiological Mediators of Behavioral Decision Making Study 3

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 8, 2014
• First Posted: December 10, 2014
• Study Start: December 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: October 1, 2015
• Study Completion: October 1, 2015
• Last Updated: July 15, 2016

Record last verified: 2016-07

Locations

US (1)