Pavlov Sergei V, Reva Natalia V, Loktev Konstantin V, Korenyok Vladimir V, Aftanas Lyubomir I
Laboratory of Psychophysiology of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Scientific Research Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine" under the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation, Timakova St. 4, 630117 Novosibirsk, Russia.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2015 Mar;95(3):363-71. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2015.01.002. Epub 2015 Jan 9.
Meditation has been found to be an efficient strategy for coping with stress in healthy individuals and in patients with psychosomatic disorders. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the psychophysiological mechanisms of beneficial effects of meditation on cardiovascular reactivity. We examined effects of long-term Sahaja Yoga meditation on cardiovascular reactivity during affective image processing under "unregulated" and "emotion regulation" conditions. Twenty two experienced meditators and 20 control subjects participated in the study. Under "unregulated" conditions participants were shown neutral and affective images and were asked to attend to them. Under "emotion regulation" conditions they down-regulated negative affect through reappraisal of negative images or up-regulated positive affect through reappraisal of positive images. Under "unregulated" conditions while anticipating upcoming images meditators vs. controls did not show larger pre-stimulus total peripheral resistance and greater cardiac output for negative images in comparison with neutral and positive ones. Control subjects showed TPR decrease for negative images only when they consciously intended to reappraise them (i.e. in the "emotion regulation" condition). Both meditators and controls showed comparable cardiovascular reactivity during perception of positive stimuli, whereas up-regulating of positive affect was associated with more pronounced cardiac activation in meditators. The findings provide some insight into understanding the beneficial influence of meditation on top-down control of emotion and cardiovascular reactivity.
冥想已被发现是健康个体以及患有身心障碍的患者应对压力的有效策略。本研究的主要目的是探究冥想对心血管反应产生有益影响的心理生理机制。我们考察了长期的霎哈嘉瑜伽冥想在“无调节”和“情绪调节”条件下对情感图像加工过程中心血管反应的影响。22名有经验的冥想者和20名对照参与者参与了本研究。在“无调节”条件下，向参与者展示中性和情感图像，并要求他们关注这些图像。在“情绪调节”条件下，他们通过重新评估负面图像来下调负面情绪，或者通过重新评估正面图像来上调正面情绪。在“无调节”条件下，在预期即将出现的图像时，与中性和正面图像相比，冥想者与对照者在面对负面图像时并未表现出更大的刺激前总外周阻力和更高的心输出量。对照参与者仅在有意识地打算重新评估负面图像时（即在“情绪调节”条件下）才表现出总外周阻力下降。在对正面刺激的感知过程中，冥想者和对照者表现出相当的心血管反应，而在冥想者中，上调正面情绪与更明显的心脏激活有关。这些发现为理解冥想对情绪和心血管反应的自上而下控制的有益影响提供了一些见解。
