Smart Colette M, Segalowitz Sidney J
Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada.
Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2017 Dec;17(6):1151-1163. doi: 10.3758/s13415-017-0539-3.
A sizeable body of literature demonstrates positive effects of mindfulness training on brain, behavior, and psychological processes in both novice and expert practitioners as compared to non-meditators. However, only more recently has research begun to examine the specific mechanisms by which mindfulness exerts these effects. In the current study, we used event-related potentials (error-related negativity (ERN), error positivity (Pe)) to test the hypothesis that performance monitoring is one such mechanism. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in healthy older adults (n = 36), relevant because markers of performance monitoring are known to decline with normal aging. Compared to an active control condition, mindfulness participants showed an increase in the ERN, without an increase in the Pe. Participants in both groups reported a reduction in self-report of anxiety and self-judgment of one's own mental functioning, indicating the subjective impression of benefit from each intervention type. The current results are important insofar as they support the purported self-regulatory functions of mindfulness (i.e., learning to respond, not react), as well as demonstrating that such positive effects can be obtained in an older adult sample, both of which have important implications for intervention.
大量文献表明，与非冥想者相比，正念训练对新手和专业从业者的大脑、行为及心理过程均有积极影响。然而，直到最近研究才开始探究正念产生这些影响的具体机制。在本研究中，我们使用事件相关电位（错误相关负波（ERN）、错误正波（Pe））来检验这样一个假设，即绩效监测是其中一种机制。我们对健康的老年人（n = 36）进行了一项随机对照试验，这很有意义，因为已知绩效监测指标会随着正常衰老而下降。与主动对照条件相比，正念组参与者的ERN增加，而Pe未增加。两组参与者报告称焦虑自评和对自身心理功能的自我评判均有所减少，这表明每种干预类型都带来了主观的受益感受。当前结果很重要，因为它们支持了正念所谓的自我调节功能（即学会回应而非反应），同时还表明在老年样本中也能获得这种积极效果，这两者对干预都具有重要意义。
