TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Mechanisms of mindfulness: the dynamics of affective adaptation during open monitoring
JO  - Biological psychology
A1  - Uusberg, Helen
A1  - Uusberg, Andero
A1  - Talpsep, Teri
A1  - Paaver, Marika
SP  - 94
EP  - 106
VL  - 118
IS  - 
N2  - Mindfulness - the nonjudgmental awareness of the present experience - is thought to facilitate affective adaptation through increased exposure to emotions and faster extinction of habitual responses. To test this framework, the amplification of the Late Positive Potential (LPP) by negative relative to neutral images was analyzed across stimulus repetitions while 37 novices performed an open monitoring mindfulness exercise. Compared to two active control conditions where attention was either diverted to a distracting task or the stimuli were attended without mindfulness instructions, open monitoring enhanced the initial LPP response to negative stimuli, indicating increased emotional exposure. Across successive repetitions, mindfulness reduced and ultimately removed the affective LPP amplification, suggesting extinction of habitual emotional reactions. This effect arose from reduced negative as well enlarged neutral LPPs. Unlike stimuli from control conditions, the images previously viewed with mindfulness instructions did not elicit affective LPP amplification during subsequent re-exposure, suggesting reconsolidation of stimulus meaning.<br><br>Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0301-0511
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2016.05.004
ID  - ref1
ER  -