Effects of meditation-induced mental states and individual differences on subjective time

Abstract: The experience of the present moment and the bodily self are modulated in altered states of consciousness such as during meditation. Over the last years, research has focused on reporting meditation-related changes on the explicit experience of duration. However, the effects of meditation on the implicit temporal structure of conscious perception pertaining to the present moment experience have not been explored so far.
The major aim of this work was to investigate how states of mindfulness meditation change the temporal span of the present moment experience. A further purpose was to explore the effects of heart rate variability (HRV) and breathing rate in order to clarify the role of mind-body interactions on the present moment experience. Finally, individual differences (e.g. mindfulness, time perspective, daydreaming) and emotional states (e.g. arousal, emotional valence, perceived body and space) which may influence the experience of the present moment, were investigated.
To this end, the present moment was operationalized using three psychophysical tasks (i.e., the metronome task, the Necker cube, and the sequencing task) for testing two different levels of temporal integration (i.e. functional level and subjective present) across modalities (i.e. visual and auditory). We performed a longitudinal study including two measurement time points (i.e. pre and post interventions) within each of the three study sessions. Participants having meditation experience were recruited and assigned to two matched groups (with n = 47 individuals) corresponding to the two experimental conditions (i.e., interventions). The interventions were either a 10-minute meditation session (meditation) or a 10-minute session of listening to a recorded story (story). Participants’ performance in the psychophysical tasks, conducted on three consecutive days, was compared before and after the interventions. The heart rate and breathing activity were recorded during the intervention and compared to a resting-state condition in order to examine whether physiological changes during meditation would affect a) the temporal integration intervals of metronome beats, b) the dwell times in the Necker cube task, and c) the implicit and explicit detection of asynchronies in the sequencing task.
Using mediation analyses, we found that in participants who meditated, meditation-induced states and autonomic physiological changes led to an expanded temporal integration in the metronome task concerning the subjective present in the auditory modality. Furthermore, different components of self-attributed mindfulness (i.e. presence and acceptance) were associated with greater accuracy (i.e., as measured with the explicit sequence-threshold) and
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enhanced implicit time processing (i.e., as measured with the Simon effect) at the functional level. Such effects were not seen for the visual ambiguous figure of the Necker cube (another measure to capture the experienced duration of the present moment) and the detection of sequences of visual stimuli in the millisecond range (capturing the functional moment). The results of the metronome task suggest that mindfulness-meditation states and mindfulness as a trait modulate certain temporal integration mechanisms compatible with the experience of the present moment. These temporal changes seem to be intimately related to autonomic activity providing further understanding of the role of mind-body interactions on the present moment. Additional work will be needed to illuminate the mechanisms underlying the experience of the present moment. The study of meditative states, describable as changes in the present moment experience, remains a promising approach

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Universität Freiburg, Dissertation, 2021

Classification and Topics

• Keyword: Meditation ; Time ; Individual differences

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Freiburg
• (who): Universität
• (when): 2021
• Creator: Gutiérrez, Damisela Linares
• Contributor: Schmidt, Stefan ; Wittmann, Marc ; Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Medizinische Fakultät

Further information

• DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/218296
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2182966
• Rights: Kein Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:43 PM CET