Dear Members of the Mind-Brain-Mindfulness Community,
We would like to invite you all to the next MBM meeting, which will be held on May 2nd.
Where: Medical Faculty Building (MF Gebouw), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Google Map Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/TjeYev4dBdSva1ke6).
Room number: D-618 (6th floor, D-wing)
Or on Zoom: https://vu-live.zoom.us/j/7466791720?pwd=d3hEelVkYU1HWjhGNnhhQlJCd3lwQT09&omn=91281852465
Meeting ID: 746 679 1720
Passcode: 312865
When: Friday, 2nd of May 2025, 13:30 h -17:00 h
And here’s the agenda:
13:30 – 13:40 Arrival and Settle down
13:40 – 13:55 Guided Meditation
13:55 – 14:10 Introductions: Who am I? What do I expect from this meeting? What am I working on? What am I excited about (and what am I struggling with) lately regarding work?
14:15 – 15:00 Talk by Dr. Miguel Farias, Associate Professor (Coventry University)
From self-development to self-transcendence: Towards a diverse and multidimensional science of meditation
I will give a brief history of the development of therapeutic meditation in the past 100 years, including Western mindfulness, before embarking on a journey of the diversity of meditation practices. I will make the case for a new meditation research agenda that includes self-transcendent goals and an acknowledgement of hierarchies of non-ordinary states of consciousness. Finally, I will give an example of a multidimensional ongoing study where we are exploring heart-centred meditation and ‘heart-knowing’.
15:05 – 15:30 Talk by Surya Rajan, PhD Student (Vrije University Amsterdam)
Control over conscious perception through meditation?
Buddhist contemplative traditions posit that perception is substantially colored by entrenched habits of the mind and proposes techniques to liberate one from habitual seeing. In this study, we examined the extent of meditation-induced volitional control over visual perception during Binocular Rivalry (BR), a perceptual phenomenon triggered when distinct stimuli appear to overlap spatio-temporally, resulting in rapid perceptual alternation rather than veridical continuous mixed percept. Twenty-four advanced meditators were tested in 3 conditions: no-meditation, Focused Attention (FA), and Open Monitoring (OM) meditation; each condition consisted of self-report, no-report, and localizer blocks. We hypothesized FA – by upweighting attention to the currently perceived stimulus – would increase individual percept duration, whereas OM – by being attentive equally to all aspects of experience – would induce longer mixed percepts. This, in turn, should decrease perceptual switches in both meditation conditions. Switches were computed using behavioral self-reports and two complementary EEG analysis methods: frequency-tagging and pattern-classification. In line with the hypotheses, behavioral reports revealed fewer switches in both FA and OM conditions compared to baseline. At the neural level, switches estimated from frequency tagging did not correlate with behavioral self-reports. However, preliminary results from pattern classification performed in combination with frequency tagging show high decoding accuracy and high correlation between estimated switches and self-reports in the baseline condition, demonstrating a potential tool for rivalry-tracking in advanced meditators.
15:30 – 15:45 Tea break
15:50 – 16:10 Talk by Dr. Giulia Zoppolat, Post-doctoral fellow (VuMC)
Accuracy and bias in the perceptions of partner’s negative emotions: the role of trait mindfulness
Theoretical and empirical work suggests that mindfulness is beneficial for close relationships. However, the ways in which mindfulness shapes important relational processes are not well understood. The current study examines the role that trait mindfulness plays in shaping people’s perceptions of their romantic partner’s emotions. In two dyadic studies (Study 1 n = 121 couples; Study 2 n = 138 couples), heterosexual couples engaged in a conversation about a problem in their relationship. Prior to the conversation, participants completed measures of their relational (Study 1) or general trait (Study 2) mindfulness, and then rated their own and their partner’s (negative) emotions immediately following the conflict. Multilevel Truth and Bias models were used to assess accuracy and bias in perceptions. Results revealed that men low in mindfulness overestimated their partner’s negative emotions especially when their partners’ negative emotions were higher, whereas more mindful men did not overestimate their partners’ negative emotions and were less perceptually sensitive to their partner’s higher levels of negative emotions. This pattern of results was less consistent for women. Overall, this study advances understanding of how mindfulness may enhance relationships by suggesting that mindfulness reduces hypervigilance to and overestimation of partner’s negative emotions, particularly for men.
16:15 – 16:45 Talk by Dr. Niels van Doessum, Assistant Professor (Leiden University):
Social mindfulness and the SoMi Paradigm: A decade of research on low-cost prosociality
Operationalised in the SoMi paradigm, social mindfulness is a form of prosociality in which people can be thoughtful of others at little cost or effort by actively considering those others’ needs and wishes before making a decision. One way to do so is to let one’s decisions be guided by the principle of not restricting the others’ options. Focusing on leaving versus limiting other people’s choice, we review a decade (and some) of research on social mindfulness, structured as the interplay between individuals (self) and their social environment (others). Social mindfulness differs across countries and regions; it also predicts other forms of more costly prosocial behaviour. We propose that socially mindful decisions are often the preferred option for first movers in most social situations among strangers as the safe line of action. Finally, we offer five propositions that focus on how social mindfulness may function in
everyday social life.
16:45 – 17:00 Plans for the next meeting
When will the next meeting be?
Who would like to present in future meetings?
Suggestions to improve these meetings?
17:00 onwards: Drinks @ The Living Cafe on VU campus (optional)
And for more information about past events please visit: https://mindbrainmindfulness.wordpress.com/programs-2024/
With the warmest regards,
Team MBM
(Ivana, Surya, Henk, Marieke)
Dear Members of the Mind-Brain-Mindfulness Community,
Here is the agenda for the meeting on the 17th of January 2025:
13:30 – 13:45 Arrival and Settle down
13:45 – 14:00 Guided Meditation
14:00 – 14:20 Introductions: Who am I? What do I expect from this meeting? What am I
working on? What am I excited about (and what am I struggling with) lately regarding work?
14:25 – 14:55 Talk by Dr. Ivana Buric, Postdoctoral fellow (University of Amsterdam)
Advancing Mindfulness Research: From Consortium Development to Proof-of-Concept
Insights
This talk will describe the process of establishing the Psychobiology of Mindfulness
consortium, an interdisciplinary initiative designed to pool and harmonise diverse
psychological, neural, and immune data to address the challenges of fragmented mindfulness
research. I will share insights into the practical steps involved in consortium creation,
including engaging researchers, harmonising data across studies, and developing a user-
friendly open science database that adheres to the highest ethical standards.
The second half of the talk will focus on a proof-of-concept project illustrating the
consortium’s potential. Using a harmonised dataset of 1143 participants from nine studies, the
project showcases the feasibility of integrating biopsychosocial data and applying machine
learning to predict individual responses to mindfulness-based interventions. Results highlight significant variability in intervention outcomes, with key predictors such as trait mindfulness,
heart-rate variability, and inflammation. Predictive modelling achieved moderate accuracy,
demonstrating the promise of large-scale collaborative data efforts.
15:00 – 15:30 Talk by Prof. Henk Barendregt, Vipassana Teacher, Emeritus Professor of
Foundations of Mathematics and Computer Science (Radboud University)
The medical simile extended
Rather than stating that the path of the dhamma eliminates suffering
(although not false), one better says that it enables deconditioning
unwholesome circular mental patterns.
The traditional simile states that our Great Friend (the Buddha)
encountered symptoms, diagnosed the illness, found a medicine and also
a cure how to recover (the Four Noble/Ennobling Truths).
In the course of history the perception of the Buddha was extended,
from being a healer/teacher to also being a savior. The former idea leads to mental
development, the second to veneration, taking refuge. Rather than seeing these as two
different paths, one can synthesize them.
Extended simile
veneration (bhakti): taking a placebo;
discipline (sila): taking the vow to observe hygiene;
concentration (samadhi): taking a symptomatic medicine;
wisdom (pañña): taking antibiotics;
liberation (magga): getting a vaccine, becoming immune.
15:30 – 15:50 Tea break
16:00 – 16:15 Talk by Ema Muža & Ivana Marijanović (University of Amsterdam)
Mindfulness in Schools: Feasibility and Preliminary Outcomes of a Cluster Randomized
Trial
This talk will focus on the feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a cluster randomized trial
exploring the application of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in school settings for
early adolescents aged 10 to 14 (N=133). The newly designed 8-week MBI included a
collaborative approach between an external mindfulness teacher and an internal school
teacher trained to facilitate the intervention. The study investigates key outcomes related to
interpersonal, emotional, and behavioral domains, alongside measures related to intervention adherence and satisfaction. Findings are situated within the existing literature, highlighting
both the potential and challenges of implementing MBIs in educational contexts. The session
will conclude with a discussion of recommendations for advancing mindfulness research in
schools, including ways for improving implementation and achieving meaningful outcomes
for youth.
16:20 – 16:35 Talk by Lucija Žderić (University of Amsterdam)
A Randomised Controlled Trial of the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
on Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
This study examined the effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for
patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) on several outcomes, including physical and mental
quality of life, mood, stress, anxiety, depression, pain perception, disease activity and
disability. A randomized controlled trial compared MBCT with Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy (CBT) and treatment as usual (TAU) across 113 participants, with assessments
conducted at baseline, two months (end of intervention), and six months (follow-up). A
repeated-measures multivariate analysis of covariance (RM-MANCOVA), controlling for
age, was conducted to evaluate the effects of the interventions on key outcomes. The findings
raise important questions about the influence of teacher characteristics, the role of concurrent
medical treatments, and the impact of prior exposure to introductory programs on the
observed outcomes.
16:40 – 17:00 Plans for the next meeting
Who would like to present in future meetings? Suggestions to improve the meetings?
17:00 onwards: Drinks @ The Living Cafe on VU campus (optional)
MBM 