Author: Zhang W1, Ouyang Y2, Tang F3, Chen J4, Li H5
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>College of Education Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang 421002, China; Mental Health Center, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng 224051, China.
<sup>2</sup>Department of Physical Education, China University of Petroleum, 266580, China.
<sup>3</sup>College of Education Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang 421002, China. Electronic address: brain_mental@126.com.
<sup>4</sup>Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
<sup>5</sup>Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. Electronic address: albert2013418@sina.cn.
Conference/Journal: Brain Cogn.
Date published: 2019 Jul 30
Other:
Volume ID: 135 , Pages: 103585 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103585. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 221
Breath-focused mindfulness (BFM), which induces changes in brain structure and function, is applied in the clinical treatment of mental disorders as a method to regulate one's emotions. However, whether BFM works through a top-down emotional regulation strategy to alter brain dynamics and its relationship with individual differences in trait mindfulness are unclear. Event-related potentials (ERPs) of 20 healthy BFM-naïve undergraduates were recorded when they conducted BFM/viewing tasks while viewing affective pictures. Participants completed the Attentional Control Scale (ACS) and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). The results indicated that under the viewing condition, positive and negative pictures elicited greater P1, N2, and late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes than did neutral pictures. However, BFM attenuated P1, N2, and LPP amplitudes for positive and negative pictures but not for neutral pictures. P1 amplitudes for emotional minus neutral pictures correlated with individual differences in focus attention measured by the ACS, while N2 amplitudes for emotional minus neutral pictures correlated with individual differences in trait mindfulness measured by the MAAS. These observations suggest that, consistent with the dual-process model, BFM is an effective emotion regulation strategy and might activate the dorsal top-down prefrontal system to alter early and late neural dynamics of affective processing.
Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS: Affective picture; Breath-focused mindfulness; Emotion regulation; Event-related potential; Top-down
PMID: 31374347 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103585