Cited by 145Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsPsychological Well-being and Life SatisfactionMind wandering and attention

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Phenomenological Fingerprints of Four Meditations: Differential State Changes in Affect, Mind-Wandering, Meta-Cognition, and Interoception Before and After Daily Practice Across 9 Months of Training

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Kok, Bethany E., Singer, Tania·2017·Mindfulness

DOI 10.1007/s12671-016-0594-9PMC PMC5241345

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Abstract

Despite increasing interest in the effects of mental training practices such as meditation, there is much ambiguity regarding whether and to what extent the various types of mental practice have differential effects on psychological change. To address this gap, we compare the effects of four common meditation practices on measures of state change in affect, mind-wandering, meta-cognition, and interoception. In the context of a 9-month mental training program called the ReSource Project, 229 mid-life adults (mean age 41) provided daily reports before and after meditation practice. Participants received training in the following three successive modules: the first module (presence) included breathing meditation and body scan, the second (affect) included loving-kindness meditation, and the third (perspective) included observing-thought meditation. Using multilevel modeling, we found that body scan led to the greatest state increase in interoceptive awareness and the greatest decrease in thought content, loving-kindness meditation led to the greatest increase in feelings of warmth and positive thoughts about others, and observing-thought meditation led to the greatest increase in meta-cognitive awareness. All practices, including breathing meditation, increased positivity of affect, energy, and present focus and decreased thought distraction. Complementary network analysis of intervariate relationships revealed distinct phenomenological clusters of psychological change congruent with the content of each practice. These findings together suggest that although different meditation practices may have common beneficial effects, each practice can also be characterized by a distinct short-term psychological fingerprint, the latter having important implications for the use of meditative practices in different intervention contexts and with different populations.

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Fig. 1 Study design, timeline, and day-to-day meditation measures. A fourth question block requesting that participants free-write about their mental state was also included in the design but is not discussed here. Section A adapted with permission from Singer et al. (2016), p. 36, Figure 4.1, with the timelines for control groups and long-term follow-ups removedCC BY · PubMed Central

Fig. 2 Estimates and 95 % confidence intervals for model-derived state changes in the four mental training practices of training cohorts 1 and 2CC BY · PubMed Central

Fig. 3 Partial correlation structures for each mental training practice combined across TC1 and TC2. Amount of change is represented by relative circle size and corresponds to the estimates in Table 2. Paths between circles represent the significant partial correlations, with solid lines representing positive and dashed lines representing negative correlations. Variables without significant correlations are not shownCC BY · PubMed Central

Fig. 4 Model-derived state change estimates for loving-kindness meditation for training cohorts 1, 2, and 3. The error bars represent the person-level standard errors. The stars represent change significantly different from zeroCC BY · PubMed Central

Fig. 5 Partial correlation structures for each TC3. Amount of change is represented by relative circle size. Paths between circles represent the significant partial correlations, with solid lines representing positive and dashed lines representing negative correlations. Variables without significant correlations are not shownCC BY · PubMed Central

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Maloney, S., Surawy, C., Martin, M., Montero-Marin, J., & Kuyken, W. (2023) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-023-02193-6 · Cited by 10
“…that is shared across all MBPs. Early research has provided empirical support (Blanck et al., 2018; Car-mody & Baer, 2008; Sauer-Zavala et al., 2013; Schumer et al., 2018; Singer & Kok, 2017) demonstrating that mind-fulness practices can produce independent effects outside the framework of MBPs.”
Background
Effects of mindfulness breathing meditation on stress and cognitive functions: a heart rate variability and eye-tracking study
Hooi, L. Y., Chen, P. L., Tan, K. W., de Vries, M., & Wong, H. K. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-23727-z · Cited by 17
The Need, Feasibility and Willingness to Explore “Meditation on Twin Hearts” as a Self-administered Tool for Mental Health Management among Transgender Women: An Exploratory Survey
Joshi, N., Vinu, V., Jois, S. N., Begum, F., & Salagame, K. K. K. (2021) · Community Mental Health Journal · doi:10.1007/s10597-021-00869-8 · Cited by 11
Shedding Light on Changes in Subjective Experience During an Intensive Contemplative Retreat: The Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology Questionnaire
Abdoun, O., Poublan‐Couzardot, A., Offort, S., Pagnoni, G., & Antoine Lutz, A. (2025) · Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science · doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100474 · Cited by 11
“The LAMP adopted 1 question on the distractibility of thoughts from Kok and Singer (mental stickiness), as well as 4 questions that pertain to the temporal orientation and self/ other orientation of spontaneous thoughts (13).”
Influential
A neuroscience perspective on the plasticity of the social and relational brain
Singer, T. (2025) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/nyas.15319 · Cited by 18
A mindfulness-based compassion workshop and pre-session preparation to enhance therapist effectiveness in psychotherapy: A pilot study
Hunt, C., Goodman, R. D., Hilert, A. J., Hurley, W., & Hill, C. E. (2021) · Counselling Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.1080/09515070.2021.1895724 · Cited by 11
Neurophysiological Signatures of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Adults with Autism: Putative Mechanism of Anxiety Alleviation
Pagni, B. A., Williams, C., Abrams, G., Blais, C., Brewer, G. A., & Braden, B. B. (2023) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-023-02195-4 · Cited by 10
Neurobehavioural Correlates of Breath Meditation in Novice Adolescents: Insights from Anapanasati-based Paradigm
Brahmi, M., Soni, D., Sarkar, S., Desai, A., Sahni, P., & Kumar, J. (2025) · Annals of Neurosciences · doi:10.1177/09727531251326302 · Cited by 11
Exploring the Effects of Variety and Amount of Mindfulness Practices on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Symptoms: Longitudinal Study on a Mental Health–Focused eHealth System for Patients With Breast or Prostate Cancer
Malandrone, F., Urru, S., Berchialla, P., Rossini, P. G., Oliva, F., Bianchi, S., Ottaviano, M., Gonzalez-Martinez, S., Carli, V., Valenza, G., et al. (2024) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/57415 · Cited by 9
Zen meditation neutralizes emotional evaluation, but not implicit affective processing of words
Lusnig, L., Radach, R. R., Mueller, C. J., & Hofmann, M. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0229310 · Cited by 12
Out of sight, out of mind? Exploring the long-term effects of Relational Mindfulness Training (RMT)
Vich, M., Lukeš, M., & Burian, J. (2020) · Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science · doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.04.001 · Cited by 10
Investigating the impact of distinct contemplative mental trainings on daily life stress, thoughts and affect—Evidence from a nine-month longitudinal ecological momentary assessment study
Linz, R., Puhlmann, L. M. C., Engert, V., & Singer, T. (2022) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105800 · Cited by 8
Which Meditation Technique for Whom? An Experimental Single-Case Study Comparing Concentrative, Humming, Observing-Thoughts, and Walking Meditation
Matko, K., & Sedlmeier, P. (2023) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-023-02248-8 · Cited by 8
Fostering Holistic Hand Therapy: Emergent Themes of Client Experiences of Mind–Body Interventions
Takata, S. C., Hardison, M. E., & Roll, S. C. (2019) · OTJR Occupational Therapy Journal of Research · doi:10.1177/1539449219888835 · Cited by 8
A randomized trial on differential changes in thought and affect after mindfulness versus dyadic practice indicates phenomenological fingerprints of app-based interventions
Petzold, P., Silveira, S., Godara, M., Matthaeus, H., & Singer, T. (2023) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-023-40636-1 · Cited by 7
Interoceptive Interventions
Ritz, T., Meuret, A. E., & Corner, S. E. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-68521-7_12 · Cited by 7
How a transdiagnostic approach can improve the treatment of emotional disorders: Insights from clinical psychology and neuroimaging
Zarate‐Guerrero, S., Duran, J. M., & Naismith, I. (2022) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.2704 · Cited by 11
Reduction of auditory input improves performance on the heartbeat tracking task, but does not necessarily enhance interoception
Todd, J., Hina, F., & Aspell, J. E. (2020) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s00221-020-05740-y · Cited by 9
The Impact of a Short Body–Focused Meditation on Body Ownership and Interoceptive Abilities
Schroter, F. A., Siebertz, M., & Jansen, P. (2022) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-022-02039-7 · Cited by 11
“The presence module, which included breathing meditation and body-scan, especially led to improved body awareness, e.g., IS and IAc (Bornemann & Singer, 2017; Bornemann et al., 2015; Kok & Singer, 2017).”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Brief mindfulness-based meditation enhances the speed of learning following positive prediction errors
Golubickis, M., Tan, L., Jalalian, P., Falbén, J. K., & Macrae, N. (2024) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/17470218241228859 · Cited by 10
“Notable psychological fingerprints of this practice include heightened meta-cognitive awareness, enhanced emotional regulation, and increased present-moment focus (Kok & Singer, 2017; Kropp & Sedlmeier, 2019).”
Background
Empowering Students Through Mindfulness and Meditation Practices
Singha, R. (2024) · Advances in educational marketing, administration, and leadership book series · doi:10.4018/979-8-3693-1455-5.ch006 · Cited by 6
Meditation expertise influences response bias and prestimulus alpha activity in the somatosensory signal detection task
Mylius, M., Guendelman, S., Iliopoulos, F., Gallese, V., & Kaltwasser, L. (2024) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.14712 · Cited by 6
The validation of a Mandarin version of the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ-Chinese) in Chinese samples
Ge, Y., Ashwin, C., Li, F., Cao, W., Zhang, Y., Zhao, X., Sun, B., & Li, W. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275903 · Cited by 6
10-Week Trajectories of Candidate Psychological Processes Differentially Predict Mental Health Gains from Online Dyadic versus Mindfulness Interventions: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Godara, M., & Singer, T. (2024) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm13113295 · Cited by 5
“…intervention modules, it was shown that attention-focused mindfulness practices led to enhanced interoceptive awareness and attention control [30,31], socio-cognitive perspective-taking practices led to improvements in meta-cognitive awareness and Theory of Mind [30,31], and socio-affective…”
BackgroundResult
Meditation as an Intervention for Health: A Framework for Understanding Meditation Research
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Meditation affects word recognition of meditation novices
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Happiness: Developing Skills for Meditation
Vinh, T. H. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-99-2637-4_17 · Cited by 4
Resilience Building Practices for Women Physicians
Hobgood, C., & Jarman, A. F. (2023) · Journal of Women s Health · doi:10.1089/jwh.2022.0502 · Cited by 5
“53 LK meditation is focused primarily on affect.”
Evaluation of Mindfulness Eating Apps
Guluzade, L., & Sas, C. (2023) · Electronic workshops in computing · doi:10.14236/ewic/bcshci2023.29 · Cited by 4
Classification of mindfulness experiences from gamma-band effective connectivity: Application of machine-learning algorithms on resting, breathing, and body scan
Hsu, A., Wu, C., Ng, H. H., Chuang, C., Huang, C., Wu, C. W., & Chao, Y. (2024) · Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine · doi:10.1016/j.cmpb.2024.108446 · Cited by 4
A review of bodily dysfunction in depression: Empirical findings, theoretical perspectives, and implications for treatment.
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Introducing brief mindfulness practices to mitigate faculty burnout in the post-COVID era
Bitting, K. S., & Sweet, M. S. (2025) · The International Journal for Academic Development · doi:10.1080/1360144x.2025.2451318 · Cited by 4
Le psychotraumatisme s’inscrit dans l’ADN et peut se transmettre sur plusieurs générations. Apports de la méditation de pleine conscience dans les troubles de l’anxiété et l’état de stress post-traumatique
Zammatteo, N., & Botman, M. (2018) · European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation · doi:10.1016/j.ejtd.2018.06.003 · Cited by 3
Meditative introspection promotes the First-person's science of consciousness via intuitive pathways: A hypothesis based on traditional Buddhist and contemporary Monist frameworks
Reddy, J. S. K., Pereira, A., Leite, E. D. S., & Roy, S. (2019) · New Ideas in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2019.100774 · Cited by 3

Authors: Kok, B. E., & Singer, T.
Affiliations: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (DE)
Corresponding author: Kok, Bethany E.
ORCID: Singer, Tania
Venue: Mindfulness
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2016-08-19
Volume: 8
Issue: 1
Pages: 218-231
ISSN: 1868-8527 (ISSN-L)
1868-8535
DOI: 10.1007/s12671-016-0594-9
PMC: PMC5241345
OpenAlex: W2518497773
Cited by: 144
References: 36
Citations by year: 2026: 11 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 9
FWCI: 16.05
Type: journal article
Language: en
Update notices: correction (2016-10-22)
Open access: hybrid
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (unspecified)
Locations: Mindfulness (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders: European Research Council (BE) (ERC-2007-StG)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
Keywords: meditation, mindfulness training, affect, mind wandering, metacognition, interoception, interoceptive awareness, loving-kindness meditation, body scanning, breathing meditation, resource projects, middle-aged adults, psychological change, positive affect

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Phenomenological Fingerprints of Four Meditations: Differential State Changes in Affect, Mind-Wandering, Meta-Cognition, and Interoception Before and After Daily Practice Across 9 Months of Training

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