The DOI matches its Crossref record; 36 of the 36 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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
Open accessAbstract
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.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“socio-cognitive perspective-taking practices led to improvements in meta-cognitive awareness and Theory of Mind [30,31]”
From 10-Week Trajectories of Candidate Psychological Processes Differentially Predict Mental Health Gains from Online Dyadic versus Mindfulness Interventions: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2024) · cites this paper as [30]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“prior studies [30,98] have demonstrated that attention-focused meditation reduces past- and future-related thoughts while socio-emotional practices increase positive other-related thoughts.”
From 10-Week Trajectories of Candidate Psychological Processes Differentially Predict Mental Health Gains from Online Dyadic versus Mindfulness Interventions: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2024) · cites this paper as [30]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“in a large-scale 9-month study, the ReSource project [29] employing three distinct intervention modules, it was shown that attention-focused mindfulness practices led to enhanced interoceptive awareness and attention control [30,31]”
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Different meditation practices have shown distinct neural signatures [55,56] and can produce different psychological effects [57].”
From Testing the efficacy of a multicomponent, self-guided, smartphone-based meditation app: Three-armed randomized controlled trial (2020) · cites this paper as [57]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
(2008) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 7,477
Network analysis: An integrative approach to the structure of psychopathology
Borsboom, D., & Cramer, A. O. J. (2013) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050212-185608 · Cited by 4,359
Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation
Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2008) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.01.005 · Cited by 2,659
Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0013262 · Cited by 2,365 · cited 3×
“Other studies have shown that repeated subjective experiences such as anxiety (Kubzansky et al. 2006) or positive affect (Fredrickson et al. 2008; Kok et al. 2013) can have significant and far-reaching consequences for life, health, and longevity.”
BackgroundAffect Grid: A single-item scale of pleasure and arousal.
Russell, J. A., Weiss, A., & Mendelsohn, G. A. (1989) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.3.493 · Cited by 1,951
Chiesa, A., & Serretti, A. (2009) · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine · doi:10.1089/acm.2008.0495 · Cited by 1,681 · cited 1×
“…as a potential treatment for mental disorders from schizophrenia (Johnson et al. 2011) to PTSD (Lang et al. 2012) to depression and anxiety (Strauss et al. 2014), among others, and as a method for improving quality of life in individuals not diagnosed with a disorder (Chiesa and Serretti 2009).”
MethodJain, S., Shapiro, S. L., Swanick, S., Roesch, S. C., Mills, P. J., Bell, I., & Schwartz, G. E. R. (2007) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1207/s15324796abm3301_2 · Cited by 1,300 · cited 2×
“Mindfulness meditation including an observing-thought component effectively reduced rumination relative to both relaxation training and measurement control groups (Jain et al. 2007).”
Singer, T., & Klimecki, O. M. (2014) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.054 · Cited by 1,254
Self-citationFjorback, L. O., Arendt, M., Ørnbøl, E., Fink, P., & Walach, H. (2011) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.2011.01704.x · Cited by 803
Kok, B. E., Coffey, K. A., Cohn, M. A., Catalino, L. I., Vacharkulksemsuk, T., Algoe, S. B., Brantley, M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2013) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797612470827 · Cited by 755
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–145 of 145
Evaluating an Instructional Resource Used for Teaching and Learning Meditation: a Pilot Study
Burke, A., & Hassett, S. (2020) · Journal of Cognitive Enhancement · doi:10.1007/s41465-020-00168-2 · Cited by 4
“…teacher wisely stated that “…catching yourself in the act of distraction is the true test of tranquility meditation, for what counts is not the ability to prevent thoughts or emotions from arising but the ability to catch ourselves in a particular mental or emotional state” (Kyabgon 2015).”
BackgroundNuttall, L. (2024) · Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1093/applin/amae068 · Cited by 2
Mindful Eating: Self-Regulation Strategies for Dysregulated Eating
Siemers, N., Frayn, M., Preissner, C. E., Carrière, K., Sante, J. D., Beebe, A., Juneau, C., & Knaüper, B. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-91451-5_18 · Cited by 2
Without birth, without death—issues in the research of nondual awareness or consciousness itself
Josipovic, Z. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1665826 · Cited by 2
Nguyen, K. H., & Tran, M. D. (2026) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-026-09256-6 · Cited by 2
Konzepte der Achtsamkeit im Coaching?
Bauer, S. (2020) · Organisationsberatung Supervision Coaching · doi:10.1007/s11613-020-00640-0 · Cited by 2
Salvo, V., Schveitzer, M. C., Sañudo, A., Favarato, M. L., & Demarzo, M. (2022) · Nutrition and Health · doi:10.1177/02601060221075537 · Cited by 2
“While different meditation practices may have common beneficial effects, each practice can incur a distinct short-term psychological impression, suggesting that specific practices should be applied to different populations and intervention settings (Kok and Singer, 2017).”
BackgroundLoneliness, Mindfulness and Hope: Empowering Rehabilitation Processes
Margalit, M. (2018) · Examines in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation · doi:10.31031/epmr.2018.01.000517 · Cited by 2
Ditchburn, T. A., & Bedwell, S. A. (2019) · PsyPag Quarterly · doi:10.53841/bpspag.2019.1.110.19 · Cited by 2
Enriquez, A. S., Temoltzin-Loranca, Y., Llanos, E., Schrapffer, A., Jansen, S. V., Williams, P. A., Saravia, C., Pérez, N., & Kuperman, M. N. (2022) · Environment Development and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s10668-022-02736-2 · Cited by 1
VibroCushion: Design for Inclusive Connectedness between Deaf and Hearing in Mindfulness Practice
Hyun, D., Kang, D. W., Choi, H., & Kwon, H. S. (2025) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/3706599.3719745 · Cited by 1
“This practice helps beginners experience the benefits of meditation, such as enhanced interoception, improved concentration, and reduced stress [34].”
Neuenschwander, R., Bryce, D., & Eberhart, J. (2026) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-026-02938-z · Cited by 1
Brief mindfulness meditation increases risk-taking behavior
Tan, L., Golubickis, M., & Macrae, C. N. (2026) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-026-37597-6 · Cited by 1
Influence of Vipassana, Raja Yoga and Sudarshan Kriya Yoga on Well-being and Character strengths
Mahindroo, N., Srivastava, M., & Naik, V. (2022) · Purushartha - A Journal of Management Ethics and Spirituality · doi:10.21844/16202114201 · Cited by 1
Embodied empathy and abstract concepts' concreteness: Evidence from contemplative practices
Marson, F., Paoletti, P., Naor‐Ziv, R., Carducci, F., & Ben‐Soussan, T. D. (2023) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2022.12.005 · Cited by 4
Sekula, A. D., Puspanathan, P., Downey, L. A., & Liknaitzky, P. (2024) · Psychoactives · doi:10.3390/psychoactives3020010 · Cited by 2
Achtsamkeit und pädagogische Professionalität in der Lehrer*innenbildung
Weghaupt, D. (2024) · Achtsamkeit - Bildung - Medien · doi:10.1515/9783839470022 · Cited by 3
The Effects of Focused Meditation on Memory and Suggestibility in an Interrogative Design
Miller, M. (2018) · Scholarship@Western (Western University)
Neural and Behavioral Associations of Drinking and Empathic Processing
Robinson, C. S. H. (2018) · UNM’s Digital Repository (University of New Mexico)
Meditation, Exceptional Psychophysiological Control, and Parapsychology
Cardeña, E. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198808640.013.47
Todd, J., Hina, F., & Aspell, J. E. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/830141
Making Meaning of Mindfulness in the Lives of Law School Students: A Phenomenological Study
Mitchell, L. B. (2020) · Digital Commons (Liberty University)
(2017) · De Boeck Supérieur eBooks · doi:10.3917/dbu.isnar.2017.01.0195
Parikh, C. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16558-1_4
(2020) · Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht eBooks · doi:10.13109/9783666404986.233
Conference Abstracts: SSE/PA Connections, 2021
Various, V. (2022) · Journal of Parapsychology · doi:10.30891/jopar.2022.01.04
Mylius, M., Guendelman, S., Iliopoulos, F., D, V. G. M., & Kaltwasser, L. (2023) · doi:10.22541/au.169445202.28516536/v1
Difficulties and Applying Strategies
Woodward, L. (2023) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781394200665.part3
Malandrone, F., Urru, S., Berchialla, P., Rossini, P. G., Oliva, F., Bianchi, S., Ottaviano, M., González-Martínez, S., Carli, V., Valenza, G., et al. (2024) · doi:10.2196/preprints.57415
Weghaupt, D. (2024) · Achtsamkeit - Bildung - Medien · doi:10.1515/9783839470022-042
The sands of time: Discontinuity in time production, or inadequacy of psychophysical fit?
Glicksohn, J., & Ben‐Soussan, T. D. (2024) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2024.05.001
Exploring the therapeutic convergence of meditation, psychedelics, and MDMA
Dines, J. T. (2025) · Journal of Psychedelic Studies · doi:10.1556/2054.2025.00435 · Cited by 2
The Social Mind: Scientific Investigation and Spiritual Interventions
Böckler, A. (2025) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel16081045
Carter, B. (2025) · Anthropology of Consciousness · doi:10.1111/anoc.70023
Leehr, E. J., Groß, J., Hofmann, S. G., Kanske, P., Kircher, T. T. J., Nenadić, I., Rief, W., Ritter, P. S., Young, A. H., & Förster, K. (2025) · Der Nervenarzt · doi:10.1007/s00115-025-01929-0
Rowland, Z., Schmidt, T., Dolle, T., Radtke, T., Kubiak, T., & Wenzel, M. (2025) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-025-02716-3
Palacios, A., Martínez‐Gregorio, S., Andreu, C. I., Colombo, D., Cebolla, A., Baños, R., & Wrzesien, M. (2025) · International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100657
Matsumoto, N., Fujino, M., Sekine, H., Yoshida, E., Watson, L. A., Isham, A. E., & Barzykowski, K. (2026) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2026.2628213 · Cited by 2
A Unifying Framework of Meditation Techniques
Imriška, V. (2026) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-026-02758-1
Huang, X., Wu, J., Zhou, M., & Zhang, X. (2026) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3790889
Aggarwal, P., Johnson, B. S., Garcia, C. C., Kelley, J., Sathiyaseelan, A., & Ward, R. M. (2026) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-026-02908-5
van Mulukom, V. (2026) · Neuroscience of Consciousness · doi:10.1093/nc/niag033
Prasad, A., Raffone, A., & Srinivasan, N. (2026) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-29258-3.00087-2
Antoine Lutz, A., Abdoun, O., Dor‐Ziderman, Y., Trautwein, F., Sandved-Smith, L., Bogotá, J. D., Kiverstein, J. D., & Berkovich‐Ohana, A. (2026) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-29258-3.00046-x
Basoglu, K. A., & Stone, D. N. (2026) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-026-02989-2
Metadata
- 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
- Published
- 2016-08-19
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 218-231
- ISSN
- 1868-8527 (ISSN-L)
- 1868-8535
- 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
- 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
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
