Cited by 937Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsPsychotherapy Techniques and ApplicationsPsychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 135 of the 152 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 78 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Mechanisms of mindfulness training: Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT

Open access
Lindsay, Emily K., Creswell, J. David·2017·Clinical Psychology Review

Abstract

Despite evidence linking trait mindfulness and mindfulness training with a broad range of effects, still little is known about its underlying active mechanisms. Mindfulness is commonly defined as (1) the ongoing monitoring of present-moment experience (2) with an orientation of acceptance. Building on conceptual, clinical, and empirical work, we describe a testable theoretical account to help explain mindfulness effects on cognition, affect, stress, and health outcomes. Specifically, Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT) posits that (1), by enhancing awareness of one's experiences, the skill of attention monitoring explains how mindfulness improves cognitive functioning outcomes, yet this same skill can increase affective reactivity. Second (2), by modifying one's relation to monitored experience, acceptance is necessary for reducing affective reactivity, such that attention monitoring and acceptance skills together explain how mindfulness improves negative affectivity, stress, and stress-related health outcomes. We discuss how MAT contributes to mindfulness science, suggest plausible alternatives to the account, and offer specific predictions for future research.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.cpr.2016.10.011

Cites

135 of 135 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 78 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 66 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 39
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 8
45 of 45
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The literature lacks a theory connecting the psychological mechanisms of mindfulness to the many reported mindfulness-related outcomes.

    “Yet, despite these advances, still little theory links the psychological mechanisms of mindfulness with the broad variety of mindfulness-related outcomes reported in the literature.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    There is little experimental work directly testing MAT.

    “it is a new theoretical account and as such there is little experimental work directly testing it.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Self-report measures of monitoring and acceptance meaningfully, though imperfectly, reflect the skills developed through mindfulness training.

    “assuming meaningful (albeit imperfect) associations between the development of monitoring and acceptance skills through mindfulness training and the self-reporting of these same skills.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    In the reviewed samples, the tendency to monitor experience does not necessarily correspond to a tendency to accept experience.

    “assuming that the tendency to monitor experience in the samples reviewed does not necessarily correspond to a tendency to accept those experiences.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The FFMQ Observe, Nonreactivity, and Nonjudgment subscales validly measure attention monitoring and acceptance skills.

    “We also only reviewed results from mindfulness subscales that clearly map onto attention monitoring and acceptance.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Acceptance cannot be trained without some target object to monitor.

    “it’s not clear how acceptance would be trained in the absence of a target object to monitor with acceptance”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Attention monitoring and acceptance are central features of every account of mindfulness.

    “since attention monitoring and acceptance are central features of all mindfulness accounts”
7 of 7

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?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • Acceptance is not central to every account described

    Minor

    The claim that acceptance is central to all mindfulness accounts conflicts with the paper's description of accounts that treat it as a separate construct rather than a central component.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

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17 of the 152 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Pickert, 2014, The mindful revolution, Time

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Metadata

Authors
Lindsay, E. K., & Creswell, J. D.
Affiliations
Carnegie Mellon University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Lindsay, Emily K.
  • Creswell, J. David
Venue
Clinical Psychology Review
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-02
Volume
51
Pages
48-59
ISSN
0272-7358 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2548953146
Cited by
919
References
152
Citations by year
2026: 141 · 2025: 142 · 2024: 138 · 2023: 113 · 2022: 95 · 2021: 94 · 2020: 100 · 2019: 53 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 16
FWCI
4.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Clinical Psychology Review (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • KiltHub Repository (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • KiltHub Repository
Funders
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM081760)
  • National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R21AT008493, R01AT008685)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Keywords
mindfulness training, attention monitoring, acceptance, trait mindfulness, emotional reactivity, negative affectivity, stress, cognitive function
MeSH terms
Attention, Awareness, Humans, Meditation, Mindfulness

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