Coherence between emotional experience and physiology: Does body awareness training have an impact?
Open accessAbstract
Two fundamental issues in emotion theory and research concern: (a) the role of emotion in promoting response coherence across different emotion systems; and (b) the role of awareness of bodily sensations in the experience of emotion. The present study poses a question bridging the two domains; namely, whether training in Vipassana meditation or dance, both of which promote attention to certain kinds of bodily sensations, is associated with greater coherence between the subjective and physiological aspects of emotion. We used lag correlations to examine second-by-second coherence between subjective emotional experience and heart period within individuals across four different films. Participants were either: (a) experienced Vipassana meditators (attention to visceral sensations), (b) experienced dancers (attention to somatic sensations), and (c) controls with no meditation or dance experience. Results indicated a linear relationship in coherence, with meditators having highest levels, dancers having intermediary levels, and controls having lowest levels. We conclude that the coherence between subjective and cardiac aspects of emotion is greater in those who have specialized training that promotes greater body awareness.
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Mindfulness practice can improve interoceptive awareness.
“There is also evidence that mindfulness practice can improve interoceptive awareness.”
From Effects of Mindfulness Training on Body Awareness to Sexual Stimuli: Implications for Female Sexual Dysfunction (2011) · cites this paper as [48]
The Results section reports that Vipassana meditators had the highest self-reported visceral awareness, ahead of dancers and controls. The Discussion describes training as associated with greater emotional–physiological coherence, but notes that self-reported awareness may not accurately measure visceral awareness. Because the study compared existing groups rather than testing change after mindfulness practice, it does not establish that practice improves interoceptive awareness. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA recent study found that increased body awareness associated with mindfulness meditation was related to higher levels of concordance between physical and emotional responses.
“A recent study found that increased body awareness associated with mindfulness meditation was related to higher levels of concordance between physical and emotional responses.”
From Effects of Mindfulness Training on Body Awareness to Sexual Stimuli: Implications for Female Sexual Dysfunction (2011) · cites this paper as [48]
The Discussion reports that Vipassana meditators had the greatest coherence between emotional experience and physiology, and that meditators reported the highest visceral awareness. But it also states that self-reported visceral awareness was not significantly related to coherence and did not explain additional variance beyond training group. The study supports an association with meditation training, not a demonstrated relationship between increased body awareness itself and higher concordance. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredExperienced meditators exhibit increased levels of coherence between subjective and objective measures of emotional arousal.
“Experienced meditators also exhibit increased levels of coherence between subjective and objective measures of emotional arousal (Sze et al., 2010).”
From Atypical interoception as a common risk factor for psychopathology: A review (2021) · cites this paper as Sze et al., 2010
Vipassana meditators showed higher scores than controls on three interoceptive awareness scales that mostly measure Noticing.
“Sze et al. (2010) studied IA cross-sectionally in Vipassana meditators compared to controls, using three IA scales that mostly measure Noticing, and found higher scores in meditators.”
From Differential changes in self-reported aspects of interoceptive awareness through 3 months of contemplative training (2015) · cites this paper as Sze et al. (2010)
Meditators show greater coherence between objective physiological data and their subjective experience regarding emotional experience and sensitivity of body regions.
“meditators have been reported to show greater coherence between objective physiological data and their subjective experience—in regard to both emotional experience (Sze et al., 2010) and sensitivity of body regions (Fox et al., 2012).”
From Effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on body awareness in patients with chronic pain and comorbid depression (2016) · cites this paper as Sze et al., 2010
Our findings confirm theory and previous evidence that suggests an association between mindfulness and general emotional awareness.
“Beyond the body awareness specific construct of Emotional Awareness, our findings confirm theory (Bishop et al., 2004; Phillipot and Segal, 2009) and previous evidence that suggests an association between mindfulness and general emotional awareness (Sze et al., 2010; Boden et al., 2015).”
From Effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on body awareness in patients with chronic pain and comorbid depression (2016) · cites this paper as Sze et al., 2010
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References 110 · Cited by 233
- Authors
- Sze, J. A., Gyurak, A., Yuan, J. W., & Levenson, R. W.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Venue
- Emotion
- Published
- 2010
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 803-814
- ISSN
- 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-1516
- PMC
- PMC4175373
- OpenAlex
- W2166747718
- Cited by
- 233
- References
- 110
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 6.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5t32mh020006-19)
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH020006))
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Keywords
- body awareness, Vipassana meditation, dance training, heart period, cardiac activity, visceral sensation, somatic sensation, subjective emotional experience, emotion regulation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Awareness, Dancing, Emotions, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Meditation, Young Adult
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