Meditation experience predicts introspective accuracy.
Open accessAbstract
The accuracy of subjective reports, especially those involving introspection of one's own internal processes, remains unclear, and research has demonstrated large individual differences in introspective accuracy. It has been hypothesized that introspective accuracy may be heightened in persons who engage in meditation practices, due to the highly introspective nature of such practices. We undertook a preliminary exploration of this hypothesis, examining introspective accuracy in a cross-section of meditation practitioners (1-15,000 hrs experience). Introspective accuracy was assessed by comparing subjective reports of tactile sensitivity for each of 20 body regions during a 'body-scanning' meditation with averaged, objective measures of tactile sensitivity (mean size of body representation area in primary somatosensory cortex; two-point discrimination threshold) as reported in prior research. Expert meditators showed significantly better introspective accuracy than novices; overall meditation experience also significantly predicted individual introspective accuracy. These results suggest that long-term meditators provide more accurate introspective reports than novices.
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Several cross-sectional studies in long-term meditators found moderately sized correspondence between lifetime practice hours and interoceptive abilities and brain structure, and some longitudinal training studies demonstrate dose-dependent effects.
“Clearly, several cross-sectional studies in long term meditators found moderately sized correspondence between lifetime practice hours and outcome variables such as interospective abilities (Fox et al., 2012), and brain structure (Lazar et al., 2005), and some longitudinal training studies also demonstrate dose-dependent effects (e.g., Carmody and Baer, 2008; Pace et al., 2009; Rosenzweig et al.,”
From Differential changes in self-reported aspects of interoceptive awareness through 3 months of contemplative training (2015) · cites this paper as Fox et al., 2012
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 Fox et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Fox, K. C. R., Zakarauskas, P., Dixon, M., Ellamil, M., Thompson, E., & Christoff, K.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Fox, Kieran C. R.
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2012-09-25
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- e45370
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3458044
- OpenAlex
- W2145397616
- Cited by
- 190
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 9
- FWCI
- 14.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Keywords
- introspective accuracy, meditation experience, meditation practitioners, body scanning, tactile sensitivity, representation of the body, primary somatosensory cortex, subjective reports, self-reflection, individual differences
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Individuality, Learning, Male, Middle Aged, Somatosensory Cortex, Thinking, Time Factors, Touch, Meditation, Touch Perception
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