Does A Lab-Measured Compassionate Brain Fare Well In Real Life?

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Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 04 Feb 2012 - 11:00 PST


A new series of studies is being launched by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, exploring insight knowledge on how laboratory measures of moral qualities, such as compassion, relate to real-life behavior.

Founder of the UW's Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM), Dr. Richard J. Davidson at the Waisman Center, was awarded a three-year, $1.7 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for developing laboratory and real life measures of moral qualities, such as compassion and selflessness.

The new studies that will develop both laboratory as well as real life measurements to track changes in brain function and behavior, are based on Davidson's previous study, which investigated brain imaging and behavior using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in people who practiced meditation, monks and related contemplative practices to document changes in their brains.

Davidson, Vilas Professor of psychology and psychiatry, says:

"We will be tracking changes in the neural correlates of virtuous character traits such as compassion, kindness and altruism. Then, we want to see if the changes we can see in the brain in the scanner are correlated with changes in everyday life."

One particular study teaches participants "compassion meditation", in which they learn how to visualize and wish for an end to the suffering of loved ones, strangers, themselves, and ultimately people who are difficult.

Researchers will then track the changes in the participants' brains as well as in their day-to-day behavior to learn the extent to which measures of brain function can predict real-world changes in these qualities.

To gain insight on whether this training extends into the real world, researchers will send automated text messages to the participants asking them about their experiences at that particular moment, or they will use voice-activated MP3 recorders to record the participants' voices at randomly selected moments of the day.

Davidson says:

"The people won't know when the recorder is on. We can learn something about the emotional climate of the situation by analyzing these vocal samples."

Other experiments may examine whether an individual with meditation training would be more inclined to sign up for an altruistic activity.

According to Davids, the CIHM will recruit more than 1,000 participants. Active recruitment has not started, but those interested in finding out more information can click here.

The Templeton Foundation is well recognized as a supporter of scientific research subjects, such as compassion, gratitude and forgiveness and each year it awards the annual Templeton Prize to honor a living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life's spiritual dimension.

Written by Petra Rattue
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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