| Abstract/Results: | ABSTRACT:
Mindfulness is a continual renewal of non-elaborative attention on an object of focus, without clinging or aversion, and with equanimity. As this requires the capacity to monitor and control the extent to which one is on task, it is a metacognitive exercise. Mindfulness is especially metacognitive when directed towards mental states themselves, which is largely how the practice was conceived in the original Buddhist scriptures. Alternatively, mindfulness could be directed towards the world around oneself in a less metacognitive fashion. Notably, whilst mindfulness of the world is directed towards the referents of sensory states (e.g., “the sky is blue”), mindfulness of mental states includes a higher-order awareness of the experience of a sensory state as a mental state in and of itself (e.g., “I see the sky is blue”) – as a sensation.
We aim to test the centrality of metacognition in mindfulness practice by contrasting a full Mindfulness of Mental States intervention against a minimal Mindfulness of the World intervention, to act as a potential active control for non-specific effects, alongside a Waitlist control. Survey measures of mindfulness directed at the world and mental states separately, mental health measures, and participant expectations for each of these outcomes, will be administered. Bayesian contrasts of the group by time interaction will be the primary analysis used to test, for the first time, the effects of mindfulness against a true active control (if it should turn out to be one). Pilot data presented in the first section below show some promising initial results. Between the Mental States and World focused conditions, evidence in the hypothesised direction was discovered on the Observe and Acting with Awareness facets of the 24-item FFMQ-sf (other facets were insensitive), on the PHQ-4 anxiety subscale, and on the RRS.
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