Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction meditation on the emotional reaction to affective pictures assessed by electrodermal activity

Objective: In recent years the psychophysiological benefits of Mindfulness meditation on emotional processing have drawn great interest in scientific research. Currently, the effects of this meditation practice on stress, anxiety and well-being have been mostly evaluated using self-reporting questionnaires, which lead to a quite subjective assessment. This study assesses the effect of Mindfulness practice on the reaction to emotionally charged visual stimuli through Electrodermal Activity (EDA) data. Methods: Twenty-five healthy volunteers, without any previous experience of meditation techniques completed a 12-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. EDA and psychological measures were collected longitudinally in 4 scheduled sessions. Statistical analysis was performed to find changes in the most relevant EDA parameters throughout the 4 sessions of data collection. Results: We found an increase in response latency, and a decrease in amplitude, area, number of specific responses, and skin conductance level along Mindfulness training. Both outcomes might suggest a reduction in the reactivity to the presented stimuli and an improvement in the emotional well-being of the practitioners. Furthermore, this study showed preliminary evidence that women improve more their attitude towards stressful stimuli than man, after the mindfulness practice. The statistical analysis also showed a correlation between the main EDA parameters and the scores reported by each participant in the depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS) questionnaire. Conclusion and Significance: This study contributed to a more objective evaluation of the physiological changes observed during Mindfulness practice, and so to understand the underlying mechanisms that explain the benefits of meditation training.