Full Text View  
  Tabular View  
  Contacts and Locations  
  No Study Results Posted  
  Related Studies  
Neural Effects of Mindfulness Training on Attention
This study is ongoing, but not recruiting participants.
Sponsored by: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Information provided by: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00379210
  Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine behavioral and neural changes resulting from Mindfulness Meditation Training (MMT), and to use this knowledge in advancing our understanding of the mechanisms of attention.


Condition Intervention
Attention
Behavioral: Mindfulness Meditation Training (MMT)
Behavioral: Nutrition Education course

U.S. FDA Resources
Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Basic Science, Randomized, Open Label, Active Control, Parallel Assignment, Efficacy Study
Official Title: Neural Effects of Mindfulness Training on Attention

Further study details as provided by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM):

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • Behavioral performance on tasks that evaluate different aspects of attention will be measured one week before and after the intervention [ Time Frame: one week after course end date ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:
  • Neural activity during performance of tasks that evaluate different aspects of attention will be measured one week before and after the intervention [ Time Frame: one week after course end date ]

Estimated Enrollment: 40
Study Start Date: September 2007
Estimated Study Completion Date: November 2007
Arms Assigned Interventions
1: Experimental
Meditation training group
Behavioral: Mindfulness Meditation Training (MMT)
8-week training course in mindfulness meditation
2: Active Comparator
Nutrition education group
Behavioral: Nutrition Education course
8-week course in nutrition

Detailed Description:

Mindfulness Meditation Training (MMT) has been used successfully to decrease stress, pain, and adverse health symptoms in a varied subject population. MMT has been described as "paying attention in a particular way." Although attention is a key component of meditation, little is known about the cognitive and neural changes within the human attention system that result from MMT. In this study, we examine the effects of MMT on the human attention system using behavioral, functional MRI (fMRI) and event-related potential (ERP) measures. Here MMT comprises participation in a Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction (MBSR) course, while the comparison group participates in a nutrition education course, both 8 weeks long. We compare the performance and neural activity of these groups both before and after participation in the course.

  Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years to 40 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:   Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   Yes
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Men and women (all races and ethnicities) between 18 and 40 years old
  • Women of childbearing age with a negative pregnancy test within 48 hours of scanning
  • In good health
  • Right-handed
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
  • English as a first language
  • Able to understand and provide signed informed consent
  • No history of metal in their body or other reasons why they could not undergo an MRI
  • No history of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, encephalopathy or encephalitis, minimal-cognitive impairment or dementia, movement disorder such as Parkinson's disease, head trauma causing loss of consciousness, cancer involving the central nervous system

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant or breast-feeding women
  • Individuals with implanted metal or electronic devices that would prevent them from MRI scanning.
  • Individuals with a history of neurologic dysfunction that would prevent performance on attentional tasks including: history of transient ischemic attacks, history of cerebral infarction, history of Binswanger's disease (or a history of hypertensive encephalopathy), history of intracranial hemorrhage, history of head trauma with loss of consciousness, history of encephalitis, history of extended exposure to any known neurotoxin, history of acquired cognitive impairment, history of normal pressure hydrocephalus, history of a cancer metastatic to the central nervous system, history of Parkinson's or other basal ganglia disease, history of Guillain-Barré syndrome or chronic or relapsing polyneuropathy
  Contacts and Locations
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00379210

Locations
United States, Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
Sponsors and Collaborators
Investigators
Principal Investigator: Amishi P Jha, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
  More Information

Mind & Life Institute  This link exits the ClinicalTrials.gov site

Study ID Numbers: R21 AT002761-01A1, 10012037
Study First Received: September 20, 2006
Last Updated: November 6, 2007
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00379210  
Health Authority: United States: Institutional Review Board;   United States: Federal Government

Keywords provided by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM):
Attention
ERP
event-related potentials
fMRI
functional magnetic resonance imaging
MBSR
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
Mindfulness Meditation Training
MMT

Study placed in the following topic categories:
Stress

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on January 14, 2009