Scientific publications
Below are scientific articles published by CIHM scientists and trainees in the general area of contemplative neuroscience and positive human qualities. For a complete set of publications please go to the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience and the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior websites.
In Press
- Davidson, R. J., & the Mind and Life Education Research Network. (in press). Contemplative practices and mental training: Prospects for American education. Child Development Perspectives.
- Levinson, D. B., Smallwood, J., & Davidson, R.J. (in press). The persistence of thought: Evidence for a role of working memory in the maintenance of task-unrelated thinking. Psychological Science.
2012
- Davidson, R. J., & Begley, S. (2012). The emotional life of your brain: How its unique patterns affect the way you think, feel, and live -- and how you can change them. New York, NY: Hudson Street Press.
- Kabat-Zinn, J., Davidson, R. J., & Houshmand, Z. (Eds.). (2012). The mind's own physician: A scientific dialogue with the Dalai Lama on the healing power of meditation. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.
- MacCoon, D. G., Imel, Z. E., Rosenkranz, M. A., Sheftel, J. G., Weng, H. Y., Sullivan, J. C., Bonus, K. A., Stoney, C. M., Salomons, T. V., Davidson, R. J., & Lutz, A. (2012). The validation of an active control intervention for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 3-12.
2011
- Light, S. N., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (2011). Nature and forms of empathy in the first years of life. In J. Decety (Ed.), Empathy: from bench to bedside. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Slagter, H. A., Davidson, R. J., & Lutz, A. (2011). Mental training as a tool in the neuroscientific study of brain and cognitive plasticity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5(17). doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00017
2010
- Davidson, R. J. (2010). Empirical explorations of mindfulness: Conceptual and methodological conundrums. Emotion, 10(1), 8-11.
- Perlman, D. M., Salomons, T. V., Davidson, R. J., & Lutz, A. (2010). Differential effects on pain intensity and unpleasantness of two meditation practices. Emotion, 10(1), 65–71.
- van Reekum, C. M., Schaefer, S., Lapate, R., Norris, C., Greischar, L. L., & Davidson,
R. J. (2010). Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, doi:10.1093/scan/nsq031.
2009
- Heller A. S., Johnstone, T., Shackman, A. J., Light, S., Peterson, M., Kolden, G., Kalin, N., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Reduced capacity to sustain positive emotion in major depression reflects diminished maintenance of fronto-striatal brain activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(52), 22445–22450. Press release
- Light, S. N., Coan, J. A., Zahn-Waxler, C., Frye, C., Goldsmith, H. H., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Empathy is associated with dynamic change in prefrontal brain electrical activity during positive emotion in children. Child Development, 80(4), 1210-1231. See author summary here.
- Light, S. N., Goldsmith, H. H., Coan, J. A., Frye, C., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Dynamic variation in pleasure in children predicts non-linear change in lateral frontal activity. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 525-533. See author summary here.
- Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Perlman, D., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). BOLD signal in insula is differentially related to cardiac function during compassion meditation in experts vs. novices. NeuroImage 47(3), 1038–1046.
- Lutz, A., Slagter, H., Rawling, N., Francis, A., Greischar, L. L., & Davidson, R.J. (2009). Mental training enhances attentional stability: Neural and behavioral evidence. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(42), 13418 –13427. Press release
- Rosenkranz, M. A., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Affective neural circuitry and mind-body influences in asthma. NeuroImage, 47(3), 972–980.
- Slagter, H. A., Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Nieuwenhuis, S., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Theta phase synchrony and conscious target perception: Impact of intensive mental training. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(8), 1536–1549. See author summary here.
2008
- Davidson, R. J. (2008). Spirituality and medicine: Science and practice. Annals of Family Medicine, 6(5), 388-9.
- Davidson, R. J., & Lutz, A. (2008). Buddha’s brain: Neuroplasticity and meditation. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 25(1), 171-174.
- Khalsa, S. S., Rudrauf, D., Damasio, A. R., Davidson, R. J., Lutz, A., & Tranel, D. (2008). Interoceptive awareness in experienced meditators. Psychophysiology, 45(4), 671-7.
- Lutz, A., Brefczynski-Lewis, J. A., Johnstone, T., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: Effects of meditative expertise. PLoS ONE, 3(3), e1897.
- Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 12(4), 163-169.
2007
- Brefczynski-Lewis J. A., Lutz, A., Schaefer, H. S., Levinson, D. B., & Davidson, R. J. (2007). Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(27), 11483-11488. See author summary here.
- Slagter, H. A., Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Francis, A. D., Nieuwenhuis, S., Davis, J. M., & Davidson, R. J. (2007). Mental training affects use of limited brain resources. PLoS Biology, 5(6), e138. See author summary here. Press release here.
- van Reekum, C. M., Urry, H. L., Johnstone, T., Thurow, M. E., Frye, C. J., Jackson, C. A., Schaefer, H. S., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2007). Individual differences in amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity are associated with evaluation speed and psychological well-being. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 237-248.
2006
- Coan, J. A., Schaefer, H. S., & Davidson, R. J. (2006). Lending a hand: Social regulation of the neural response to threat. Psychological Science, 17(12), 1032-1039.
- Ryff, C. D., Love, G. D., Urry, H. L., Muller, D., Rosenkranz, M. A., Friedman, E. M., Davidson, R. J., & Singer, B. (2006). Psychological well-being and ill-being: Do they have distinct or mirrored biological correlates? Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 75, 85–95.
2005
- Ekman, P., Davidson, R. J., Ricard, M., & Wallace, B. A. (2005). Buddhist and psychological perspectives on emotions and well-Being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 59-63.
2004
- Davidson, R. J. (2004). Well-being and affective style: Neural substrates and biobehavioral correlates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 359, 1395-1411.
- Lutz, A., Greischar, L., Rawlings, N. B., Ricard, M., & Davidson, R. J. (2004). Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude synchrony during mental practice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101, 16369-16373.
- Nitschke, J. B., Nelson, E. E., Rusch, B. D., Fox, A. S., Oakes, T. R., & Davidson, R. J. (2004). Orbitofrontal cortex tracks positive mood in mothers viewing pictures of their newborn infants. Neuroimage, 21, 583-592.
- Urry, H. L., Nitschke, J. B., Dolski, I., Jackson, D. C., Dalton, K. M., Mueller, C. J., Rosenkranz, M. A., Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. H., & Davidson, R. J. (2004). Making a life worth living: Neural correlates of well-being. Psychological Science, 15, 367-372.
- Wager, T. D., Rilling, J. K., Smith, E. E., Sokolik, A., Casey, K. L., Davidson, R. J., Kosslyn, S. M., Rose, R. M., & Cohen, J. D. (2004). Placebo-induced changes in fMRI in the anticipation and experience of pain. Science, 303, 1162-1167.
2003
- Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M. A., Muller, D., Santorelli, S. F., Urbanowski, F., Harrington, A., Bonus, K., & Sheridan, J. F. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 564-570.
- Rosenkranz, M. A., Jackson, D. C, Dalton K. M., Dolski, I., Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. H., Muller, D., Kalin, N. H., & Davidson, R. J. (2003). Affective style and in vivo immune response: Neurobehavioral mechanisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100, 11148-11152.
2000
- Hejmadi, A., Davidson, R. J., & Rozin, P. (2000). Exploring Hindu Indian emotion expressions: Evidence for accurate recognition by Americans and Indians. Psychological Science, 11, 183-187.
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