7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

1/12

Meditation increases compassionate

responses to suffering

Condon, Desbordes, Miller & DeSteno,Psychological Science, in press

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

2/12

http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/30/dont-read-too-much-into-brain-scans/

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

3/12

Brain response to pictures of animals and human (negative > neutral valence)

Filippi M, Riccitelli G, Falini A, Di Salle F, et al. (2010) The Brain Functional Networks Associated to Human and Animal SufferingDiffer among Omnivores, Vegetarians and Vegans. PLoS ONE 5(5): e10847. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010847

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010847

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010847http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010847

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

4/12

Between-group comparisons of negative valence picture views

Filippi M, Riccitelli G, Falini A, Di Salle F, et al. (2010) The Brain Functional Networks Associated to Human and Animal SufferingDiffer among Omnivores, Vegetarians and Vegans. PLoS ONE 5(5): e10847. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010847

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010847

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010847http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010847

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

5/12

Whole-brain, time-locked activation withsimple tasks revealed using massive

averaging and model-free analysis

Gonzalez-Castillo, Saad, Handwerker, Inati,Brenowitz & Bandettini, PNAS 2012

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

6/12

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

7/12

Gonzalez-Castillo J, Saad ZS, Handwerker DA, Inati SJ, Brenowitz N,Bandettini PA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

8/12

The whole brain is active all the time!

Despite converging evidence suggesting the whole brain iscontinuously working and adapting to anticipate and actuatein response to the environment, over the last 20 years, task-based functional MRI (fMRI) have emphasized a

localizationist view of brain function , with fMRI showingonly a handful of activated regions in response totask/stimulation. Here, we challenge that view with evidencethat under optimal noise conditions , fMRI activations extendwell beyond areas of primary relationship to the task ; and

blood-oxygen level-dependent signal changes correlated withtask-timing appear in over 95% of the brain for a simplevisual stimulation plus attention control task.

Gonzalez-Castillo J, Saad ZS, Handwerker DA, Inati SJ, Brenowitz N,Bandettini PA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

9/12

These findings highlight the exquisite detaillying in fMRI signals beyond what is normallyexamined , and emphasize both thepervasiveness of false negatives, and how thesparseness of fMRI maps is n o t a result of localized brain function , but a consequence of high noise and overly strict predictive responsemodels.

Gonzalez-Castillo J, Saad ZS, Handwerker DA, Inati SJ, Brenowitz N,Bandettini PA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

10/12

The dangers of neurocentrism: Its allabout the brain

What about other physiological measures?

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

11/12

The only way to know whats going onin peoples minds is to ask them

7/27/2019 Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering- Gaelle Desbordes

12/12

The only way to know whats going onin peoples minds is to ask them

Neurophenomenology : Combining

first-person reports with third-persondata (e.g. brain imaging)Francisco Varela