Calm and smart? A selective review of meditation effects on decision making

Abstract

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in the use of meditation to improve cognitive performance, emotional balance, and well-being. As a consequence, research into the psychological effects and neural mechanisms of meditation has been accumulating. Whether and how meditation affects decision making is not yet clear. Here, we review evidence from behavioral and neuroimaging studies and summarize the effects of meditation on social and non-social economic decision making. Research suggests that meditation modulates brain activities associated with cognitive control, emotion regulation and empathy, and leads to improved non-social and social decision making. Accordingly, we propose an integrative model in which cognitive control, emotional regulation, and empathic concern mediate the effects of meditation on decision making. This model provides insights into the mechanisms by which meditation affects the decision making process. More evidence is needed to test our explanatory model and to explore the function of specific brain areas and their interactive effects on decision making during meditation training.

Mindfulness Meditation Activates Altruism

“…Meditation has a wide range of types such as loving kindness meditation (taught by spiritual leaders or experts versed in the Buddhist tradition, focused on silent repetition of phrases based on Buddhist teachings, and incorporated into holistic health and group support programs) and mindfulness meditation (increasingly taught by trained clinical psychologists, focused on emotional self-regulation and focusing attention, and incorporated into cognitive therapy and clinical care). Meditation both over short-term and long-term has been found to improve cognition [20][21][22] . One study of 54 college students in Singapore playing the Dictator Game (where the Dictator, player A, divides money provided by the experimenter between what she wants to keep for herself and what she wants to give away to an anonymous player B) reported that loving kindness meditation led to higher cooperation 23 .…”

“…Mindfulness meditation emphasizes non-judgmental attention to experiences in the present moment 24 . Meditation practices mainly modulate brain activities responsible for cognitive control, emotion regulation, and empathy, each of which is associated with specific brain areas including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insula, and amygdala [25][26][27][28] .…”

“…A recent meta-analysis of clinical data concludes that mindfulness meditation practices have a positive effect on anxiety, depression, stress, and pain regulation 18,25,[29][30][31][32][33] . However, the role of mindfulness meditation in cooperation has not been well investigated.…”

Fundamental care guided by the Careful Nursing Philosophy and Professional Practice Model©

“…These relational concepts are also of central importance in the FOC Framework (Feo et al., ). In addition, meditation‐fostered calmness is linked to improved thinking and decision‐making ability (Sun, Yao, Wei, & Yu, ) and could also enhance nurses’ intellectual engagement, critical thinking and attention to patient safety issues. In an interesting divergence, the FOC Framework's relationship established concepts focus on patients’ meaningful experience of care provided by nurses while the TM concepts focus on nurses’ capacity to establish meaningful relationships with patients.…”

Influence of meditation on estate planning decisions: evidence from Indian survey data

“…Meditation, as conscious training of attention aimed at modifying mental processes to enhance mental wellbeing (Walsh and Vaughan 1980), modulates brain activities associated with cognitive control, emotion regulation, and empathy to improve individual decision-making (Sun et al 2015). In addition, by strengthening mental flexibility (Bauer-Wu 2010) and consciousness in decision-making (Nash and Newberg 2013), meditation influences individual decision-making styles (McNaughton 2003).…”