Metta Meditation Training on Prosocial Behavior

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Social Behavior
• Interventions: Behavioral: Metta meditation

• Registration Number: NCT03894930
• Lead Sponsor: Georgetown University

Brief Summary

The purpose of the study is to look at the impact of a metta meditation training on prosocial behavior and socio-affective brain responses. The training involves an 8-week, online administration of guided metta meditation practices aimed at generating feelings of kindness and compassion for other people. The study examines how participants respond to thinking about familiar others and strangers using behavioral and brain-imaging measures. This study will be important for understanding how people develop the capacity to be prosocial towards other individuals, which is a key component of adaptive social behavior.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2018-09-25
• Study First Submitted: 2019-03-27
• Study First Submitted QC: 2019-03-27
• Study First Posted: 2019-03-29
• Status Verified: 2020-07
• Primary Completion: 2021-05-14
• Study Completion: 2021-05-14
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-06-15
• Last Update Posted: 2021-06-16

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 67

Inclusion Criteria

• Is a medically healthy individual
• Lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area and is able to travel to Georgetown University

Exclusion Criteria

• Has experience with meditation
• Has any MRI contraindication (e.g. metal in the body, cardiac pacemaker, cannot lie still, etc.)
• Has any neurological disease
• Has a current psychiatric disorder
• Is pregnant or planning to become pregnant
• Is on medication that affects the central nervous system (e.g. psychotropic drugs)

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Metta meditation	Metta meditation	Eight-week, guided metta meditation training that is administered online

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Social Discounting	8 weeks	During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, participants will complete a social discounting task. Participants will choose whether to forgo various amounts of money to give to another person. Behavioral and brain responses will be analyzed to assess social discounting in each participant.
Affective Brain Responses to Familiar and Unfamiliar Others	8 weeks	During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, participants will view images of people who they know and people who they do not know. Affective brain response patterns will be analyzed to assess responding in each participant.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
State Affect Rating	8 weeks	Participants will complete the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) questionnaire. This self-report scale includes 20 items that are rated on a 5-point scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). Positive and negative self-reported affect will be quantified for each participant.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Georgetown University; 🇺🇸 Washington, District of Columbia, United States