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Social Neuroscience Volume 14, 2019 - Issue 1
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Original Articles

Modulating affective experience and emotional intelligence with loving kindness meditation and transcranial direct current stimulation: A pilot study

Charles RobinsonThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USACorrespondence[email protected]
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Mika ArmentaDepartment of Psychology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USAView further author information
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Angela CombsThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAORCID Iconhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3104-4447View further author information
ORCID Icon,
Melanie L. LamphereThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Gabrielle J. GarzaThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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James NearyThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Janet H. WolfeThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Edward MolinaThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Dominick E. SemeyThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Christina M. McKeeThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Stevi J. GallegosThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Aaron P. JonesThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Michael C. TrumboThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Hussein Al-AzzawiThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Michael A. HunterThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Gregory LiebermanThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA;Human Research and Engineering Directorate, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD, USAView further author information
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Brian A. CoffmanThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA;Department of Psychiatry, The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USAView further author information
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Mohamed AboseriaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USAView further author information
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Marom BiksonDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USAView further author information
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Vincent P. ClarkThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Katie WitkiewitzThe Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USAView further author information
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Pages 10-25 | Received 20 Sep 2016, Published online: 31 Oct 2017
 
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ABSTRACT

Positive emotional perceptions and healthy emotional intelligence (EI) are important for social functioning. In this study, we investigated whether loving kindness meditation (LKM) combined with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) would facilitate improvements in EI and changes in affective experience of visual stimuli. LKM has been shown to increase positive emotional experiences and we hypothesized that tDCS could enhance these effects. Eighty-seven undergraduates were randomly assigned to 30 minutes of LKM or a relaxation control recording with anodal tDCS applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (left dlPFC) or right temporoparietal junction (right TPJ) at 0.1 or 2.0 milliamps. The primary outcomes were self-reported affect ratings of images from the International Affective Picture System and EI as measured by the Mayer, Salovey and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. Results indicated no effects of training on EI, and no main effects of LKM, electrode placement, or tDCS current strength on affect ratings. There was a significant interaction of electrode placement by meditation condition (p = 0.001), such that those assigned to LKM and right TPJ tDCS, regardless of current strength, rated neutral and positive images more positively after training. Results suggest that LKM may enhance positive affective experience.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded in part by a Student Research Grant awarded by the University of New Mexico. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of ARL, the US Government, or the agencies which funded this research. We would like to acknowledge the input and assistance of Dr. Ian Apperly, and Dr. Tim Sweeny for their help in task design and Dr. Dennis Truong for his current modeling of the F3 placement courtesy of the Bonsai database: https://neuralengr.com/bonsai/. Additionally, we appreciate the work of our research team at the Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center at the University of New Mexico.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of New Mexico.

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