title: A translational neuroscience perspective on mindfulness meditation as a prevention strategy.
abstract: Mindfulness meditation research mainly focuses on psychological outcomes such as behavioral, cognitive, and emotional functioning. However, the neuroscience literature on mindfulness meditation has grown in recent years. This paper provides an overview of relevant neuroscience and psychological research on the effects of mindfulness meditation. We propose a translational prevention framework of mindfulness and its effects. Drawing upon the principles of prevention science, this framework integrates neuroscience and prevention research and postulates underlying brain regulatory mechanisms that explain the impact of mindfulness on psychological outcomes via self-regulation mechanisms linked to underlying brain systems. We conclude by discussing potential clinical and practice implications of this model and directions for future research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA. yiyuan.tang@ttu.edu.
authors.forename: Yi-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA. leve@uoregon.edu.
authors.forename: Leslie D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Leve
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D019122:Meditation / Q000379:methods*; D064866:Mindfulness / Q000379:methods*; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Mindfulness meditation; Prevention science; Self-regulation; Translational neuroscience