Metta Meditation Training on Prosocial Behavior

Social Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title:

Identifying Neural Correlates of Altruism

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03894930
• Other study ID #: 2010-180
• Secondary ID: BCS-1729406
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 25, 2018
• Est. completion date: May 14, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: July 2020
• Source: Georgetown University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial 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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 67
• Est. completion date: May 14, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: May 14, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 55 Years

Eligibility

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)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Social Behavior

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Metta meditation
Administered 5 days per week for 8 weeks.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Georgetown University	Washington	District of Columbia

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Georgetown University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Social Discounting	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.	8 weeks
Primary	Affective Brain Responses to Familiar and Unfamiliar Others	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.	8 weeks
Secondary	State Affect Rating	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.	8 weeks