Subjective Experience-Physiology Coherence

Author / Creator

Sommerfeldt, Sasha LaHaye, author

Available as

Online

Physical

Summary

Imagine feeling intense stress: palms sweaty, heart racing, breathing shallow. Sensations of the body often come to the forefront when describing experiences of emotion or stress, yet these physiol...

Imagine feeling intense stress: palms sweaty, heart racing, breathing shallow. Sensations of the body often come to the forefront when describing experiences of emotion or stress, yet these physiological changes are separate from the subjective 'feeling' of these states that we experience mentally. How are these mental feelings connected to the physiological responses of the body? When subjective feelings track strongly with physiological signals of the body, does this indicate adaptive functioning? Could discordance between subjective experience and physiological arousal under stress even be a marker of flawed insight, denial, or limited awareness of mental states? Is awareness of the body a prerequisite for strong coherence between subjective feelings and physiology? Can we learn to have greater coherence between our minds and bodies, and will this improve our well-being? This work focuses on coherence between subjective experience and peripheral physiological activity. I first seek to replicate initial findings showing that when subjective experience tracks more strongly with physiological signals of the body (i.e., strong subjective experience-physiology coherence) individuals tend to have higher psychological well-being, and lower anxiety and depression. I seek to clarify the construct of subjective experience-physiology coherence by examining associations with acceptance and awareness of subjective states, and how it relates to body awareness (i.e., interoceptive accuracy). Finally, I evaluate whether subjective experience-physiology coherence can be increased through a brief mindfulness meditation training as a potential mechanism through which mindfulness training increases well-being. The sample size was limited by pandemic impacts, reaching only N = 120 of the originally targeted N = 260, which in turn limited our ability to detect any significant effects, apart from the mindfulness group showing greater increases in Nonjudging of Inner Experience relative to the control group. However, this study developed two novel measurements that can be used by other studies in the future.

Show More