%0 Journal Article
%T Sitting and silent meditation as a strategy to study emotion regulation
%A Carolina B. Menezes
%A Mirtes G. Pereira
%A Lisiane Bizarro
%J Psychology & Neuroscience
%D 2012
%I Casa do Psic¨®logo
%X Emotion regulation is the capacity to control the way in which people attend, perceive, process and react to emotional information. Practitioners of sitting and silent meditation develop a greater control of their mental processes, culminating in regulatory abilities that lead to well-being and emotional balance. In this paper we reviewed evidence from recent studies on neurophysiology and cognitive psychology on emotion regulation¡ªfocusing on negative emotions¡ªand meditation in order to discuss their intertwining. This critical review showed that controlling attention and fostering a relaxation state are the main mechanisms for the interaction between emotion regulation and meditation. Importantly, it is suggested that the effects of meditation on emotion regulation should be conceptualized separately as those taking effect during the practice and those occurring as an outcome of such practice. Finally, it is highlighted that meditation should be conceived as a particular type of emotion regulation strategy, and that further studies comparing these strategies more directly are warranted.
%K emotion regulation
%K meditation
%K attention
%K relaxation.
%U http://www.psycneuro.org/index.php/path/article/view/225/622