Toward a Compassionate Intersectional Neuroscience: Increasing Diversity and Equity in Contemplative Neuroscience.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Mindfulness and compassion meditation are linked to prosocial behavior.
• Contemplative neuroscience research often lacks diverse participants, limiting generalizability.
• Existing methods may not capture neural diversity in meditation practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce and test the feasibility of Intersectional Neuroscience, a framework for inclusive contemplative science.
• Adapt research procedures for diverse populations, including racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities.
• Develop individualized neural metrics to understand meditation's effects across diverse individuals.

Main Methods:

• Partnered with a diverse meditation center for community engagement and feedback.
• Adapted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) screening and recruitment for inclusivity.
• Recruited and scanned 15 diverse meditators using person-centered approaches.
• Employed the EMBODY task with individualized machine learning algorithms to analyze fMRI data during meditation.

Main Results:

• Successfully recruited a diverse sample (80% racial/ethnic minorities, 53% gender/sexual minorities).
• Individualized machine learning algorithms accurately recognized unique brain patterns of all 15 meditators.
• Developed individual-level attention profiles during meditation based on neural data.

Conclusions:

• Demonstrated the feasibility of Intersectional Neuroscience for inclusive research in contemplative science.
• Established individualized neural metrics for assessing meditation practice in diverse populations.
• Highlighted the potential of reciprocal partnerships and inclusive practices to drive social action through research.