Time, Touch, Attention and the Autonomic Nervous System

The Impact of Interpersonal Mindful Compassion on Autonomic Nervous System Function

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01428674

Enrollment

Registered

2011-09-05

Start date

2011-02-28

Completion date

2011-06-30

Last updated

2018-08-15

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Stress

Keywords

Interpersonal mindful compassion, Loving kindness meditation, Autonomic Nervous System, Heart rate variability, Respiratory rate, Relaxation

Brief summary

The purpose of this study is to describe the onset, duration and dose-response of interpersonal mindful compassion on respiratory rate and heart rate variability in healthy adults in order to prepare for research evaluating the impact of this intervention in patient populations and to prepare for basic research investigating the CNS mechanisms for observed effects. Previous research has found that mindfulness meditation, including mindful compassion, results in autonomic changes in the practitioner. Emerging neuroscience of dyadic interactions suggests that through the effects of mirror neuron isopraxis, one person's physiologic state may be mirrored by another. However, no research has directly evaluated the impact of one person's mindful compassion on another person's autonomic activity. This study paves the way for an entirely new avenue of research inquiry.

Interventions

OTHERInterpersonal Mindful Compassion with Touch

A practitioner lightly touches the participant on the hands, arms, shoulders, lower legs and feet while extending loving kindness to the participant.

OTHERReading while extending loving kindness

The practitioner sits in a room with the participant, pretending to read, while extending loving kindness to the participant.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Subject)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 40 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Healthy subjects age 18 - 40

Exclusion criteria

* Taking beta blocker medication

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Change in Heart Rate Variability from pre-intervention period to intervention period	continuous monitoring for 10 min before intervention and during 10 or 20 minute intervention
Change in Respiratory Rate from pre-intervention period to intervention period	continuous monitoring for 10 minutes before intervention and during 10 or 20 minute intervention

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Perceived Stress, Relaxation, Peacefulness	baseline, after a 10 minute rest period, before 10 or 20 minute intervention, immediately after intervention, 20 minutes after intervention

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 27, 2026