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List of all Center for Healthy Minds Studies

Infant and mother for Baby Brain and Behavior Project
Baby Brain and Behavior Project

Our researchers are learning more about how very early experiences influence the developing brain and child well-being.

A Human Painted In Watercolor Holding A Hand Over Heart To Demonstrate The Link Between Stress In The Body And In The Mind
Body Awareness, Mindfulness and Mind-Body Coherence

How does the relationship between mental and physical stress impact well-being?

Illustrations of firing neuron network by 7activestudio via iStock
Cognitive Control and the Regulation of Emotion, Attention and Pain

Are people who are better at controlling their attention, emotion or pain responses in a laboratory setting more successful at carrying that skill into daily life?

Photo of rowboat floating on still waters of a lake by rmnunes via iStock
Conceptions of Mindfulness

Scholars at the Center examine perceptions and experiences related to mindfulness and how they contribute to studying differing practices.

Healthy Minds @ Work Demo
Developing a Program to Learn and Measure Well-Being at Scale

In collaboration with Healthy Minds Innovations, this project strives to learn how to teach and measure well-being to scale

Educators Study
Educator Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting educators’ lives and whether a mindfulness-based program buffers against the negative effects of stress.

Profile Of Person With Brain
Emotion and Wellness Study

How do people experience emotions over a period of time and what does that say about their resilience and well-being?

Using Smartphone To Meditate
Evaluating the Healthy Minds Program Application in a Fully Remote Randomized Controlled Trial

Exploring whether meditation training via mobile technology (e.g., smartphones) could dramatically increase access to potentially beneficial practices.

View Of A Buddhist Monastery
Examining Individual Differences in Contemplative Practice Response

This study seeks to build upon knowledge from Tibetan medicine through examining well-being data and microbiome measures on a variety of people with varying levels of meditation training who have participated in previous intervention studies to gain a better understanding of what works for whom and why.

Alzheimers Web
Examining the Relationship Between Emotion and Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease

Center for Healthy Minds researchers are examining how emotion may play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Hot Sauna Web
Exploring Hyperthermia as an Alternative Treatment for Depression

Is hyperthermia a viable and effective treatment for depression?

Close up of police car lights
Exploring the Effects of Mindfulness Training on Police Officer Resilience and Well-Being

The goals of this work are to understand the impact of mindfulness training on police officer well-being and the well-being of people negatively affected by policing.

Mother Helping Her Daughter Do Yoga
Exploring the Impact of an In-Home Parent-Child Mindfulness Training Program

What impacts does an in-home parent-child mindfulness training program have on children and their families?

Hmp Follow Up Study
Healthy Minds Program Promoting Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Seeking to understand whether large-scale interventions such as the Healthy Minds Program may have a protective effect against stress and mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rorschach test photo by denamazanikignatencko via iStockPhoto
Impact of Experiential Curricula and Methods to Nurture Well-Being

Center experts are developing assessments and tools that examine ways to cultivate well-being across a variety of people and contexts.

A Woman Sits Behind A Computer With A Young Boy Demonstrating Options For Improving The Interactions Children With Incarcerated Parents Have During Jail Visits
Improving Outcomes for Incarcerated Parents and their Children through Enhanced Jail Visits

How can researchers improve jail visits for children with incarcerated parents?

Atenta Mente2
Improving School Climate and Children’s Well-Being through Mindfulness-Based Curricula in Mexico

What impact does well-being curricula have on educators and the students they serve? The Center for Healthy Minds is teaming up with AtentaMente, a Mexico-based group of multidisciplinary professionals, to find out.

Two People Meditating
Improving the Science and Measurement of Mindfulness

Researchers are broadening the methods to measure mindfulness

Young Children In Computer Class
Investigating Neuroplasticity Associated with Cognitive Training in Young Children

How does a cognitive training program impact brain development in 6-year-old children?

Yoga Pose
Large-Scale Analyses of the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Interventions

Examining the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions across research literature

Photo of Tibetan singing bowl by bkkm via iStock
Mapping the Interface between Meditation and Neuroscience

Center researchers and collaborators are building new approaches to understand the links between traditional contemplative perspectives and scientific theory to better study the scientific effects of meditation training on the brain, body, mind and behavior.

Happy and sad face drawings by greenwatermelon via iStock
Measuring Well-Being

Center researchers are developing a program to teach scientifically-informed practices and principles that facilitate well-being.

Woman doing crossword puzzle by plamensart via iStock
Midlife Development in the United States

Our scientists examine how individual differences in emotional reactivity and recovery to emotional stimuli, brain structure and patterns of brain activity are related to life experiences, personality, behavior, health and well-being across the adult lifespan in a large national longitudinal sample.

Nccam Asthma Follow Up
Mindfulness-Based Training and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Examining whether experience with mindfulness-based programs and training is helping people cope with daily stress and mental challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Image of abstract head and growth by chatchaisurakram via iStock
Moral Psychology and Flourishing

What drives moral behavior and greater well-being?

Photo of cleaning chalkboard by XiXinXing via iStock
Pre-Service Teachers Project

Center researchers are investigating possible ways to prevent teacher burnout in the classroom.

Human Speaking And Human Listening
Predicting the Effectiveness of Therapists

Examining how therapist differences impact client outcomes

Smiling Faces Study
Smiling Faces Task and Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Following up with past research participants about the pandemic's impact on their lives and their current psychological outlook.

Student Flourishing Research
Student Flourishing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Determining whether there are protective effects of learning well-being skills on stress during crises.

Meditation Cushion Next To Candle
The Field Study of Long-term Meditation Practitioners and the Tukdam Post-death Meditative State

A global community of field researchers are collaborating on a study of an ancient monastic post-mortem meditative state known as tukdam, practiced by present-day expert Tibetan Buddhists and how such a practice might offer insight into mental, spiritual, and physical well-being during the death process, both for the dying and for their support community.

College students studying with computers and conversing image showing college students at work
The Student Flourishing Initiative

Center for Healthy Minds researchers, along with partners at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Virginia, are creating and studying the impact of a well-being curriculum for college freshman.

Veteran Speaking To Someone
Understanding Barriers to Well-Being in Veterans

Evaluating how organizations serving veterans impacted mental health treatment engagement

Buddhist ritual photo by CreativaImages via iStock
Understanding Mindfulness through Buddhist Contemplative Practice

How can Buddhist traditions influence the study and practice of mindfulness today?

Child Development Announcement Web
Understanding Poverty’s Impact on the Developing Brain

How does chronic stress impact a child's social, behavioral and cognitive development?

Photo of person planting seedling by weerapatkiatdumrong via iStockPhoto
Understanding the Mechanisms of Well-Being Training in Adults with and without Asthma

Center scientists and collaborators examine the impact of well-being training.

Stick Figure Human Evolution Web
Viewing Depression Through an Evolutionary Lens

Can we use an evolutionary perspective to better understand depression?