ReSource Project (Tania Singer): An example of rigorous contemplative-oriented ontogenetic science

[rufuspollock]

https://www.resource-project.org/en/

Good example of researching ecology of practices to cultivate particular capacities e.g. compassion, perspective taking etc.

Project completed in 2016.

Note best info on the project is now on https://taniasinger.de/the-resource-project/

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The ReSource Project

The ReSource Project is a unique, large-scale study on Eastern and Western methods of mental training. Over a period of eleven months, participants practiced a wide range of mental exercises that are designed to enhance attentional control, body- and self-awareness, healthy emotion regulation, self-care, compassion, empathy, and perspective taking. Overall, the aim of the training is to improve mental health and social skills. It may reduce stress, improve mental clarity, increase life satisfaction, and lead to a better understanding of others’ views, values and actions.

The ReSource Project is a secular program developed by a team of experienced meditation teachers, scientists, and psychotherapists. It was conducted from 2012-2016 in Leipzig and Berlin as part of a research project of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.

The ReSource Project was initiated by Prof. Dr. Tania Singer based on a research grant from the European Research Council (ERC) in Zurich in 2008. Prof. Dr. Tania Singer is the Principal Investigator of the ReSource Project which she continues to date as scientific head of the Max Planck’s Social Neuroscience Lab in Berlin.

https://taniasinger.de/the-resource-project/

Key Modules

Timeline

Summary of the Results

Full list of publications: https://www.social.mpg.de/34713/sp-resource

Notes

It matters what you practice: differential training effects on subjective experience, behavior, brain and body in the ReSource Project

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X18301416?via%3Dihub

Something of a summary paper

Great points that you need to differentiate different "mindfulness / meditation" practices and details of what that means

To move beyond such an undifferentiated view, we argue for the multifaceted nature of mindfulness and meditation-based mental practices. The parable of sport serves to illustrate this point. Clearly, sport is not a unitary practice, but an umbrella term for numerous physical exercises that train specific parts of the body. In similar vein, meditation-based mental training comprises different practices targeting

... distinct mental faculties such as attention and interoceptive awareness, socio-emotional or socio-cognitive abilities [e.g. Refs. 5, 6, 7]. Consequently, it should matter what we train, and not every practice should yield the same effects. In an attempt to differentiate between different types of mental practice, we conducted the ReSource Project [7], a multi-level, multi-method scientific evaluation of a 9-month training intervention cultivating a wide range of mental exercises in three distinct 3-month training modules. These modules focused on: (1) present-moment attention and interoceptive awareness (Presence), (2) socio-affective skills such as loving kindness, compassion, prosocial motivation and acceptance of difficult emotions (Affect), and (3) socio-cognitive skills including meta-cognition as well as perspective-taking on self and others (Perspective).