The Effects of Yoga on Cognitive Body or Action Representations and on the Awareness of Self and Other

• Applicant: Dr. Nicole David
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2011 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 198773390

Researchers have now convincingly demonstrated that regular meditation practice may alter cognition, emotion, brain functioning and morphology. Another form of mental training is yoga, in which inner focus is achieved by synchronized breathing and body exercises. Even though yoga is more extensively practiced and distributed around the world compared to meditation, virtually nothing is known about how yoga may shape the mind. In the proposed research, yoga practitioners will be investigated using cognitive and neuropsychological testing and compared to non-yoga control participants. More specifically, the long-term effects of yoga training/ experience on the participants body and action representations as well as on self-awareness shall be examined. Thereby, the role of internal signals, such as arising from muscles and joints, and of a sense of body in space -- both assumed to be pronounced in yoga practitioners -- for body, action and self/other-awareness should be evaluated. The proposed research would not only yield insights into the cognitive effects of yoga training, but also into the role of interoception and proprioception for body- and self-awareness. A good sense of the body may not only be relevant for the control of our own movements but also for understanding other peoples behavior, which, ultimately, is mediated by non-verbal signals such as posture or movement. As a consequence, yoga could be successfully applied as a body-centered treatment approach to disorders of social cognition and sensorimotor behavior such as autism spectrum disorders.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Italy
• Host: Professor Dr. Salvatore Aglioti