Examining Cultural, Ethnic, and Religious Differences with the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality in the U.S. and India.

The Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) is regularly used to measure spirituality and religiosity in U.S. Christian populations, although it has not been used for making comparisons with non-Western groups. This study compared BMMRS results for 109 individuals (60 in the U.S. and 49 in India) with traumatic brain injury (TBI) from different cultures (U.S., India), ethnic groups (African American, Caucasian, South Asian), and religions (Christian, Hindu, Muslim). In general, the results indicated that U.S. African Americans and Christians reported being the most spiritual, South Asians and Hindus the least. Groups differed significantly in self-reported spiritual experiences, but less in frequency of religious activities. Results suggest using caution when applying Western-based measures of religion and spirituality in non-Western, non-Christian populations.

Active Physical Practice Followed by Mental Practice Using BCI-Driven Hand Exoskeleton: A Pilot Trial for Clinical Effectiveness and Usability.

Appropriately combining mental practice (MP) and physical practice (PP) in a poststroke rehabilitation is critical for ensuring a substantially positive rehabilitation outcome. Here, we present a rehabilitation protocol incorporating a separate active PP stage followed by MP stage, using a hand exoskeleton and brain-computer interface (BCI). The PP stage was mediated by a force sensor feedback-based assist-as-needed control strategy, whereas the MP stage provided BCI-based multimodal neurofeedback combining anthropomorphic visual feedback and proprioceptive feedback of the impaired hand extension attempt. A six week long clinical trial was conducted on four hemiparetic stroke patients (screened out of 16) with a left-hand disability. The primary outcome, motor functional recovery, was measured in terms of changes in grip-strength (GS) and action research arm test (ARAT) scores; whereas the secondary outcome, usability of the system was measured in terms of changes in mood, fatigue, and motivation on a visual-analog-scale. A positive rehabilitative outcome was found as the group mean changes from the baseline in the GS and ARAT were +6.38 kg and +5.66 accordingly. The VAS scale measurements also showed betterment in mood ( 1.38), increased motivation (+2.10) and reduced fatigue (0.98) as compared to the baseline. Thus, the proposed neurorehabilitation protocol is found to be promising both in terms of clinical effectiveness and usability.

Psychophysiological and oculomotoric changes during emotion elicitation

With an aim to examine behavioural and physiological changes during emotion elicitation, 30 participants were shown audio, video or audio-video versions of movie clips depicting anger, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise and neutral expressions. While watching these stimuli, the eye-tracking glass was used to record oculomotoric changes. Heart rate, blood volume and respiration rate were also recorded. After viewing each clip the participants had to label and rate the emotion depicted in the movie clip. The data was analyzed with respect to valence, motoric direction and arousal dimensions of emotions. Findings of the behavioural data and corresponding change in the respiration rate suggest that fear is the only emotion that equally impacted participants psychologically as well as physiologically. The number of fixations and saccades for positive and negative emotions differed significantly (AU)

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Factor Structure of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality in US and Indian Samples with Traumatic Brain Injury.

The aim of this paper was to determine the factor structure of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) based on a sample of individuals from diverse cultures (i.e., USA, India), ethnicities (i.e., Caucasian, African-American, South Asian), and religions (i.e., Christian, Muslim, Hindu). A total of 109 individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were included. Participants completed the BMMRS as part of a broader study on spirituality, religion, prosocial behaviors, and neuropsychological function. A principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization identified a six-factor solution accounting for 72% of the variance in scores. Five of the factors were deemed to be interpretable and were labeled based on face validity as: (1) Positive Spirituality/Religious Practices; (2) Positive Congregational Support; (3) Negative Spirituality/Negative Congregational Support; (4) Organizational Religion; and (5) Forgiveness. The results were generally consistent with previous studies, suggesting the existence of universal religious, spiritual, and congregational support factors across different cultures and faith traditions. For health outcomes research, it is suggested that the BMMRS factors may be best conceptualized as measuring the following general domains: (a) emotional connectedness with a higher power (i.e., spirituality, positive/negative); (b) culturally based behavioral practices (i.e., religion); and (c) social support (i.e., positive/negative). The results indicate that factor relationships may differ among spiritual, religious, and congregational support variables according to culture and/or religious tradition.

Psychology of Meditation and Health: Present Status and Future Directions

Past four decades has witnessed substantial scientific research on meditation as an alternative mind-body therapy. This paper is an attempt to provide a comprehensive view of the present state of the research in meditation and health. It reviews major findings related to meditation and its effects on various disorders. Two major types of meditation practices dominating presently (concentration and mindfulness) are introduced. Effects of meditation on human physiology such as heart beat, blood pressure, cortical activity, metabolism, respiration, and skin resistance are discussed. Impact of meditation on human perception and cognition is also addressed. Possible pathways or mechanisms through which meditation impacts health such as, relaxation, systematic desensitization, release of repressed memories, un-stressing and so on are also discussed. Finally, major conceptual and methodological issues that need seriour attention from researchers in this area for future research is addressed (AU)

Los últimos cuatro decenios han presenciado importantes investigaciones científicas sobre la meditación como una alternativa terapéutica. Este artículo intenta brindar una visión global del estado actual de la investigación sobre meditación y salud. Examina los principales hallazgos relacionados con la meditación y sus efectos sobre diversos trastornos. Se presenta una introducción a los tipos principales de prácticas de meditación dominan actualmente (la concentración y el mindfulness). Se tratan los efectos de la meditación sobre aspectos de la fisiología humana como el ritmo cardiaco, la presión arterial, la actividad cortical, el metabolismo, la respiración, y la resistencia eléctrica de la piel, y se trata el impacto de la meditación sobre percepción y cognición humanas. Se discuten las posibles vías o mecanismos mediante los cuales la meditación impacta en la salud como son la relajación, la desensibilización sistemática, la liberación de recuerdos reprimidos y la disminución del estrés. Por último, se mencionan las principales cuestiones conceptuales y metodologías que necesitan la atención de los investigadores para futuros estudios en esta área (AU)