Abstract
Interest in the construct of mindfulness has been increasing with contemporary research showing neural changes associated with the practice. Trait mindfulness is the measure of individual differences in characteristics attributed to mindfulness practice that co-vary in individuals regardless of their experience. Aspects of trait mindfulness include increased awareness of one's body and/or increased space between one's sense of self and one's psychological and physiological reactions to stimuli. How trait mindfulness influences the impact of affective priming on an individual has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, participants (n = 30) completed an affective priming task while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Negative affective primes for neutral images were found to have the fastest response time compared to non-threatening non-affective primes and non-threatening affective primes, and negative primes for negative images, p's < .05. Negative affective primes for neutral images were also found to have reduced LPP responses compared to non-threatening non-affective primes for negative images, suggesting that they did not evoke elaborative processing. The subscale of trait mindfulness called "Describing" was found to significantly correlate with neural responses indicative of selective attention to emotional stimuli. These findings elaborate on the influence of embodiment in our attentional processing and how that influence may vary among individuals with different trait mindfulness patterns.