Empathy and Compassion Research Series
Fall 2022
On November 16, the Center for Research kicked off their Empathy and Compassion Research Series. The event included presentations by TDSIEC researchers Satish Jaiswal, PhD and Lindsey Powell, PhD followed by a panel discussion moderated by Jyoti Mishra, PhD.
Watch the full event recording
Presentations
Brief Digital Mindfulness and Compassion Intervention for Physician Trainees
Presented by Satish Jaiswal, PhD
In this longitudinal study, we implemented a brief digital mindfulness and compassion program, WellMind, for physician trainees and compared behavioral and neural outcomes relative to a no-contact control group. WellMind participants showed significant increase in self-compassion and state-mindfulness outcomes, with improvements in self-compassion sustained at follow-up. These changes were not observed for the control group. Neural data showed significant suppression of default mode network (DMN) activity at post versus pre-intervention, exclusively in the WellMind group, which further related to improvements in self-compassion.
About Dr. Jaiswal
Dr. Jaiswal is a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC San Diego and a part of NEATLabs under the supervision of Dr. Jyoti Mishra. He has a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience on thesis titled, “The interplay between mindfulness and anxiety and their influence on cognitive functions.” His current research involves intervention of digital mindfulness training among non-clinical as well as clinical populations. His major focus is in data analytics ranging from behavioral, cognitive and electrophysiological data.
Infants' Experience and Understanding of Empathy
Presented by Lindsey Powell, PhD
Empathy and compassion have origins early in human development, but there are still many unanswered questions about how the cognitive and brain systems that support empathy emerge. I will talk about two projects, one that is currently investigating the neural basis of empathy in toddlers and another that looks at infants' expectations about empathy in others.
About Dr. Powell
Dr. Powell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at UC San Diego. She trained in developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience at Harvard University, where she did her PhD, and MIT, where she was a postdoctoral fellow. At UC San Diego, she runs the Social Cognition and Learning Laboratory, which studies how infants and young children think about people and their relationships, and how social partners help young children learn about the world.