Trait mindfulness correlates with individual differences in multisensory imagery vividness

Background:Trait mindfulness is a multifaceted construct, although its association with measures of personality and individual differences remains poorly understood. Given that guided mindfulness meditations (MM) frequently involve focused imagery and are typically experienced as pleasant, we predicted that visual and embodied imagery vividness would mediate the association between mindful observing traits and pleasant experiences in response to guided MM.Study objectives and methods:137 undergraduate students and 371 participants from Amazon's MTurk web service completed questionnaire measures of mindfulness traits and multisensory imagery vividness. They then completed an 8-10 min MM involving guided imagery of visualizing and embodying the positive characteristics of natural objects (a mountain, sun, or tree). Participants rated the level of imagery vividness they experienced in the visual and embodied modalities as well as their emotional responses to the MM.Results:Mindful “observing” correlated with increased imagery vividness, both in response to standardized questionnaire and a guided MM. As predicted, vividness of visual and particularly embodied imagery mediated the association between trait mindful observing and experienced pleasantness in response to the MM.Conclusions:Individual differences in vividness of visual and embodied imagery are a construct of relevance to understanding mindfulness both as a state and trait.