# Trait mindful attention is associated with greater real-time emotional benefits of positive experiences: Evidence from experimental studies

## TL;DR

Mindful people experience more mood improvement from certain positive experiences like viewing images or recalling memories, but not from exercise.

## Contribution

This study experimentally shows that mindfulness is linked to greater emotional benefits from specific positive experiences in real time.

## Key findings

- Higher mindfulness correlated with increased pleasure during image viewing and memory recall.
- Mindfulness was not linked to mood improvement during aerobic exercise.
- Greater mindfulness was associated with higher consummatory pleasure sensitivity.

## Abstract

Mindfulness has been linked to improved well-being, yet most evidence relies on retrospective self-report, and it is unclear whether more mindful individuals experience greater mood enhancement when exposed to positive experiences in real time. To address this gap, we reanalyzed three experimental datasets employing task-elicited positive contexts—viewing natural images (Study 1), recalling positive memories (Study 2), and aerobic exercise (Study 3)—and conducted a mechanistic follow-up assessing pleasure sensitivity (Study 4). The results show that trait mindfulness, measured with the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), was positively correlated with “pleasure” in Studies 1 (r = 0.486, p = 0.014) and 2 (r = 0.478, p = 0.039). By contrast, no mindfulness-related enhancement was observed for mood responses to aerobic exercise in Study 3. In Study 1, near-infrared spectroscopy revealed a negative correlation between mindfulness and left orbitofrontal cortex activation (r = –0.488, p = 0.013). In Study 4 (n=100), higher mindfulness was associated with greater consummatory pleasure sensitivity on the Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale (rho = 0.307, p = 0.020). Together, these findings suggest that mindful attention may be particularly relevant for psychologically oriented or internally guided positive experiences, such as perceptual immersion or autobiographical recall, while exerting a weaker influence in physiologically driven contexts such as exercise. These results extend previous self-report and savoring measures and demonstrate experimental associations between mindfulness and enhanced mood responses to certain kinds of positive experiences.