Abstract
If the brain is a complex network of functionally specialized areas, it might be expected that mental representations could also behave in a similar way. We propose the concept of ‘psychonectome’ to formalize the idea of psychological constructs forming a dynamic network of mutually dependent elements. As a proof-of-concept of the psychonectome, networks analysis (NA) was used to explore structural changes in the network of constructs resulting from a psychological intervention. NA was applied to explore the effects of an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in healthy participants (N = 182). Psychological functioning was measured by questionnaires assessing five key domains related to MBSR: mindfulness, compassion, psychological well-being, psychological distress and emotional-cognitive control. A total of 25 variables, covering the five constructs, were considered as nodes in the NA. Participants significantly improved in most of the psychological questionnaires. More interesting from a network perspective, there were also significant changes in the topological relationships among the elements. Expected influence and strength centrality indexes revealed that mindfulness and well-being measures were the most central nodes in the networks. The nodes with highest topological change after the MBSR were attentional control, compassion measures, depression and thought suppression. Also, cognitive appraisal, an adaptive emotion regulation strategy, was associated to rumination before the MBSR program but became related to mindfulness and well-being measures after the program. Community analysis revealed a strong topological association between mindfulness, compassion, and emotional regulation, which supports the key role of compassion in mindfulness training. These results highlight the importance of exploring psychological changes from a network perspective and support the conceptual advantage of considering the interconnectedness of psychological constructs in terms of a ‘psychonectome’ as it may reveal ways of functioning that cannot be analyzed through conventional analytic methods.
Highlights
Network theory and psychological functioningNetwork theory (NT) has been used to describe the structure and functioning of dynamic complex systems by using Graph Theory [1,2]
The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program was effective in changing the psychological state of participating individuals as confirmed by standard statistical procedures, which is a common result in MBSR programs
We propose the ‘psychonectome’ concept, defined as a complex ensemble of dependences between psychological constructs, where the focus of interest is transferred from the changes in individual constructs to the relation between them
Summary
Network theory (NT) has been used to describe the structure and functioning of dynamic complex systems by using Graph Theory [1,2]. Current conceptualizations of brain functioning use NT to describe the complex functioning of neural circuitries and their connection to different type of data (e.g. performance in cognitive tasks) which has opened the field of ‘network neuroscience’ [4]. Within this framework, it is nowadays widely assumed that brain operates as a network and such organization underlies information processing, emotions, sensations, or thoughts [5,6,7]. Whereas attentional tasks are linked to ventral- and dorsal-attention networks [10], the connection between attention, and other cognitive components (e.g. working memory), or emotional components (e.g. anxiety) is almost entirely unknown [10,11]
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