​​About the lab

​Our work involves two broad areas of investigation. The first is related to the training of attention and emotion regulation through contemplative practice. We conducted a large-scale collaborative and multi-method longitudinal investigation of the effects of intensive meditation training, known as The Shamatha Project. To begin to elucidate the many levels of personal and physiological change that accompany such training, we analyze qualitative, self-report, behavioral, electrophysiological, and biochemical measures. 

We are currently extending our work on meditation to investigate how people are using contemplative practice to cope with current conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more about this research, please visit our project page at contemplative-coping-covid-19.ucdavis.edu/.

Our second research area concerns sensory processing, multisensory integration, and interhemispheric communication in children with autism spectrum disorders. In collaboration with colleagues at the CMB and M.I.N.D. Institute, we use sensitive behavioral measures, eye tracking, and dense channel array event-related potentials to investigate possible deficits in these low-level processes, which likely contribute to the complex phenotype of autism.

​In the press

Clifford Saron: Embracing the Mystery—Inaugural Mind and Life Service Award—M&L Blog, 2019

​TIME Magazine: The Antiaging Promise of Mindfulness

​CMB News: Meditation Studies Featured in 'Time', October, 2018

​UC Davis Egghead research blog: Markers of Cellular Aging Improve During Insight Meditation Retreat, Aug. 2, 2018 

​Shrink Rap Radio #454: Scientific Research on The Effects of Meditation with Clifford Saron, 2015

McGill Transcultural Psychiatry blog: Clifford Saron on the Shamatha Project (with video interview), February 3, 2014

The Secular Buddhist, Episode 28: Neuro Dharma with Clifford Saron

Huffington Post, Life: Mindfulness Meditation Could Lower Levels Of Cortisol, The Stress Hormone, March 31, 2013 03/31/2013

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Understanding the Mind and the Theory of Mindfulness—Mindful by Design podcast interview with Rev angel Kyodo williams (2020)
 

​Increased telomere length after a monthlong Insight Meditation retreat—DMCN Editor Podcast interview with Quinn Conklin (2017)

Minding Mindfulness: Issues, Models, and Findings in the Scientific Study of Meditation—​International Symposium for Contemplative Science (2016)

​Creative Empathy: What children on the Autism Spectrum Can Teach Us About Our World When We Enter Theirs—TEDx talk by Clifford Saron​(2015) 

Common Sense Contemplation—Clifford Saron at Heart-Mind (2013)

The Majesty of the Present—TEDxUCDavis by Clifford Saron (2012)