Most meditation research uses trait questionnaires that miss moment-to-moment changes during practice. The Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology (LAMP) questionnaire was developed to capture contextual, emotional, bodily, attentional, cognitive, and metacognitive dimensions of meditation. Fifty-three experienced meditators completed the LAMP after each session during a 10-day retreat. Over 60% of the assessed dimensions changed significantly over time, with distinct trajectories depending on meditation type (focused attention vs. open monitoring) and individual expertise. Three clusters of individual trajectories emerged, linked to prior experience and difficulties during the retreat. Findings on pain regulation were replicated and extended. This approach offers a rich, dynamic characterization of meditative experience.
A new questionnaire, the Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology (LAMP), captures how meditation experiences change over time across seven domains: context, intention, emotion, body, attention, thought, and self-awareness. Fifty-three experienced meditators completed the LAMP after each session during a 10-day retreat. Over 60% of the measured dimensions changed significantly, with distinct patterns for focused attention versus open monitoring meditation and for meditators of different expertise levels. Three clusters of individual trajectories emerged, linked to prior experience and difficulties during the retreat. The approach also replicated and extended prior findings on pain regulation. The findings suggest that meditation experience is dynamic and multidimensional, and the LAMP may help deepen understanding of meditation's mechanisms.