Validation of different forms of present-moment awareness using cognitive and behavioral outcomes.

The recently developed Multidimensional Awareness Scale (MAS) consists of three subscales assessing individual differences in present-moment awareness of internal states (meta-awareness; MAS-MA), present-moment awareness of the external world (external awareness; MAS-EA), and in the adoption of a detached, observer perspective on one's current internal states (decentered awareness; MAS-DA). The present article examines whether the constructs identified during the development of the MAS manifest during behavioral laboratory tasks. Study 1 ( = 242) examined participants' memory for incidentally encountered external stimuli (criterion for external awareness) and reports of awareness of mind wandering during a lengthy vigilance task (criterion for meta-awareness), and Study 2 ( = 230) examined tolerance of a painful stimulus and concurrent and retrospective reports of pain (criteria for decentered awareness).

Decentering constructs predict experience and tolerance of pain: evidence from a cold pressor study / .

Decentering is a detached, observer perspective on one's current mental contents. Recent work has identified two potential aspects of decentering, Observer Perspective (OP) and Reduced Struggle (RS), that independently predict the effects of decentering. Specifically, both OP and RS predict reduced psychological distress in response to negative affect, with some variability in predictive utility across outcomes.