Table 1.

Summary of studies of meditation on decision making.

Psychological effects	Reference	Interventions	Samples	Psychological tasks and main scales	Design	Main findings (compared to matched controls) and effect sizes
Studies of meditation on non-social economic decision making
Risk taking decisions	Lakey et al. (2007a)	Meditation & control (study 2): distinguished by dispositional state test (MAAS); without specific meditation manipulations	Mindfulness & Control (study2): n = 309 (age: 19.23 ± 1.31 years)	(1) Georgia gambling task; (2) Iowa gambling task; (3) DIGS, DSM-IV, MAAS,SCS	CT	(1) Reduced severity of gambling problems; (2) Increased adaptability of decision making
Impulsive gambling	Alfonso et al. (2011)	Mindfulness: 7-week mindfulness training (14 sessions, 60 min long, twice weekly, on two different days); Control: standard community treatment	Mindfulness: n = 18 Control: n = 16	Iowa gambling task	Pre-post design; CT	(1) Improved performance on decision-making; (2) Reduced decision-making deficits in polysubstance abusers
Negativity bias	Kiken and Shook (2011)	Mindfulness: 15-min instructional mindful breathing; Control: instructional unfocused attention or mind wandering	Mindfulness and Control: n = 175 (age: 19.6 ± 2.4 years)	(1) Bean Fest paradigm; (2) PANAS, FES, MAAS	RCT	(1) Reduced negativity bias; (2) Increased positive affect Effect size: ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{2}}$ = 0.023
Sunk-cost bias	Hafenbrack et al. (2014)	Mindfulness (study 2a): 15-min focused-breathing meditation exercise; Control: mind-wandering induction to think of whatever came to mind	Mindfulness and Control (study2a ): n = 57 (age: 19.40 ± 1.10 years)	(1) Sunk-cost decision task; (2) PANAS, MAAS, DMCI, SES	RCT	(1) Decreased negative affect; (2) Decreased sunk-cost bias Effect size: φ = 0.35
Negativity bias	Kiken and Shook (2014)	All participants listened to a standardized 10-min audio recording (study 2). Mindfulness: received instruction in a mindful breathing meditation; Control: received instruction to let their minds wander freely	Mindfulness and Control (study 2): n = 102 (age: 21.00 ± 3.73 years)	(1) Thought valence: a common thought listing procedure; (2) MAAS	RCT	(1) Mindfulness is associated with less negatively weighted thoughts, but is not directly related to positively weighted thoughts. (2) Attenuate thoughts that emphasize negativity but not those that emphasize positivity. Effect size: ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{2}}$ = 0.86
Studies of meditation on social decision making
Fairness	Kirk et al. (2011)	Meditators: meditation experience (9.5 ± 7.8 years); Control: non-meditators	Meditators: n = 26 (age: 40.4 ± 10.4 years ) Control: n = 40 (age: 36.8 ± 10.1 years)	(1) Ultimate game (2) MAAS, KIMS	CT fMRI scan	(1) Meditators accept more unfair offers than controls; (2) Different network of brain when assessing unfairness in anterior/posterior insula, DLPFC, ACC, and thalamus
Fairness	McCall et al. (2014)	Meditation: full-time meditation retreat for at least 3 years; Control: no relative practice	Meditation: n = 18 (age: 54.3 ± 5.8 years) Control: n = 15 (age: 54.3 ± 5.8 years)	(1) A dictator game with second party punishment (2PP), third-party punishment (3PP), and third party punishment and recompense (3PR). (2) Emotional questionnaire (3) Fairness questionnaire	CT	(1) Less anger and punishment in response to unfairness; (2) More compensation of victims in response to fairness violations
Altruism	Weng et al. (2013)	Compassion: 30 min compassion training per day for 2 weeks; Control: matched reappraisal training	Compassion: n = 20 (age: 21.9 years) Control: n = 21 (age: 22.5 years)	Redistribution game	CT fMRI Behavior	(1) Increased altruistic redistribution of funds to a victim; Effect size: d = 0.65 (2) Altered activation in brain regions including the IPC and DLPFC
Prosocial behavior	Reb et al. (2010)	Loving-kindness: review a loving-kindness meditation audio clip lasts 8 min; Control: review a neutral audio clip lasts 8 min	Loving-kindness and Control: n = 49	(1) Dictator game; (2) Positive feelings on a 5-point likert scale	RCT Behavior	(1) More distribution of money to the counterpart; Effect size: ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{2}}$ = 0.08 (2) Positive feelings toward the counterpart Effect size: ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{2}}$ = 0.17
Prosocial behavior	Leiberg et al. (2011)	Compassion: a 1-day training lasts 6-h; Memory control: a 1-day training last 1-hour	Compassion: n = 27 (age: 24.74 ± 4.22 years) Control: n = 32 (age: 22.66 ± 3.8 years)	(1) Zurich prosocial game; (2) Sociodemographic questions online; (3) TAS,BDI, CLS	RCT	(1) Enhanced prosocial behavior; Effect size: ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{2}}$ = 0.21 (2) Increased positive mood and compassionate feelings and decreased negative mood Effect size: ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{2}}$ = 0.30
Prosocial behavior	Condon et al. (2013)	Meditation: 8-week study on meditation; Control: no intervention	Meditation and control: n = 39 (age: 25.23 ± 4.66 years)	Cognitive ability test on suffering	RCT	Increased altruistic behavior Effect size: φ = 0.36
Intergroup bias	Kang et al. (2014)	Loving-kindness: an hour practice per week for 6 weeks; 40 min discussion per week for 6 weeks; Waitlist control: have no any contact with the instructor or course materials until the posttest	Lovingkindness and control: n = 101 (age: 25.20 ± 5.20 years)	(1) Implicit association test (IAT) (2) MSTI, PSS	RCT	Decreased implicit bias toward blacks and homeless people with loving-kindness practice
Intergroup bias	Lueke and Gibson (2014)	Mindfulness: a 10-min mindfulness recording; Control: a control recording	Mindfulness and control: n = 72 (age:18∼23 years)	(1) IAT; (2) MRWP, MAAS	RCT	(1) Less implicit racial bias; Effect size: ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{2}}$ = 0.06 (2) Less implicit age bias; Effect size: ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{2}}$ = 0.06

ACC, Anterior Cingulate Cortex; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; CLS, Compassionate Love Scale; CT, Controlled trial; DLPFC: Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex; DMCI: Decision-Making Competence Inventory; DIGS: Diagnostic Interview for Gambling Severity; DSM-IV: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; FES: Future Events Scale; IPC: Inferior Parietal Cortex; KIMS: Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills; MAAS: Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; MRWP: Motivation to Respond without Prejudice Scale; MSTI: multi-source interference task; PANAS: Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scales; PSS: perceived stress scale; RCT: Randomized controlled trial; SCS: Self Control Scale; SES: Self-esteem Scale; TAS: Toronto Alexithymia Scale.