Abstract
Meditation is an umbrella term for a number of mental training practices designed to improve the monitoring and regulation of attention and emotion. Some forms of meditation are now being used for clinical intervention. To accompany the increased clinical interest in meditation, research investigating the neural basis of these practices is needed. A central hypothesis of contemplative neuroscience is that meditative states, which are unique on a phenomenological level, differ on a neurophysiological level. To identify the electrophysiological correlates of meditation practice, the electrical brain activity of highly skilled meditators engaging in one of six meditation styles (shamatha, vipassana, zazen, dzogchen, tonglen, and visualization) was recorded. A mind-wandering task served as a control. Lempel–Ziv complexity showed differences in nonlinear brain dynamics (entropy) during meditation compared with mind wandering, suggesting that meditation, regardless of practice, affects neural complexity. In contrast, there were no differences in power spectra at six different frequency bands, likely due to the fact that participants engaged in different meditation practices. Finally, exploratory analyses suggest neurological differences among meditation practices. These findings highlight the importance of studying the electroencephalography (EEG) correlates of different meditative practices.
Highlights
Meditation is a catch-all term referring to a diverse collection of mental exercises (Cahn and Polich, 2006; Fox et al, 2016)
To test for differences in global entropy during meditation and mind wandering as measured by Lempel–Ziv complexity (LZc), we conducted a one-way ANOVA with state as a within factor
LZc scores were lower during meditation (M = 0.84, SD = 0.11) than during mind wandering (M = 0.88, SD = 0.10)
Summary
Meditation is a catch-all term referring to a diverse collection of mental exercises (Cahn and Polich, 2006; Fox et al, 2016). Meditation practices are being effectively employed in a number of therapeutic domains (Rubia, 2009; Vøllestad et al, 2012, Simkin and Black, 2014; Eisendrath, 2016). There has been an increase in studies examining the neural basis for these practices (Van Dam et al, 2018). Scientific interest in meditation grew in the late seventies, with researchers examining the psychological and cognitive correlates, creating theories, proposing clinical applications, and beginning neurological study (Andresen, 2000).
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