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What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation
Experienced meditators are able to voluntarily modulate their state of consciousness and attention. In the present study, we took advantage of this ability and studied brain activity related to the shift of mental state. Electrophysiological activity, i.e. EEG, was recorded from 11 subjects with var...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Academic Press
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4359616/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25562827 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.12.065 |
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author | Hauswald, Anne Übelacker, Teresa Leske, Sabine Weisz, Nathan |
author_facet | Hauswald, Anne Übelacker, Teresa Leske, Sabine Weisz, Nathan |
author_sort | Hauswald, Anne |
collection | PubMed |
description | Experienced meditators are able to voluntarily modulate their state of consciousness and attention. In the present study, we took advantage of this ability and studied brain activity related to the shift of mental state. Electrophysiological activity, i.e. EEG, was recorded from 11 subjects with varying degrees of meditation experience during Zen meditation (a form of open monitoring meditation) and during non-meditation rest. On a behavioral level, mindfulness scores were assessed using the Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS). Analysis of EEG source power revealed the so far unreported finding that MAAS scores significantly correlated with gamma power (30–250 Hz), particularly high-frequency gamma (100–245 Hz), during meditation. High levels of mindfulness were related to increased high-frequency gamma, for example, in the cingulate cortex and somatosensory cortices. Further, we analyzed the relationship between connectivity during meditation and self-reported mindfulness (MAAS). We found a correlation between graph measures in the 160–170 Hz range and MAAS scores. Higher levels of mindfulness were related to lower small worldedness as well as global and local clustering in paracentral, insular, and thalamic regions during meditation. In sum, the present study shows significant relationships of mindfulness and brain activity during meditation indicated by measures of oscillatory power and graph theoretical measures. The most prominent effects occur in brain structures crucially involved in processes of awareness and attention, which also show structural changes in short- and long-term meditators, suggesting continuative alterations in the meditating brain. Overall, our study reveals strong changes in ongoing oscillatory activity as well as connectivity patterns that appear to be sensitive to the psychological state changes induced by Zen meditation. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4359616 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | Academic Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-43596162015-03-31 What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation Hauswald, Anne Übelacker, Teresa Leske, Sabine Weisz, Nathan Neuroimage Article Experienced meditators are able to voluntarily modulate their state of consciousness and attention. In the present study, we took advantage of this ability and studied brain activity related to the shift of mental state. Electrophysiological activity, i.e. EEG, was recorded from 11 subjects with varying degrees of meditation experience during Zen meditation (a form of open monitoring meditation) and during non-meditation rest. On a behavioral level, mindfulness scores were assessed using the Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS). Analysis of EEG source power revealed the so far unreported finding that MAAS scores significantly correlated with gamma power (30–250 Hz), particularly high-frequency gamma (100–245 Hz), during meditation. High levels of mindfulness were related to increased high-frequency gamma, for example, in the cingulate cortex and somatosensory cortices. Further, we analyzed the relationship between connectivity during meditation and self-reported mindfulness (MAAS). We found a correlation between graph measures in the 160–170 Hz range and MAAS scores. Higher levels of mindfulness were related to lower small worldedness as well as global and local clustering in paracentral, insular, and thalamic regions during meditation. In sum, the present study shows significant relationships of mindfulness and brain activity during meditation indicated by measures of oscillatory power and graph theoretical measures. The most prominent effects occur in brain structures crucially involved in processes of awareness and attention, which also show structural changes in short- and long-term meditators, suggesting continuative alterations in the meditating brain. Overall, our study reveals strong changes in ongoing oscillatory activity as well as connectivity patterns that appear to be sensitive to the psychological state changes induced by Zen meditation. Academic Press 2015-03 /pmc/articles/PMC4359616/ /pubmed/25562827 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.12.065 Text en © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Hauswald, Anne Übelacker, Teresa Leske, Sabine Weisz, Nathan What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation |
title | What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation |
title_full | What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation |
title_fullStr | What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation |
title_full_unstemmed | What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation |
title_short | What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation |
title_sort | what it means to be zen: marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4359616/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25562827 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.12.065 |
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