AI Article Synopsis
- Meditation has shown potential benefits for psychiatric disorders, but learning it can be challenging due to the lack of direct feedback on performance.
- In a study with novice and experienced meditators, EEG neurofeedback reflecting activity from the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) was used to help participants achieve the state of effortless awareness associated with meditation.
- Results indicated that both groups were able to control PCC activity related to their subjective experience of effortless awareness, suggesting that EEG neurofeedback can effectively connect objective brain measures with meditation practices.
Article Abstract
Background: Meditation is increasingly showing beneficial effects for psychiatric disorders. However, learning to meditate is not straightforward as there are no easily discernible outward signs of performance and thus no direct feedback is possible. As meditation has been found to correlate with posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) activity, we tested whether source-space EEG neurofeedback from the PCC followed the subjective experience of effortless awareness (a major component of meditation), and whether participants could volitionally control the signal.
Methods: Sixteen novice meditators and sixteen experienced meditators participated in the study. Novice meditators were briefly trained to perform a basic meditation practice to induce the subjective experience of effortless awareness in a progressively more challenging neurofeedback test-battery. Experienced meditators performed a self-selected meditation practice to induce this state in the same test-battery. Neurofeedback was provided based on gamma-band (40-57Hz) PCC activity extracted using a beamformer algorithm. Associations between PCC activity and the subjective experience of effortless awareness were assessed by verbal probes.
Results: Both groups reported that decreased PCC activity corresponded with effortless awareness (P<0.0025 for each group), with high median confidence ratings (novices: 8 on a 0-10 Likert scale; experienced: 9). Both groups showed high moment-to-moment median correspondence ratings between PCC activity and subjective experience of effortless awareness (novices: 8, experienced: 9). Both groups were able to volitionally control the PCC signal in the direction associated with effortless awareness by practicing effortless awareness meditation (novices: median % of time=77.97, P=0.001; experienced: 89.83, P<0.0005).
Conclusions: These findings support the feasibility of using EEG neurofeedback to link an objective measure of brain activity with the subjective experience of effortless awareness, and suggest potential utility of this paradigm as a tool for meditation training.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001938 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.047 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Forgetting ourselves in flow: an active inference account of flow states and how we experience ourselves within them.
Front Psychol
June 2024
VERSES AI Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Flow has been described as a state of optimal performance, experienced universally across a broad range of domains: from art to athletics, gaming to writing. However, its phenomenal characteristics can, at first glance, be puzzling. Firstly, individuals in flow supposedly report a loss of self-awareness, even though they perform in a manner which seems to evince their agency and skill.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeeds of amyloidosis patients and their care providers: design & first results of the MY-NEED research and care program.
Orphanet J Rare Dis
February 2024
Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Würzburg, Germany.
Background: Amyloidosis represents a rare yet heterogeneous multi-system disorder associated with a grave prognosis and an enormous psycho-emotional strain on patients, relatives, and caregivers. We here present the overall study design and first results of MY-NEED, a research program aiming to systematically assess the needs of patients suffering from amyloidosis, their relatives and health care professionals (HCPs), and develop an amyloidosis-specific care approach.
Methods: MY-NEED uses a mixed-methods approach including focus groups (step 1), a questionnaire-based broad evaluation within the local amyloidosis patient collective (step 2), and the development of a needs-adapted care concept (step 3).
Health Professionals' Perspectives on Commercially Available Intravenous Nutrient Therapies: A Preliminary Report.
Healthcare (Basel)
February 2024
Laboratory of International Health, Department of Preventive Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Święcickiego 6, 60-781 Poznań, Poland.
Background: Intravenous nutrient therapies (IVNTs) have gained popularity on the commercial market. Targeted at people with a variety of ailments and needs, the procedures allegedly offer numerous benefits and quick results, widely advertised on the websites of drip bars and health clinics as well as in the available literature. What is less often presented is the point of view of the customers of such services and the opinions of health personnel.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA Mindset for Communication for End of Life Care.
Cancer Treat Res
October 2023
, Pasadena, CA, USA.
This communication model attempts to reconcile the unknowingness of death, with a deeper inner knowingness that supports End of Life patients in an empowered way, through a mindset that models both oneness and presence with the death and dying experience. Through 23 years of experienced EOL care, I feel it seems necessary to rethink the very one-dimensional idea of dying and to create a space for a multidimensional experience. This model of communication and perspective-taking, offers my patients an opportunity for a secure connection to their own inner resources of knowing how to die.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Electroencephalographic Brainwave Spectrum, Mindful Meditation, and Awareness: Hypothesis.
Int J Yoga
July 2023
Department of Neurology, University of Florida, Jacksonville Campus, Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
It is hypothesized that being mindfully aware is a spontaneous state of being. It is imbued with joy, peace and happiness. Such a state is periodically revealed during restful attentiveness or presence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!