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Complementary Medicine Research 2021
Topics: Complementary Therapies; Humans; Integrative Medicine; Meditation
PubMed: 34052820
DOI: 10.1159/000516849 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Sep 2021How profoundly can humans change their own minds? In this paper we offer a unifying account of deconstructive meditation under the predictive processing view. We start... (Review)
Review
How profoundly can humans change their own minds? In this paper we offer a unifying account of deconstructive meditation under the predictive processing view. We start from simple axioms. First, the brain makes predictions based on past experience, both phylogenetic and ontogenetic. Second, deconstructive meditation brings one closer to the here and now by disengaging anticipatory processes. We propose that practicing meditation therefore gradually reduces counterfactual temporally deep cognition, until all conceptual processing falls away, unveiling a state of pure awareness. Our account also places three main styles of meditation (focused attention, open monitoring, and non-dual) on a single continuum, where each technique relinquishes increasingly engrained habits of prediction, including the predicted self. This deconstruction can also permit certain insights by making the above processes available to introspection. Our framework is consistent with the state of empirical and (neuro)phenomenological evidence and illuminates the top-down plasticity of the predictive mind. Experimental rigor, neurophenomenology, and no-report paradigms are needed to further understanding of how meditation affects predictive processing and the self.
Topics: Attention; Brain; Cognition; Humans; Meditation; Phylogeny
PubMed: 34139248
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.06.021 -
PsyCh Journal Mar 2019Mindfulness meditation and hypnosis are related in opposing ways to awareness of intentions. The cold control theory of hypnosis proposes that hypnotic responding... (Review)
Review
Mindfulness meditation and hypnosis are related in opposing ways to awareness of intentions. The cold control theory of hypnosis proposes that hypnotic responding involves the experience of involuntariness while performing an actually intentional action. Hypnosis therefore relies upon inaccurate metacognition about intentional actions and experiences. Mindfulness meditation centrally involves awareness of intentions and is associated with improved metacognitive access to intentions. Therefore, mindfulness meditators and highly hypnotizable people may lie at opposite ends of a spectrum with regard to metacognitive access to intention-related information. Here we review the theoretical background and evidence for differences in the metacognition of intentions in these groups, as revealed by chronometric measures of the awareness of voluntary action: the timing of an intention to move (Libet's "W" judgments) and the compressed perception of time between an intentional action and its outcome ("intentional binding"). We review these measures and critically evaluate their proposed connection to the experience of volition and sense of agency.
Topics: Humans; Hypnosis; Intention; Meditation; Metacognition; Mindfulness; Time Perception
PubMed: 30912626
DOI: 10.1002/pchj.276 -
Current Pain and Headache Reports Aug 2023We aim to present current understanding and evidence for meditation, mostly referring to mindfulness meditation, for the management of acute pain and potential... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
We aim to present current understanding and evidence for meditation, mostly referring to mindfulness meditation, for the management of acute pain and potential opportunities of incorporating it into the acute pain service practice.
RECENT FINDINGS
There is conflicting evidence concerning meditation as a remedy in acute pain. While some studies have found a bigger impact of meditation on the emotional response to a painful stimulus than on the reduction in actual pain intensities, functional Magnet Resonance Imaging has enabled the identification of various brain areas involved in meditation-induced pain relief. Potential benefits of meditation in acute pain treatment include changes in neurocognitive processes. Practice and Experience are necessary to induce pain modulation. In the treatment of acute pain, evidence is emerging only recently. Meditative techniques represent a promising approach for acute pain in various settings.
Topics: Humans; Acute Pain; Meditation; Mindfulness; Pain Management; Brain
PubMed: 37285010
DOI: 10.1007/s11916-023-01119-0 -
Scientific Reports Apr 2020Clinical evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety, depression, and stress, and improves emotion regulation due to modulation of activity in neural...
Clinical evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety, depression, and stress, and improves emotion regulation due to modulation of activity in neural substrates linked to the regulation of emotions and social preferences. However, less was known about whether mindfulness meditation might alter pro-social behavior. Here we examined whether mindfulness meditation activates human altruism, a component of social cooperation. Using a simple donation game, which is a real-world version of the Dictator's Game, we randomly assigned 326 subjects to a mindfulness meditation online session or control and measured their willingness to donate a portion of their payment for participation as a charitable donation. Subjects who underwent the meditation treatment donated at a 2.61 times higher rate than the control (p = 0.005), after controlling for socio-demographics. We also found a larger treatment effect of meditation among those who did not go to college (p < 0.001) and those who were under 25 years of age (p < 0.001), with both subject groups contributing virtually nothing in the control condition. Our results imply high context modularity of human altruism and the development of intervention approaches including mindfulness meditation to increase social cooperation, especially among subjects with low baseline willingness to contribute.
Topics: Adult; Altruism; Anxiety; Charities; Emotions; Female; Humans; Male; Meditation; Mindfulness; Social Behavior; Video Games
PubMed: 32300129
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-62652-1 -
Brain Topography May 2023Neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that extensive meditation practice modifies the functional and structural properties of the human brain, such as large-scale...
Neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that extensive meditation practice modifies the functional and structural properties of the human brain, such as large-scale brain region interplay. However, it remains unclear how different meditation styles are involved in the modulation of these large-scale brain networks. Here, using machine learning and fMRI functional connectivity, we investigated how focused attention and open monitoring meditation styles impact large-scale brain networks. Specifically, we trained a classifier to predict the meditation style in two groups of subjects: expert Theravada Buddhist monks and novice meditators. We showed that the classifier was able to discriminate the meditation style only in the expert group. Additionally, by inspecting the trained classifier, we observed that the Anterior Salience and the Default Mode networks were relevant for the classification, in line with their theorized involvement in emotion and self-related regulation in meditation. Interestingly, results also highlighted the role of specific couplings between areas crucial for regulating attention and self-awareness as well as areas related to processing and integrating somatosensory information. Finally, we observed a larger involvement of left inter-hemispheric connections in the classification. In conclusion, our work supports the evidence that extensive meditation practice modulates large-scale brain networks, and that the different meditation styles differentially affect connections that subserve style-specific functions.
Topics: Humans; Meditation; Brain Mapping; Brain; Attention; Emotions
PubMed: 36977909
DOI: 10.1007/s10548-023-00950-3 -
Sante Mentale Au Quebec 2010This research aims at delimitating the realm of meditation as therapeutic care in the field of the health psychology. The authors concentrate on the most prolific... (Review)
Review
This research aims at delimitating the realm of meditation as therapeutic care in the field of the health psychology. The authors concentrate on the most prolific current of these last years in research terms : the meditation in full consciousness. The objective is to define the concept of meditation and full consciousness, to then pay attention on the relevant psychotherapies and clinical studies in this domain. Meditation in full consciousness constitutes a very promising field of research for health psychology within the framework of care. Techniques such as MBSR, MBCT applied to the full consciousness turns out relevant and result in improvement of general health. However, studies on full consciousness are still at very early stage and more rigorous approaches on a methodological level and refined conceptual developments are necessary.
Topics: Consciousness; Depression; Health; Humans; Meditation; Psychotherapy; Stress, Psychological; Therapeutics
PubMed: 21076789
DOI: 10.7202/044798ar -
BioMed Research International 2015Cognitive and neuroscience research from the past several years has shed new light on the influences that meditative traditions have on the meditation practice. Here we... (Review)
Review
Cognitive and neuroscience research from the past several years has shed new light on the influences that meditative traditions have on the meditation practice. Here we review new evidence that shows that types of meditation that developed out of certain traditions such as Vajrayana and Hindu Tantric lead to heightened sympathetic activation and phasic alertness, while types of meditation from other traditions such as Theravada and Mahayana elicit heightened parasympathetic activity and tonic alertness. Such findings validate Buddhist scriptural descriptions of heightened arousal during Vajrayana practices and a calm and alert state of mind during Theravada and Mahayana types of meditation and demonstrate the importance of the cultural and philosophical context out of which the meditation practices develop.
Topics: Buddhism; Cognition; Electroencephalography; Humans; Meditation; Parasympathetic Nervous System
PubMed: 26146629
DOI: 10.1155/2015/731579 -
Perspectives on Psychological Science :... Jan 2021During the practice of meditation, the tendency of the mind to wander away from the object of focus is ubiquitous. The occurrence of mind wandering in the context of... (Review)
Review
During the practice of meditation, the tendency of the mind to wander away from the object of focus is ubiquitous. The occurrence of mind wandering in the context of meditation provides individuals a unique and intimate opportunity to closely examine the nature of the wandering mind by cultivating an awareness of ongoing thought patterns, while simultaneously aiming to cultivate equanimity (evenness of temper or disposition) and compassion toward the content of thoughts, interpretations, and bodily sensations. In this article we provide a theoretical framework that highlights the neurocognitive mechanisms by which contemplative practices influence the neural and phenomenological processes underlying spontaneous thought. Our theoretical model focuses on several converging mechanisms: the role of meta-awareness in facilitating an increased moment-to-moment awareness of spontaneous thought processes, the effects of meditation practice on key structures underlying both the top-down cognitive processes and bottom-up sensory processes implicated in attention and emotion regulation, and the influence of contemplative practice on the neural substrates underlying perception and perceptual decoupling.
Topics: Attention; Cognition; Humans; Meditation
PubMed: 32598855
DOI: 10.1177/1745691620917340 -
Indian Heart Journal 2015History as a science revolves around memories, travellers' tales, fables and chroniclers' stories, gossip and trans-telephonic conversations. Medicine itself as per the...
History as a science revolves around memories, travellers' tales, fables and chroniclers' stories, gossip and trans-telephonic conversations. Medicine itself as per the puritan's definition is a non-exact science because of the probability-predictability-sensitivity-specificity factors. Howsoever, the chronicles of Cardiology in India is quite interesting and intriguing. Heart and circulation was known to humankind from pre-Vedic era. Various therapeutics measures including the role of Yoga and transcendental meditation in curing cardiovascular diseases were known in India. Only recently there has been resurgence of the same globally. There have been very few innovations in Cardiology in India. The cause of this paucity possibly lie in the limited resources. This has a vicious effect on the research mentality of the population who are busy in meeting their daily requirements. This socio-scientific aspect needs a thorough study and is beyond the scope of the present documentation. Present is the future of past and so one must not forget the history which is essentially past that give the present generation the necessary fulcrum to stand in good stead. The present article essentially aims to pay tribute to all the workers and pioneers in the field of Cardiology in India, who in spite of limited resources ventured in an unchartered arena.
Topics: Cardiology; Cardiovascular Diseases; History, 15th Century; History, 16th Century; History, 17th Century; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; History, Ancient; History, Medieval; Humans; India; Meditation
PubMed: 26071301
DOI: 10.1016/j.ihj.2015.04.004