bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
June 26, 2023
Neil W. Bailey, Ben D Fulcher, Bridget Caldwell et al.
7 citations
preprint
Meditators show more stable brain activity over time and a different pattern of voltage fluctuations, particularly in a central-parietal brain region, compared to non-meditators. Analyzing over 7,000 time-series features from resting EEG data of 49 meditators and 46 non-meditators, classifiers could identify meditators with 67% accuracy using features from one principal component. Meditators exhibited higher stationarity—more consistent statistical properties across short time segments—and an altered distribution of voltage values around the mean. Traditional band-power measures did not distinguish the groups. These findings suggest that meditation is associated with greater temporal stability in brain activity, which may relate to enhanced attentional stability.
bioRxiv Preprint Server
July 7, 2022
Neil W. Bailey, Harry Geddes, Isabella Zannettino et al.
5 citations
preprint
Experienced meditators exhibit distinct neural activity during performance monitoring and error-processing compared to non-meditators. Using a larger sample and more rigorous analyses than prior work, the study clarifies previously inconsistent findings, showing that long-term mindfulness practice is associated with altered brain responses when detecting and processing errors.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
July 2, 2025
Neil W. Bailey, Aron T. Hill, Kate Godfrey et al.
4 citations
Mindfulness meditation, which trains attention on sensory experiences with nonjudgmental awareness, is thought to sharpen sensory processing and reduce top-down expectations. This study measured forward and backward traveling cortical alpha waves—proposed to reflect bottom-up inhibition and top-down inhibition, respectively—using electroencephalography in meditators and nonmeditators. During eyes-closed resting (97 participants) and a visual Go/No-go task (126 participants), meditators showed stronger forward traveling waves than nonmeditators in both conditions, and weaker backward traveling waves during rest. These neural differences may underlie enhanced attention and reduced mind-wandering associated with meditation, supporting models where mental training increases sensory awareness.
Mindfulness
February 1, 2025
Gregory Humble, Harry Geddes, Oliver Baell et al.
4 citations
Experienced mindfulness meditators show altered brain reactivity to magnetic stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to non-meditators. In a sample of 15 meditators and 19 matched controls, transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with electroencephalography revealed that meditators had larger P60/N100 ratios in response to both left and right prefrontal stimulation, suggesting differences in inhibitory activity. The spatial distribution of neural activity around 300 milliseconds after stimulation also differed between groups, potentially reflecting altered connectivity between cortical and subcortical regions. These findings indicate that long-term mindfulness practice is associated with measurable neurophysiological changes in brain regions supporting attention and cognitive control.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
November 1, 2023
Gregory Humble, Harry Geddes, Oliver Baell et al.
1 citation
preprint
Experienced mindfulness meditators show altered brain reactivity to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) compared to non-meditators. When TMS was applied to the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, meditators had larger P60/N100 ratios in their brain responses, suggesting differences in cortical reactivity. No differences were seen in the individual P60 or N100 amplitudes. Preliminary evidence also indicated differences in the distribution of neural activity about 300 milliseconds after stimulation, possibly reflecting greater inhibitory activity in frontal regions and differences in cortico-subcortical reverberation. These findings contribute to understanding the neurophysiology of mindfulness.
Mindfulness
July 3, 2026
Aron T. Hill, Sung Wook Chung, Melanie Emonson et al.
Experienced meditators show distinct patterns of brain activity during attention tasks compared to non-meditators. Using EEG to measure event-related potentials, the study found that meditators had stronger N2 brain responses in fronto-midline areas during a difficult task requiring conflict monitoring. The P3 brain response, associated with attention, was distributed more frontally in meditators during an easy task, while non-meditators showed this pattern during the hard task. These differences suggest meditation experience is linked to altered attentional processing rather than specific conflict monitoring or stimulus expectancy processes.
Neural networks : the official journal of the International Neural Network Society
March 1, 2024
Neil W. Bailey, Ben D Fulcher, Bridget Caldwell et al.
Over 7,000 time-series features extracted from resting EEG data distinguished meditators from non-meditators with 67% accuracy, but only in a central-parietal brain component. Meditators showed higher temporal stability (more consistent statistical properties across short time segments) and altered distribution of voltage values around the mean. Traditional band-power measures failed to differentiate the groups. The findings suggest that meditation is associated with greater attentional stability reflected in more stationary neural dynamics.