Decreased electrophysiological activity represents the conscious state of emptiness in meditation
Frontiers in Psychology January 1, 2014 Thilo Hinterberger, Stephanie Schmidt, Tsutomu Kamei et al. 130 citations
A conscious state of thoughtless emptiness reached by experienced meditators is characterized by reduced high-frequency brain processing alongside reduced low-frequency brain waves, distinguishing it from focused attention, open monitoring, resting, and sleep states. EEG recordings from 50 participants, focusing on 30 highly experienced meditators, showed significant decreases in gamma, alpha, beta, delta, and theta activity during thoughtless emptiness compared to other states. Less experienced participants did not show these differences. This suggests that meditative conscious awareness with decreased mental processing has distinct physiological properties from both higher cognitive states and drowsiness.