Breath-focused mindfulness meditation, practiced daily for six weeks, alters brain wave patterns related to attention and awareness. In a randomized trial with 40 novice meditators, those who meditated daily showed a smaller reduction in alpha brain waves during meditation compared to rest, while a control group listening to classical music did not. Theta waves increased over time in both groups. Beta waves remained stable in the meditation group but varied in the control group. No changes were seen in delta or gamma waves. The findings suggest that regular mindfulness practice may sharpen attention by stabilizing certain neural oscillations, though more research is needed to link these changes to health benefits.
Frontal resting-state EEG theta/beta ratio (TBR) is negatively related to cognitive control, and mind wandering (MW) is associated with increased theta and reduced beta power. This study tested whether MW-related fluctuations in TBR covary with connectivity changes in the executive control network (ECN) and default mode network (DMN). In 26 participants performing a 40-minute breath-counting task, frontal TBR was higher during MW than controlled thought, and this was marginally related to resting-state TBR. DMN connectivity was higher and ECN connectivity lower during MW. Greater ECN connectivity during focus compared to MW correlated with lower TBR during focus compared to MW. These results provide the first neural correlates of TBR and its functional dynamics.