Association between Cyclic Meditation and Creative Cognition: Optimizing Connectivity between the Frontal and Parietal Lobes.
International Journal of Yoga January 1, 2019 Reshma Madhukar Shetkar, Alex Hankey, H R Nagendra et al.
Cyclic meditation (CM) enhanced creative cognition, specifically divergent thinking, in a randomized trial with 24 university students. After seven days of 35-minute sessions, the CM group showed improved performance on the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults compared to a supine rest control group. Electroencephalography revealed that CM training shifted brain activity toward predominant gamma waves during creativity tasks, while controls showed delta activity. The CM group also exhibited greater activation in frontal and parietal regions (F3, F4, P3, P4), areas of the executive network involved in creative cognition. The findings suggest CM strengthens connectivity between the default mode and executive attention networks, facilitating creativity stages like preparation, incubation, and illumination.