Human Brain Mapping
February 1, 2010
Hans C Lou, Joachim Gross, Katja Biermann-Ruben et al.
A coherent and meaningful percept of the world is essential for human nature. Consequently, much speculation has focused on how this is achieved in the brain. It is thought that all conscious experiences have reference to the self. Self-reference may either be minimal or extended, i.e., autonoetic. In minimal self-reference subjective experiences are self-aware in the weak sense that there is...
Progress in Brain Research
2005
Hans C Lou, Markus Nowak, Troels W Kjaer
In meditation both the quality and the contents of consciousness may be voluntarily changed, making it an obvious target in the quest for the neural correlate of consciousness. Here we present the results of a positron emission tomography study of yoga nidra relaxation meditation when compared with the normal resting conscious state. Meditation is accompanied by a relatively increased perfusion...
Journal of Sleep Research
September 1, 2002
Troels W Kjaer, Ian Law, Gordon Wiltschiøtz et al.
This is the first report on the distribution of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes during stage-1 sleep or somnolence. Two hypotheses were tested: (A) that rCBF differed between the awake relaxed state and stage-1 sleep, (B) that hypnagogic hallucinations frequently experienced at sleep onset would be accompanied by measurable changes in rCBF using positron emission tomography (PET)....
Brain research. Cognitive brain research
April 2002
Troels W Kjaer, Camilla Bertelsen, Paola Piccini et al.
This is the first in vivo demonstration of an association between endogenous neurotransmitter release and conscious experience. Using 11C-raclopride PET we demonstrated increased endogenous dopamine release in the ventral striatum during Yoga Nidra meditation. Yoga Nidra is characterized by a depressed level of desire for action, associated with decreased blood flow in prefrontal, cerebellar...
Human Brain Mapping
1999
Hans C Lou, Troels W Kjaer, Lars Friberg et al.
28 citations
The aim of the present study was to examine whether the neural structures subserving meditation can be reproducibly measured, and, if so, whether they are different from those supporting the resting state of normal consciousness. Cerebral blood flow distribution was investigated with the 15O-H2O PET technique in nine young adults, who were highly experienced yoga teachers, during the relaxation...