International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
May 21, 2021
A. Accoto, Salvatore G Chiarella, Antonino Raffone et al.
The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown have been widely recognized as traumatic events that pose threats to psychological well-being. Recent studies reported that during such traumatic events, women tend to be at greater risk than men for developing symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. Several studies reported that a mindfulness-based stress reduction...
Scientific Reports
March 1, 2021
Juliana Yordanova, Vasil Kolev, Valentina Nicolardi et al.
Meditation practice is suggested to engage training of cognitive control systems in the brain. To evaluate the functional involvement of attentional and cognitive monitoring processes during meditation, the present study analysed the electroencephalographic synchronization of fronto-parietal (FP) and medial-frontal (MF) brain networks in highly experienced meditators during different meditation...
Journal of Clinical Medicine
April 1, 2020
G. L. Torre, Antonino Raffone, Margherita Peruzzo et al.
Mindfulness-based interventions have emerged as unique approaches for addressing a range of clinical and subclinical difficulties such as stress, chronic pain, anxiety, or recurrent depression. Moreover, there is strong evidence about the positive effects of yoga practice on stress management and prevention of burnout among healthcare workers. The aim of this study was to conduct a single-arm...
Scientific Reports
2020
Juliana Yordanova, Vasil Kolev, Federica Mauro et al.
42 citations
Meditation has been integrated into different therapeutic interventions. To inform the evidence-based selection of specific meditation types it is crucial to understand the neural processes associated with different meditation practices. Here we explore commonalities and differences in electroencephalographic oscillatory spatial synchronisation patterns across three important meditation types....
Frontiers in Psychology
2019
Luca Simione, Enrico Di Pace, Salvatore G Chiarella et al.
13 citations
The distinction between phenomenal and access consciousness has been influential in the field of consciousness studies. Both Block and Lamme proposed that access consciousness, or narrow cognitive accessibility, is related to a limited capacity working memory, and that phenomenal consciousness, or broad cognitive accessibility, is related to iconic memory or, more recently, to a fragile...
Progress in Brain Research
2019
Antonino Raffone, Laura Marzetti, Cosimo Del Gratta et al.
The rapidly progressing science of meditation has led to insights about the neural correlates of focused attention meditation (FAM), open monitoring meditation (OMM), compassion meditation (CM) and loving kindness meditation (LKM), in terms of states and traits. However, a unified theoretical understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in meditation-related functions, including mindfulness,...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
May 5, 2014
Antonino Raffone, Narayanan Srinivasan, Cees van Leeuwen
85 citations
Despite the acknowledged relationship between consciousness and attention, theories of the two have mostly been developed separately. Moreover, these theories have independently attempted to explain phenomena in which both are likely to interact, such as the attentional blink (AB) and working memory (WM) consolidation. Here, we make an effort to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, a theory...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
2014
Laura Marzetti, Claudia Di Lanzo, Filippo Zappasodi et al.
According to several conceptualizations of meditation, the interplay between brain systems associated to self-related processing, attention and executive control is crucial for meditative states and related traits. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate such interplay in a highly selected group of "virtuoso" meditators (Theravada Buddhist monks), with long-term training in the two...
Consciousness and Cognition
June 1, 2010
Antonino Raffone, Martina Pantani
51 citations
Both the global workspace theory and Block's distinction between phenomenal and access consciousness, are central in the current debates about consciousness and the neural correlates of consciousness. In this article, a unifying global workspace model for phenomenal and access consciousness is proposed. In the model, recurrent neural interactions take place in distinct yet interacting access...
Brain Research Bulletin
April 29, 2010
Antonietta Manna, Antonino Raffone, Mauro Gianni Perrucci et al.
Meditation refers to a family of complex emotional and attentional regulatory practices, which can be classified into two main styles - focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM) - involving different attentional, cognitive monitoring and awareness processes. In a functional magnetic resonance study we originally characterized and contrasted FA and OM meditation forms within the same...
Cognitive processing
February 2010
Angela Tagini, Antonino Raffone
The nature of the 'self' and self-referential awareness has been one of the most debated issues in philosophy, psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Understanding the neurocognitive bases of self-related representation and processing is also crucial to research on the neural correlates of consciousness. The distinction between an 'I', corresponding to a subjective sense of the self as a...
Cognitive processing
February 1, 2010
Antonino Raffone, Narayanan Srinivasan
Many recent behavioral and neuroscientific studies have revealed the importance of investigating meditation states and traits to achieve an increased understanding of cognitive and affective neuroplasticity, attention and self-awareness, as well as for their increasingly recognized clinical relevance. The investigation of states and traits related to meditation has especially pronounced...
Progress in Brain Research
2009
Antonino Raffone, Narayanan Srinivasan
While enormous progress has been made to identify neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), crucial NCC aspects are still very controversial. A major hurdle is the lack of an adequate definition and characterization of different aspects of conscious experience and also its relationship to attention and metacognitive processes like monitoring. In this paper, we therefore attempt to develop a...