The Oxford Handbook of Meditation
December 15, 2020
Kieran C. R. Fox, B. Rael Cahn
Abstract The aim of this chapter is to provide an accessible introduction to the neuroscience of meditation. First, a review of studies examining the relationship between meditation and alterations in the structure of the brain’s grey and white matter (so-called morphometric neuroimaging) is offered. Next, the chapter discusses findings from functional neuroimaging methods, such as functional...
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
May 17, 2019
Jennifer Yih, Danielle E Beam, Kieran C. R. Fox et al.
The subjective and behavioral effects of intracranial electrical stimulation (iES) have been studied for decades, but there is a knowledge gap regarding the relationship between the magnitude of electric current and the type, intensity and valence of evoked subjective experiences. We report on rare iES data from 18 neurosurgical patients with implanted intracranial electrodes in the...
Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science
2018
Nicholas T. van Dam, Marieke K. van Vugt, David R. Vago et al.
In response to our article, Davidson and Dahl offer commentary and advice regarding additional topics crucial to a comprehensive prescriptive agenda for future research on mindfulness and meditation. Their commentary raises further challenges and provides an important complement to our article. More consideration of these issues is especially welcome because limited space precluded us from...
Perspectives on Psychological Science
October 10, 2017
Nicholas T. van Dam, Marieke K. van Vugt, David R. Vago et al.
1,500 citations
During the past two decades, mindfulness meditation has gone from being a fringe topic of scientific investigation to being an occasional replacement for psychotherapy, tool of corporate well-being, widely implemented educational practice, and "key to building more resilient soldiers." Yet the mindfulness movement and empirical evidence supporting it have not gone without criticism....
arXiv (Cornell University)
April 20, 2017
Kieran C. R. Fox, Kalina Christoff
7 citations
Enormous questions still loom for the emerging science of spontaneous thought: what, exactly, is spontaneous thought? Why does our brain engage in spontaneous forms of thinking, and when is this most likely to occur? And perhaps the question most interesting and accessible from a scientific perspective: how does the brain generate, elaborate, and evaluate its own spontaneous creations? The...
arXiv (Cornell University)
October 6, 2016
Kieran C. R. Fox, Manesh Girn
Humans have been aware for thousands of years that sleep comes in many forms, accompanied by different kinds of mental content. We review the first-person report literature on the frequency and type of content experienced in various stages of sleep, showing that different sleep stages are dissociable at the subjective level. We then relate these subjective differences to the growing literature...
arXiv Preprint Archive
May 23, 2016
Kieran C. R. Fox, Manesh Girn, Cameron C. Parro et al.
Humans have employed an incredible variety of plant-derived substances over the millennia in order to alter consciousness and perception. Among the innumerable narcotics, analgesics, 'ordeal' drugs, and other psychoactive substances discovered and used in ritualistic contexts by cultures around the world, one class in particular stands out not only for its radical psychological effects, but...
arXiv Preprint Archive
May 11, 2016
Kieran C. R. Fox, Yoona Kang, Michael Lifshitz et al.
Meditation and hypnosis both aim to facilitate cognitive-emotional flexibility, i.e., the "de-automatization" of thought and behavior. However, little research or theory has addressed how internal thought patterns might change after such interventions, even though alterations in the internal flow of consciousness may precede externally observable changes in behavior. This chapter outlines three...
Neuroimage
April 30, 2016
Melissa Ellamil, Kieran C. R. Fox, Matthew L. Dixon et al.
150 citations
Thoughts arise spontaneously in our minds with remarkable frequency, but tracking the brain systems associated with the early inception of a thought has proved challenging. Here we addressed this issue by taking advantage of the heightened introspective ability of experienced mindfulness practitioners to observe the onset of their spontaneously arising thoughts. We found subtle differences in...
arXiv (Cornell University)
March 21, 2016
Kieran C. R. Fox, Matthew L. Dixon, Savannah Nijeboer et al.
Meditation is a family of mental practices that encompasses a wide array of\ntechniques employing distinctive mental strategies. We systematically reviewed\n78 functional neuroimaging (fMRI and PET) studies of meditation, and used\nactivation likelihood estimation to meta-analyze 257 peak foci from 31\nexperiments involving 527 participants. We found reliably dissociable patterns\nof brain...
arXiv Preprint Archive
March 21, 2016
Kieran C. R. Fox, Matthew L. Dixon, Savannah Nijeboer et al.
Meditation is a family of mental practices that encompasses a wide array of techniques employing distinctive mental strategies. We systematically reviewed 78 functional neuroimaging (fMRI and PET) studies of meditation, and used activation likelihood estimation to meta-analyze 257 peak foci from 31 experiments involving 527 participants. We found reliably dissociable patterns of brain...
Neuroimage
February 25, 2015
Kieran C. R. Fox, R. Nathan Spreng, Melissa Ellamil et al.
717 citations
The neural basis and cognitive functions of various spontaneous thought processes, particularly mind-wandering, are increasingly being investigated. Although strong links have been drawn between the occurrence of spontaneous thought processes and activation in brain regions comprising the default mode network (DMN), spontaneous thought also appears to recruit other, non-DMN regions just as...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
May 23, 2014
Elizaveta Solomonova, Kieran C. R. Fox, Tore Nielsen
17 citations
GENERAL COMMENTARY article Front. Hum. Neurosci., 23 May 2014Sec. Cognitive Neuroscience Volume 8 - 2014 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00317
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
2013
Kieran C. R. Fox, Savannah Nijeboer, Elizaveta Solomonova et al.
297 citations
Isolated reports have long suggested a similarity in content and thought processes across mind wandering (MW) during waking, and dream mentation during sleep. This overlap has encouraged speculation that both "daydreaming" and dreaming may engage similar brain mechanisms. To explore this possibility, we systematically examined published first-person experiential reports of MW and dreaming and...
PLoS One
September 25, 2012
Kieran C. R. Fox, Pierre Zakarauskas, Matthew L. Dixon et al.
194 citations
The accuracy of subjective reports, especially those involving introspection of one's own internal processes, remains unclear, and research has demonstrated large individual differences in introspective accuracy. It has been hypothesized that introspective accuracy may be heightened in persons who engage in meditation practices, due to the highly introspective nature of such practices. We...