A conscious state of thoughtless emptiness reached by experienced meditators is characterized by reduced high-frequency brain processing alongside reduced low-frequency brain waves, distinguishing it from focused attention, open monitoring, resting, and sleep states. EEG recordings from 50 participants, focusing on 30 highly experienced meditators, showed significant decreases in gamma, alpha, beta, delta, and theta activity during thoughtless emptiness compared to other states. Less experienced participants did not show these differences. This suggests that meditative conscious awareness with decreased mental processing has distinct physiological properties from both higher cognitive states and drowsiness.
A neurophenomenological study with a single expert meditator shows that a larger readiness potential (RP) is linked to more frequent self-initiated movements during negative deflections of slow cortical potentials (SCP). These negative deflections occur alongside an inner impulse reported by the meditator, which may lead to a voluntary act. This proof-of-principle demonstrates that combining first-person introspective data with neural signal analysis can advance understanding of the neural basis of voluntary acts, challenging interpretations of the classic Libet experiment.
Self-organized criticality (SOC) is a property of neural systems that may serve as a unifying framework for theories of consciousness. A review of 71 publications from 1998 to 2021 found that annual citations increased steadily; original articles made up 50.7% and reviews or theoretical articles 43.6%. Human data were reported in 16 studies, animal data in 7, and computational models in 12. EEG/MEG studies used diverse analytical tools—detrended fluctuation analysis, pair correlation function, neuronal avalanche parameters, and spectral exponent—to assess criticality. Critical dynamics align with global workspace theory and integrated information theory, but the small number of experimental studies and heterogeneity of methods limit generalizability.
A novel meditation method using real-time skin conductance feedback (SCFM) was tested against ordinary mindfulness meditation (MM) in 30 participants (15 experts, 15 non-meditators) over 6 sessions in 3 days. After SCFM sessions, 78.3% felt more integrated and connected, 84.2% more calm and balanced, and 50% vitalized, while 5% or fewer felt agitated or depressed. SCFM was not significantly different from MM. The positive effect of SCFM correlated positively with mindfulness self-ratings. The method appears viable for satisfying, consciousness-expanding meditation.