Frontiers in Psychology
July 22, 2022
Junling Gao, Hang Kin Leung, Jicong Fan et al.
9 citations
Compassion meditation, a component of the Awareness Training Program, can help regulate negative emotions by modulating brain activity and physiological responses. After seven weeks of training, middle-aged adults with moderate stress who practiced compassion meditation showed greater prefrontal brain activity (measured by the N400 component) when viewing negative pictures, compared to a control group. Compassion meditation also increased heart rate variability, indicating better emotional regulation. These effects occurred across stages of attention, cognitive processing, and behavioral response, with the prefrontal lobe playing a key role.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
January 1, 2025
Junling Gao, Hang Kin Leung, Kin Cheung George Lee et al.
6 citations
Mindfulness meditation and 6 Hz high-entropy music both alter adolescent brain dynamics, but in distinct ways. In twenty-eight high school students, single-channel EEG at the forehead during three 5-minute conditions—rest, meditation, and music—showed that music produced the strongest alpha-band synchronization across participants, followed by meditation, then rest. Meditation yielded the highest clustering coefficient and small-world index, indicating more integrated and efficient neural networks. Music generated the largest information cascades and synergy, suggesting extensive information integration. While both interventions changed brain dynamics compared to rest, meditation fostered integrated connectivity, whereas music produced the greatest element-wise correlation.
Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
September 5, 2025
Kin Cheung George Lee, Hin Hung Sik, Hang Kin Leung et al.
Long-term Can-Hua-Tou (Chan/Zen) meditation practice is associated with distinct high-frequency brain activity patterns. Experienced monks showed elevated beta and gamma brainwave activity across all conditions compared to novice practitioners, with the most pronounced difference in gamma band activity over fronto-parietal regions. Unlike relaxation-based meditation styles that increase alpha and theta waves, Chan meditation produces a profile dominated by beta-gamma dynamics, consistent with the Buddhist concept of one-pointed concentration and vigilance during self-inquiry. Novice practitioners showed negligible beta or gamma modulation. These findings indicate that different contemplative strategies produce distinct neurophysiological changes, with intensive cognitive meditation linked to enduring high-frequency cortical synchrony.
Scientific Reports
March 12, 2019
Junling Gao, Hang Kin Leung, Bonnie Wai Yan Wu et al.
Religious chanting produces a distinctive pattern of brain activity, with the posterior cingulate cortex showing the largest decrease in eigenvector centrality, potentially due to delta oscillations generated within that region. These effects are not explained by heart rate, breathing, or implicit language processing. The findings suggest that the neural correlates of religious chanting differ from those of meditation and prayer, and may produce unique psychotherapeutic effects.