Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
September 29, 2009
Paul A. M. van den Hurk, Fabio Giommi, Stan Gielen et al.
282 citations
Expert mindfulness meditators show better orienting and executive attention than age- and gender-matched controls, as measured by the attention network test. The 20 meditators had smaller differences in reaction time and error scores, indicating more efficient attentional processing. Extensive mindfulness meditation appears to reduce the fraction of errors for responses with the same reaction time, suggesting that mental training can increase the efficiency of attentional processing.
International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP
January 1, 2023
Fabio Giommi, Prisca R. Bauer, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana et al.
70 citations
Rigidity, or inflexibility, is a core feature of transdiagnostic processes underlying many mental health disorders. The pattern theory of self (PTS) defines the self as a dynamic, nonlinear pattern of multiple interacting processes. Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) can reduce rigid, habitual self-patterns, thereby improving mental health. MBIs alter psychological and behavioral aspects of the self-pattern and can shift the entire self-pattern as a gestalt. Neuroscientific evidence shows that the phenomenology of the self is reflected in cortical networks, and meditation alters these networks. Combining PTS and neuroscientific findings may deepen understanding of psychopathology and improve diagnosis and treatment.
Progress in Brain Research
January 1, 2023
Ruben Laukkonen, Matthew D. Sacchet, Henk Barendregt et al.
56 citations
Meditation practitioners report being able to induce a total absence of consciousness lasting up to seven days, known as cessation or nirodha samāpatti. Unlike sleep, individuals in this state cannot be woken by external stimulation, experience no sense of time or tiredness, and have a stiff rather than relaxed body. Emerging from cessation is said to produce profound effects such as sudden clarity, openness, and insights. This paper outlines the historical context, presents preliminary data from two labs, sets a research agenda, and provides an initial framework for understanding these experiences. It integrates classical Buddhist concepts of nirodha and nirodha samāpatti into current cognitive-neurocomputational and active inference frameworks of meditation.
Mindfulness
April 11, 2023
Shaun Gallagher, Antonino Raffone, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana et al.
49 citations
Buddhist psychology's insights into mind-body phenomena and non-self align with the pattern theory of self, which describes the self as a dynamic, temporal, and enactive pattern of processes. Although Buddhist concepts do not map directly onto the self-pattern, both frameworks share similarities in explaining experiences of self and non-self through pragmatic, relational processes. This mutual perspective offers implications for well-being and flexibility that reduce anxiety, attachment, craving, and suffering.
Mindfulness
January 28, 2022
Valentina Nicolardi, Luca Simione, Domenico Scaringi et al.
28 citations
Pain arises from both bodily and mental factors, which can be regulated by meditation. Long-term meditators had higher pain thresholds than short-term meditators. In short-term meditators, focused attention and open monitoring meditation reduced pain, while all three meditation types (including loving kindness) reduced aversion and identification with pain. In long-term meditators, only loving kindness meditation reduced pain, and identification was reduced by all three forms, but aversion was unaffected. Pain was predicted to increase with meditation expertise, aversion, and identification. Causal analysis showed that aversion and pain, and aversion and identification, influenced each other, while identification causally influenced pain. The findings support the Buddhist model of the "second arrow of pain," where mental factors co-produce pain.
Mindfulness
August 1, 2024
Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Kirk Warren Brown, Shaun Gallagher et al.
22 citations
A selfless state of consciousness, reported for centuries in wisdom traditions, involves both temporary and lasting conditions. In psychology, the healthy self is typically emphasized, and the idea of selfless modes is sometimes dismissed, hindering empirical progress. This paper offers an interdisciplinary conceptual discussion grounded in the pattern theory of self (PTS), which views the self as a complex pattern of dynamically related processes. It proposes that meditative practices induce a reorganization of the self-pattern, enabling temporary or persistent selfless experience. The authors present a heuristic model, the pattern theory of selflessness (PTSL), with six nonlinear transformations: consolidating and integrating the self-pattern; cultivating concentration and present-moment awareness; cultivating mindful awareness; self-deconstruction states; self-flexibility; and self-liberation as a trait. This integrative view advances understanding of non-self experience and guides empirical research.
arXiv Preprint Archive
January 23, 2022
Henk Barendregt, Antonino Raffone
Consciousness is defined axiomatically as a stream of configurations that is compound, discrete, and non-deterministically computable, drawing on Buddhist insight meditation and psychology, logic in computer science, and cognitive neuroscience. Within this framework, concepts such as self, concentration, mindfulness, and several forms of suffering are formally defined. The work then demonstrates how the combined cultivation of concentration and mindfulness can reduce and ultimately eliminate certain types of suffering.
Stephen Whitmarsh, Ole Jensen, Henk Barendregt
preprint
Mindfulness meditation involves intentionally regulating attention to the present moment, relying on metacognitive functions to monitor attentional focus. This study tested whether meditation experience enhances the ability to track moment-by-moment fluctuations in attention. Participants maintained somatosensory attention to either hand while MEG recorded alpha activity in primary somatosensory regions. Self-reported attention levels corresponded with contralateral alpha power. Expert meditators (over 1000 hours of practice) showed a different pattern from novices and controls: their self-reported attention corresponded with alpha power over a longer time interval, and low-attention trials exhibited distinctive alpha suppression, suggesting greater attentional control through enhanced moment-by-moment monitoring.