This paper presents the Insight Development Process (IDP), a theoretical framework of propositional insight development to facilitate its scientific investigation. This framework formulates three empirically-testable propositions: transience, self-lessness, and incongruence, each defined as a perceptual mode that individuals report during advanced insight meditation. These propositions parallel...
Introduction: Jhana advanced concentrative absorption meditation (ACAM-J) involves profound changes in consciousness, making its neural correlates important for understanding consciousness and well-being. Prior neuroimaging has relied on univariate, group-level contrasts, leaving open whether ACAM-J carries distributed neural signatures decodable from individual scans. This study evaluates...
Extended cessation (EC) is a rare, non-ordinary meditative endpoint characterized by a temporary absence of reportable phenomenal experience, followed by an extraordinary perceptual vividness, openness, equanimity and affective balance. EC thus offers a unique, non-pharmacological window into the brain dynamics underlying suspension of conscious experience and the subsequent psychological...
Neurofeedback (NF) has been proposed as a tool to support and expand access to meditation practice. Despite growing interest, no comprehensive review has examined neurofeedback for meditation-based interventions (NF-MED) across the full spectrum of practices. Here, we conducted a scoping systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines, mapping the NF-MED field across both clinical and...
Humans can experience a rich array of conscious experience, including highly stable, positive, and refined states of non-ordinary perception that can be elicited through advanced meditation. Here, we present the first group-level, ultra-high-field (7T) fMRI study of jhana advanced concentration absorption meditation (ACAM-J). We combined local (regional homogeneity), mesoscale (connectivity...
Advanced meditation offers a powerful lens for investigating consciousness and for understanding how sustained training may contribute to human flourishing. In the spirit of neurophenomenology, we combine first-person reports with model-free empirical analyses and formal whole-brain modeling to investigate the mechanisms underlying advanced meditative states and minimal phenomenal experience...
In some contemplative traditions, “extended cessation” (EC) refers to a state of advanced meditation in which the meditator intentionally suppresses their own consciousness and re-emerges with a profound sense of clarity and equanimity. Here, we present the first electrophysiological study of EC, in which five meditators underwent concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) and...
Extended cessation (EC), an advanced meditative state in which consciousness is volitionally suspended and later reset with immense mental clarity, equanimity, and peace, offers an endogenous model for investigating the mechanisms of consciousness. Using ultra-high-resolution 7T fMRI with dense within-subject sampling (N=3), we quantified whole-brain activity, functional and effective...
Network neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field, which can be used to understand the brain by examining the connections between its constituent elements. In recent years, the application of network neuroscience approaches to study the intricate nature of the structural and functional relationships within the human brain has yielded unique insights into its organization. In this review, we...
Advanced meditation has been associated with long- and short-term psychological changes such as bliss, profound insight, and transformation of well-being. However, most advanced meditation neuroimaging analyses have implemented primarily spatially-localized approaches, focusing on discrete regional changes in activity rather than distributed dynamics. The present study uses a geometric...
The stages of insight (SoI) are a series of psychological realizations experienced through advanced investigative insight meditation (AIIM). SoI provide a powerful structured framework of AIIM for understanding and evaluating insight-based meditative development through changes in perception, experiences of self, cognition, and emotional processing. Yet, the neurophenomenology of SoI remains...
Advanced meditation consists of states and stages of practice that unfold with mastery and time. Dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) analysis of fMRI could identify brain states underlying advanced meditation. We conducted an intensive DFC case study of a meditator who completed 27 runs of jhāna advanced absorptive concentration meditation (ACAM-J), concurrently with 7-T fMRI and...
Meditation has been integral to human culture for millennia, deeply rooted in various spiritual and contemplative traditions. While the field of contemplative science has made significant steps toward understanding the effects of meditation on health and well-being, there has been little study of advanced meditative states, including those achieved through intense concentration and absorption....
Advanced meditation such as jhana meditation can produce various altered states of consciousness (jhanas) and cultivate rewarding psychological qualities including joy, peace, compassion, and attentional stability. Mapping the neurobiological substrates of jhana meditation can inform the development and application of advanced meditation to enhance well-being. Only two prior studies have...