The human sensorimotor system naturally synchronizes with environmental rhythms like light pulses or sound beats, a phenomenon called the 'entrainment effect.' This review examines how entrainment impacts physiological rhythms, including brain activity, heart rate, and motor coordination, and its role in cognitive, motor, and affective functioning. Evidence shows measurable effects on neural oscillations, heart rate variability, and motor synchronization, which can influence cognitive processing, emotional states, and motor coordination. The authors propose defining 'physiological entrainment' as a fundamental mechanism underlying the mind–body connection, suggesting entrainment-based interventions could enhance well-being and offer rehabilitative approaches for mental health.
Meditation can be divided into focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM) styles, which involve different attentional and awareness processes. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, Theravada Buddhist monks expert in both FA and OM meditation, along with novices with 10 days of practice, were scanned. Expert meditators showed massive self-regulation of fronto-parietal and insular areas in the left hemisphere, depending on the meditation state. Anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices played opposing roles in executive control of attention. The findings resolve a controversy about whether meditation involves hypo- or hyperfrontality, and suggest that mental practice reorganizes brain activity patterns, especially in prefrontal cortex and insula.