Mindfulness meditation is often characterized as a state of relaxed alertness, yet the neural and autonomic processes that define this state remain unclear. This study examined concurrent electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations and skin conductance level (SCL) during brief breath-focused mindfulness meditation, with a focus on temporal dynamics. EEG and SCL were recorded during 2 min of...
Recent evidence suggests that the stimulus level of processing (LoP) modulates the two event-related potential (ERP) correlates of visual awareness-the visual awareness negativity (VAN) and late positivity (LP)-yet it remains unclear whether LoP also affects their temporal dynamics. In addition, recent studies using no-report paradigms have raised doubts about whether the LP constitutes a...
PsychophysiologySeptember 2026Salim Onbasi, Wojciech Kielbus, C J Brush et al.
Although the beneficial effects of acute aerobic exercise (AE) and mindfulness (MF) on emotional well-being are well-documented, whether these two intervention modalities can be combined to maximize these benefits remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined effect of AE and MF on affective responses and emotional reactivity. Using a within-subject crossover...
Spontaneous pupil fluctuations (SPFs) during rest provide a non-invasive, low-cost index of central arousal dynamics, independent of cognitive task demands. These features position SPFs as promising markers for baseline neurophysiological activity in both basic and translational research. This review synthesizes current evidence on the resting-state pupil-brain system, focusing on its core...
Flow experience is characterized by becoming deeply absorbed in a task, by losing track of time, and diminished self-awareness. Psychological flow research typically involves the qualitative or quantitative assessment of flow states after the experience with questionnaires. This approach is limited, as post-task reports provide an overall assessment of the whole experience, but lack the...
Psychophysiology2026Neel Muzumdar, Kelly Sun, Samuel Zhang et al.
Sighing generates a reliable sympathetic cardiovascular response that, like exercise, could be leveraged in a graded "stress test" to reveal preclinical changes in cardiovascular health and stress reactivity. This study presents the fixed-interval volitional sighing (FIVS) protocol, which rhythmically paces sighs at different frequencies to systematically load the cardiovascular system....
Prior research suggests that meditation may slow brain aging and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, we lack research systematically examining what aspect(s) of meditation may drive such benefits. In particular, it is unknown how breathing patterns during meditation might influence health outcomes associated with AD. In this study, we examined whether two types of mindfulness...
The majority of previous research on neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) have used the visual system as a model. However, to what extent reported findings generalize to other sensory modalities has not been comprehensively investigated. To fill this gap we directly compared visual and auditory NCCs by testing the same group of participants with two analogous procedures. Participants were...
PsychophysiologyJune 1, 2025Yanfen Zhen, Pei Liu, Lin Jiang et al.2 citations
Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a recurring behavior most prevalent among adolescents in which one intentionally harms one's tissues and organs without the intent of death, which has a complex pathophysiology and lacks established interventions. As NSSI has been linked to deficits in cognitive control, mindfulness training that enhances this process may be beneficial. In this study, using...
Objective measurement of mindfulness could help us understand the mechanisms of meditation interventions and how individuals vary in their disposition to be mindful. One proposed measure is the breath-counting task (BCT), which measures how accurately one can count cycles of their breath. Breath counting, which involves sustained attention, meta-awareness, and an internal locus of attention,...
This study investigates the proposed mechanism of mindfulness, its impact on body awareness and interoception, and its potential benefits for mental and physical health. Using psychophysical assessments, we compared 31 expert meditators with 33 matched controls (non-meditators who engage in regular reading, more than 5 h per week) in terms of somatosensory accuracy with a somatosensory signal...
The neurological basis for perceptual awareness remains unclear, and theories disagree as to whether sensory cortices per se generate awareness. Critically, neural activity in the sensory cortices is only a neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) if it closely matches the contents of perceptual awareness. Research in vision and touch suggest that contralateral activity in sensory cortices is an...
Classic psychedelics are able to profoundly alter the state of consciousness and lead to acute experiences of ego dissolution - the blurring of the distinction between representations of self and the external world. However, whether repeated use of psychedelics is associated with more prolonged and permanent modifications to the concept of self remains to be investigated. Therefore, we...
A growing number of studies have focused on identifying cognitive processes that are modulated by interoceptive signals, particularly in relation to the respiratory or cardiac cycle. Considering the fundamental role of interoception in bodily self-consciousness, we here investigated whether interoceptive signals also impact self-voice perception. We applied an interactive, robotic paradigm...
Commonly conducted mindfulness-based trainings such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) highlight training in two key forms of meditation: focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM). Largely unknown is what each of these mindfulness practices contributes to emotional and other important training outcomes. This dismantling trial...
Cannabis is the most commonly used psychotropic drug in the United States, after alcohol. Despite its apparent sedative and calming effects, cannabis and its main psychoactive constituent, ∆9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can produce serious adverse effects including tachycardia and anxiety. These effects can be especially pronounced in women, who remain underrepresented in clinical cannabinoid...
The enhancement of body awareness is proposed as one of the cognitive mechanisms that characterize mindfulness. To date, this hypothesis is supported by self-report and behavioral measures but still lacks physiological evidence. The current study investigated relation between trait mindfulness (i.e., individual differences in the ability to be mindful in daily life) and body awareness in...
Abstract The interest in lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) has sparked again due to its supposed positive effects on psychopathological conditions. Yet, most research focuses on the actions of LSD on the central nervous system. The interaction with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has been neglected so far. Therefore, the aim was to assess the effects of LSD and the serotonin 2A receptor...
Abstract Previous studies investigated bodily self‐consciousness (BSC) by experimentally exposing subjects to multisensory conflicts (i.e., visuo‐tactile, audio‐tactile, visuo‐cardiac) in virtual reality (VR) that involve the participant's torso in a paradigm known as the full‐body illusion (FBI). Using a modified FBI paradigm, we found that synchrony of visuo‐respiratory stimulation (i.e., a...
PsychophysiologyJanuary 17, 2020Marcelo Bigliassi, Bruno M Galano, A. Lima-Silva et al.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of an audio-guided mindfulness (MF) single session on psychological and psychophysiological responses during an outdoor walking task. Twenty-four participants (12 females and 12 males; Mage = 23.6, SD = 3.9 years) were required to walk 200 m at a pace of their choosing. Two experimental conditions (mindfulness meditation and...
Meditation is commonly assumed to be associated with enhanced interoceptive accuracy. We previously found that experienced meditators did not exhibit a greater ability than nonmeditators to detect heartbeat sensations at rest, despite the meditators' reported subjective ratings of higher accuracy and lower difficulty. Here, attempting to overcome previous methodological limitations, we assessed...
Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) typically experience states of reliving and hypervigilance; however, the dissociative subtype of PTSD (PTSD+DS) presents with additional symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. Although the insula is critical to emotion processing, its association with these contrasting symptom profiles is yet to be fully delineated. Accordingly,...
The stream of human consciousness persists during sleep, albeit in altered form. Disconnected from external input, the mind and brain remain active, at times creating the bizarre sequences of thought and imagery that comprise "dreaming." Yet despite substantial effort toward understanding this unique state of consciousness, no reliable neurophysiological indicator of dreaming has been...
Individuals who frequently experience nightmares report compromised sleep quality, poor daytime mood, and functioning. Previous research has aimed at linking these impairments with altered sleep architecture, but results were inconclusive. One plausible explanation is that only a few studies recorded markers of autonomic nervous system activity. For the first time, this study collected such...
Our environment is constantly overloaded with information, although we cannot consciously process all the stimulation reaching our senses. Current theoretical models are focused on the cognitive and neural processes underlying conscious perception. However, cognitive processes do not occur in an isolated brain but in a complex interaction between the environment, the brain, and the organism....