Psychophysiology
June 1, 2026
Tongxin Liu, Sonja A. Kotz, Antonio Criscuolo et al.
1 citation
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...
Psychophysiology
April 1, 2026
Sura Genc, Elif Surer, Marc Wittmann et al.
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...
Psychophysiology
2026
Neel 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....
Psychophysiology
December 1, 2025
Kaoru Nashiro, B Rael Cahn, Paul Choi et al.
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...
Psychophysiology
July 1, 2025
Kinga Ciupińska, Marcin Koculak, Michał Bola et al.
2 citations
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...
Psychophysiology
June 1, 2025
Yanfen 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...
Psychophysiology
May 1, 2025
Isaac N Treves, Anna O Tierney, Simon B. Goldberg et al.
5 citations
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,...
Psychophysiology
May 1, 2025
Qin Huang, Anmin Li
1 citation
The boundaries of unconscious processing have long been an intriguing topic. Despite existing research, the necessity of consciousness for effective high-level conflict control remains an open question. This study seeks to address this research gap through two subliminal Stroop priming experiments combined with event-related potential measurements, aiming to clarify the brain dynamics of...
Psychophysiology
February 1, 2025
Maik Mylius, Simon Guendelman, Fivos Iliopoulos et al.
4 citations
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...
Psychophysiology
August 2, 2024
Billy Gerdfeldter, Annika Andersson, Stefan Wiens
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...
Psychophysiology
August 1, 2024
Paweł Orłowski, Justyna Hobot, Anastasia Ruban et al.
5 citations
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...
Psychophysiology
February 19, 2022
Kirk Warren Brown, Daniel R. Berry, Kristina Eichel et al.
38 citations
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...
Psychophysiology
March 27, 2021
Sebastian Olbrich, Katrin H. Preller, Franz X. Vollenweider
34 citations
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...
Psychophysiology
March 12, 2020
Sophie Betka, Elisa Canzoneri, D. Adler et al.
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...
Psychophysiology
January 17, 2020
M. 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...
Psychophysiology
July 1, 2019
Jing Zhang, Erin J. Wamsley
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...
Psychophysiology
April 22, 2018
Michael Christopher Melnychuk, Paul M Dockree, Redmond G. O'Connell et al.
117 citations
Abstract The locus coeruleus (LC) has established functions in both attention and respiration. Good attentional performance requires optimal levels of tonic LC activity, and must be matched to task consistently. LC neurons are chemosensitive, causing respiratory phrenic nerve firing to increase frequency with higher CO 2 levels, and as CO 2 level varies with the phase of respiration, tonic LC...
Psychophysiology
December 1, 2017
Nicolò F. Bernardi, Marco Bordino, Lucio Bianchi et al.
The effects of meditation on arterial and tissue oxygenation are unknown and difficult to assess because respiration is often altered, directly or indirectly, during meditation practice. Thus, changes in respiration may affect cardiovascular responses independently from meditation. In this study, we aim to isolate the specific effect of meditation on arterial and tissue oxygenation and other...
Psychophysiology
March 1, 2017
Boris Bornemann, Tania Singer
The ability to accurately perceive signals from the body has been shown to be important for physical and psychological health as well as understanding one's emotions. Despite the importance of this skill, often indexed by heartbeat perception accuracy (HBPa), little is known about its malleability. Here, we investigated whether contemplative mental practice can increase HBPa. In the context of...
Psychophysiology
February 12, 2016
Ayla Kruis, Heleen A. Slagter, David R. W. Bachhuber et al.
29 citations
A rapidly growing body of research suggests that meditation can change brain and cognitive functioning. Yet little is known about the neurochemical mechanisms underlying meditation-related changes in cognition. Here, we investigated the effects of meditation on spontaneous eyeblink rates (sEBR), a noninvasive peripheral correlate of striatal dopamine activity. Previous studies have shown a...
Psychophysiology
May 22, 2008
Sahib S. Khalsa, David Rudrauf, Antonio Damasio et al.
276 citations
Attention to internal body sensations is practiced in most meditation traditions. Many traditions state that this practice results in increased awareness of internal body sensations, but scientific studies evaluating this claim are lacking. We predicted that experienced meditators would display performance superior to that of nonmeditators on heartbeat detection, a standard noninvasive measure...
Psychophysiology
May 1, 1997
C C Hong, S G Potkin, J S Antrobus et al.
Based on the findings of our previously published positron emission tomography study, we proposed that recorded eye movements during REM sleep are visually targeted saccades. In the present study, we examined the correlation between the number of eye movements in REM sleep (EM) and visual imagery in dreaming (V) and provided further support for our proposal. All the observations (N = 11) were...
Psychophysiology
January 1997
F Travis, R K Wallace
In two experiments, we investigated physiological correlates of transcendental consciousness during Transcendental Meditation sessions. In the first, experimenter-initiated bells, based on observed physiological patterns, marked three phases during a Transcendental Meditation session in 16 individuals. Interrater reliability between participant and experimenter classification of experiences at...
Psychophysiology
1986
Frederick J. Heide
ABSTRACTThe Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique has been reported to produce cortical states of both steady responsiveness and lack of responsiveness to external stimulation during meditation. The present study examined alpha blocking, skin conductance, and phasic heart rate response to 80dB tones in 17 TM meditators and 17 controls. There were no significant differences between groups in...
Psychophysiology
July 1, 1984
Paul D. Tyson, Robert D. Ogilvie, Harry T. Hunt
59 citations
ABSTRACT Alpha activity during REM sleep without signs of awakening can discriminate between the blind classification of prelucid, lucid, and nonlucid dreams. Ten good dream recallers were aroused after relatively high or low amplitude REM alpha. The spectral and temporal characteristics of EEG alpha within each REM period were associated with lucidity and other content dimensions. Each type of...