Psychophysiology
May 22, 2008
Sahib S. Khalsa, David Rudrauf, Antonio Damasio et al.
276 citations
Meditation traditions claim that paying attention to internal body sensations increases awareness of them, but scientific evidence is lacking. Experienced meditators (Tibetan Buddhist and Kundalini) were compared to nonmeditators matched for age and body mass index on a heartbeat detection task, a standard measure of interoceptive awareness. Contrary to predictions, meditators showed no superior performance across several sessions and respiratory conditions. However, meditators consistently rated their interoceptive performance as better and the task as easier. These results suggest that practicing attention to internal body sensations, a core feature of meditation, does not enhance the ability to sense the heartbeat at rest.
Psychophysiology
April 22, 2018
Michael Christopher Melnychuk, Paul M Dockree, Redmond G. O'Connell et al.
117 citations
The locus coeruleus (LC), a small brain nucleus, regulates both attention and respiration. Optimal attention requires LC activity to match task demands, while LC neurons also respond to carbon dioxide levels, causing respiratory-linked fluctuations in LC activity. This overlap may synchronize breathing and attention, creating subtle oscillations that aid attentional flexibility but can also destabilize it. The authors present original findings of respiration-LC coupling using fMRI and pupil dilation, show that respiratory phase relates to attentional performance, and offer a mathematical model of this coupling. They propose that meditation and pranayama practices enhance attention, emotion, and physiology partly through the LC's role as a nexus in this coupled system.
Psychophysiology
November 1, 1981
David E. Becker, David Shapiro
55 citations
Experienced Zen, Yoga, and Transcendental Meditation meditators and control groups listened to auditory clicks during meditation. EEG alpha suppression and skin conductance response showed clear habituation that did not differ among groups, failing to replicate earlier claims that these meditation styles produce distinct states of consciousness. The N100, P200, and P300 components of the EEG evoked potential were also measured.
Psychophysiology
February 19, 2022
Kirk Warren Brown, Daniel R. Berry, Kristina Eichel et al.
38 citations
Mindfulness-based trainings like Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teach two meditation forms: focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM). A dismantling trial compared structurally equivalent 8-week trainings in MBCT, FA, and OM among 89 community adults with varying depressive symptoms. Electroencephalographic (EEG) frontal alpha asymmetry and self-reported emotional responses to images were measured before and after training. FA and MBCT produced leftward shifts in frontal alpha asymmetry, indicating a shift toward approach-based positive affect, and improved self-reported emotional reactivity and regulation for negative images. OM showed limited benefits, restricted to subjective outcomes. The findings suggest MBCT's benefits may come mainly from FA training.
Psychophysiology
March 27, 2021
Sebastian Olbrich, Katrin H. Preller, Franz X. Vollenweider
34 citations
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) predominantly increases sympathetic nervous system activity, while the serotonin 2A receptor antagonist ketanserin counteracts this effect by increasing parasympathetic tone. In a randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial, heart rate variability measures showed that sympathetic activity was positively associated and parasympathetic activity negatively associated with the subjective psychedelic effects of LSD. Additionally, placebo heart rate variability measures predicted subjective experiences after LSD intake. This association between trait autonomic nervous system activity and LSD-induced subjective experiences may serve as a candidate biomarker for the effectiveness of LSD in treating psychopathological conditions.
Psychophysiology
February 12, 2016
Ayla Kruis, Heleen A. Slagter, David R. W. Bachhuber et al.
29 citations
Long-term meditators blink less frequently and show a different eyeblink pattern than meditation-naive participants, with high consistency over three time points. This pattern may reflect differences in striatal dopamine activity, as spontaneous eyeblink rate is a peripheral correlate of such activity. An 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course did not alter eyeblink rates compared to active or waitlist controls, and a full day of two different meditation types also had no effect. These results suggest either that individual differences in dopaminergic neurotransmission predispose people to meditation, or that long-term, but not short-term, practice induces stable changes in baseline striatal dopaminergic functioning.
Psychophysiology
May 1, 2025
Isaac N Treves, Anna O Tierney, Simon B. Goldberg et al.
5 citations
A breath-counting task designed to measure mindfulness in adults was tested in 78 adolescents with high rumination. The task showed fair reliability but did not correlate positively with self-reported mindfulness, either as a trait or in daily life. Unexpectedly, more mindful adolescents performed worse on breath counting, and the task showed negative correlations with observing emotions and body sensations and with nonreactivity. Breath-counting performance was also unrelated to clinical, personality, and executive functioning measures. The findings indicate that, in this population, breath counting may measure only a narrow form of sustained attention and may not capture broader mindfulness qualities or have predictive validity.
Psychophysiology
August 1, 2024
Paweł Orłowski, Justyna Hobot, Anastasia Ruban et al.
5 citations
Regular naturalistic use of classic psychedelics does not appear to alter long-term neural representations of the self, but it may affect how attentional resources are allocated to task-relevant stimuli. In a cross-sectional study comparing 56 experienced psychedelics users (15 or more lifetime uses) with 57 nonusers, no difference was found in the P300 brain response to hearing one's own name, a stimulus that robustly activates self-representation. However, psychedelics users showed a larger P300 response to other people's names and a smaller increase in P300 amplitude when processing task-relevant target names compared to nonusers. These results suggest that while self-representation remains unchanged, regular psychedelic use might subtly shift attentional processing.
Psychophysiology
February 1, 2025
Maik Mylius, Simon Guendelman, Fivos Iliopoulos et al.
4 citations
Expert meditators show a lower decision threshold rather than higher accuracy in detecting near-threshold tactile stimuli, compared to non-meditators who read regularly. Electroencephalography revealed reduced prestimulus alpha power in meditators, suggesting enhanced alpha modulation. A trial-by-trial analysis found a negative correlation between prestimulus alpha activity and tactile perception. Meditators also reported greater interoceptive sensibility, less emotional suppression, and fewer difficulties describing feelings. These findings suggest that enhanced tactile perception in meditators may stem from reduced sensory filtering in the somatosensory cortex, increasing response rates without improving accuracy.
Psychophysiology
July 1, 2025
Kinga Ciupińska, Marcin Koculak, Michał Bola et al.
2 citations
Comparing brain signals for visual and auditory conscious awareness in the same people shows that early awareness negativity (VAN and AAN) relates to awareness in both senses, but late positivity (LP) relates to awareness only for vision. Visual components also reach consciousness faster than auditory ones. No correlations between modalities in perceptual thresholds or ERP latencies and amplitudes suggest visual and auditory awareness mechanisms are largely separate and modality-specific, not tracking consciousness independently of content.
Psychophysiology
June 1, 2025
Yanfen Zhen, Pei Liu, Lin Jiang et al.
2 citations
Adolescents who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) show deficits in cognitive control, reflected in lower accuracy and sensitivity on an emotional go/no-go task, along with reduced P3 amplitude and theta power measured by EEG. A brief 10-minute deep breath meditation intervention, but not natural breath meditation, restored the decreased no-go theta power in these adolescents. Resting-state EEG microstate D, which reflects attention network activation, differed between meditation strategies and predicted NSSI remission one month later. The findings identify inhibition deficits and specific neural markers (P3, theta power, microstate D) that may aid diagnosis, track intervention effects, and forecast outcomes.
Psychophysiology
June 1, 2026
Tongxin Liu, Sonja A. Kotz, Antonio Criscuolo et al.
1 citation
Spontaneous pupil fluctuations during rest offer a non-invasive, low-cost index of central arousal dynamics. This review synthesizes evidence on the resting-state pupil-brain system, focusing on central neuromodulatory circuits and large-scale cortical networks. It examines the relationship between pupil fluctuations and the ascending arousal system, including noradrenergic, cholinergic, serotonergic, and dopaminergic nuclei, and details coupling with intrinsic functional networks—default mode, salience, and sensorimotor systems. Converging evidence from animal and human neuroimaging studies reveals robust spatiotemporal and spectral coupling between pupil fluctuations and neural activity across micro- and macro-scales. The findings support a systems-level framework where pupil fluctuations serve as integrative markers linking subcortical neuromodulation with large-scale cortical dynamics, with potential utility as biomarkers for neuropsychiatric conditions and altered states of consciousness.
Psychophysiology
May 1, 2025
Qin Huang, Anmin Li
1 citation
Unconscious processing plays a significant role in cognitive control, affecting how we resolve conflicts. In two experiments involving 60 participants, subliminal Stroop primes influenced brain activity, specifically showing Stroop effects on N450 amplitudes. Participants exhibited slower reaction times when previously exposed to conflicting primes, indicating that early unconscious conflict detection impacts conscious decision-making. However, there was no evidence supporting unconscious conflict resolution. These findings underscore the complexities of cognitive control and the neural mechanisms involved in managing conflicts without conscious awareness.
Psychophysiology
January 1, 2026
Neel Muzumdar, Kelly Sun, Samuel Zhang et al.
Volitional sighing at fixed intervals produces a sympathetic cardiovascular response similar to exercise, with heart rate, low-frequency heart rate variability, pulse transit time variability, mean arterial pressure, and low-frequency blood pressure variability all increasing significantly from baseline. Greater changes occurred during shorter intervals between sighs (one every 15 seconds versus one every 30 seconds). High-frequency heart rate variability decreased only during the more frequent sighing task. Males showed larger increases than females in heart rate and several sympathetic indices, but smaller decreases in high-frequency heart rate variability. The fixed-interval volitional sighing protocol may serve as a stress test to detect early cardiovascular or autonomic dysfunction.
Psychophysiology
April 1, 2026
Sura Genc, Elif Surer, Marc Wittmann et al.
A new method allows people to report their flow experience continuously in real time by pressing a foot pedal while playing a video game in virtual reality. Forty participants played Thumper under two conditions, with and without the pedal, while their heart activity was recorded. Using the pedal did not interfere with their flow experience or heart-rate variability, and the real-time reports correlated with post-task questionnaires. Heart-rate variability analyses linked high-frequency HRV and the low-frequency/high-frequency ratio to perceived flow, suggesting parasympathetic activity and autonomic balance may contribute to the flow state.
Psychophysiology
December 1, 2025
Kaoru Nashiro, B Rael Cahn, Paul Choi et al.
One week of daily mindfulness meditation with slow breathing decreased plasma amyloid beta (Aβ) levels, while one week of daily mindfulness meditation with normal breathing increased plasma Aβ levels. A no-intervention control group showed no changes in plasma Aβ levels. The authors conclude that slow breathing appears to be a factor through which meditative practices can influence pathways relevant for Alzheimer's disease.
Psychophysiology
March 12, 2020
S. Betka, Elisa Canzoneri, D. Adler et al.
Synchronous visual feedback that matches a person's breathing—such as a flashing outline around a virtual body whose intensity changes with each breath—can alter bodily self-consciousness, making people feel more located in and in control of the virtual body. In 17 healthy participants, this effect occurred whether they actively initiated machine-delivered breaths or the machine set the timing, showing that the sense of owning a virtual body does not depend on the brain's motor commands to breathe. Asynchronous visual feedback reduced the sense of being located in the virtual body and increased variability in tidal volume, which may lessen breathing discomfort. These findings could inform virtual-reality tools for respiratory therapy.
Psychophysiology
January 17, 2020
M. Bigliassi, Bruno M Galano, A. Lima-Silva et al.
A single session of audio-guided mindfulness meditation, compared with mindlessness meditation or no meditation, shifted attention toward task-related thoughts, lowered perceived activation, and improved emotional responses during a short outdoor walk. Mindlessness meditation increased dissociative thoughts, reduced awareness of physical sensations and emotions, worsened mood, and raised perceived activation. Brain recordings showed that mindfulness enhanced inter-hemispheric connectivity of high-frequency brain waves between the right frontal and left temporo-parietal cortex. Twenty-four adults (12 women, 12 men, average age 23.6 years) walked 200 meters at their own pace under each condition.
Psychophysiology
July 1, 2019
Jing Zhang, Erin J. Wamsley
Dreaming is associated with distinct patterns of brain activity depending on the stage of sleep. During the transition into sleep, dream imagery emerges alongside increased low-frequency EEG power below 7 Hz. During later N2 sleep, dreaming occurs when low-frequency power below 1 Hz decreases and higher-frequency power above 4 Hz increases. No EEG predictors of dreaming were found during REM sleep. These patterns suggest an inverted-U relationship between dreaming and low-frequency EEG rhythms: dreaming first appears with EEG slowing during sleep onset, then fades as high-amplitude slow oscillations dominate N2 sleep.
Psychophysiology
December 1, 2017
Nicolò F Bernardi, Marco Bordino, Lucio Bianchi et al.
Meditation acutely lowers arterial and cerebral oxygen saturation, reduces chemoreflex sensitivity, and prolongs the RR interval, independently of respiration. In contrast, slow breathing improves heart rate variability regardless of concurrent meditation. Individuals with long-term meditation practice show higher baseline arterial and cerebral oxygen saturation, lower blood pressure, and slower baseline respiration, suggesting repeated exposure may lead to long-term adaptation through increased ventilatory efficiency and improved gas exchanges.
Psychophysiology
March 1, 2017
Boris Bornemann, Tania Singer
Heartbeat perception accuracy, a measure of interoceptive ability linked to physical and psychological health and emotional awareness, can be improved through intensive contemplative mental training. In a 9-month study with three training modules targeting attention, socio-affective, and socio-cognitive skills, participants showed small but significant increases in heartbeat perception accuracy after 6 and 9 months of practice. These improvements were associated with and predicted increases in emotional awareness. The findings indicate that meaningful changes in interoceptive accuracy require longer practice than typical 8-week mindfulness courses, and such training may offer pathways to enhance health.
Psychophysiology
May 1, 1997
C C Hong, S G Potkin, J S Antrobus et al.
A strong association exists between the number of rapid eye movements during REM sleep and the amount of visual imagery in dreaming, but only in the one-minute interval just before awakening. This finding, based on eleven observations from a single individual to eliminate interindividual variation, supports the proposal that recorded eye movements during REM sleep are visually targeted saccades. The time course of the association suggests it reflects a phasic, localized activation of the eye-movement-control system linked to REM sleep eye movements.
Psychophysiology
January 1, 1986
Frederick J. Heide
During Transcendental Meditation, practitioners show a mix of steady responsiveness and lack of responsiveness to external sounds. This study compared 17 TM meditators with 17 non-meditators on their reactions to repeated 80dB tones, measuring brainwave changes, skin conductance, and heart rate. No meaningful differences appeared between the groups in how quickly they stopped reacting to the tones in terms of brainwaves or skin conductance. Neither group's heart rate response diminished over time. Non-meditators had more variable and accelerating heart reactions. The findings suggest that heart rate patterns may be a useful way to study meditation.
Psychophysiology
November 1, 1982
Tadao Hori
Changes in spontaneous skin potential activity on the palm can predict the transition from wakefulness to sleep. In 20 male subjects, the negativity of palmar skin potential level began decreasing 3.5 minutes before stage 1 sleep onset and stopped declining 1.5 minutes before stage 1 onset. Similar anticipatory changes occurred in palmar skin potential responses and slow eye movements, suggesting shared central mechanisms. The dorsal hand showed no such changes. These findings indicate that skin potential activity may serve as a reliable physiological marker for identifying the tendency to fall asleep.
Psychophysiology
March 1, 1969
James D. Larson, David Foulkes
During nocturnal sleep monitored with EEG, EOG, and chin EMG, 196 awakenings were distributed across NREM sleep before and after EMG suppression that heralds REM onset, and early REM. Suppressed-EMG NREM awakenings were linked to lower dream recall and lower Dreamlike Fantasy Scale ratings than high-EMG NREM awakenings. Orientation times upon awakening were longer after suppressed-EMG pre-REM awakenings. A momentary deepening of sleep—less memorable and vivid mental content and decreased reactivity—appears to accompany pre-REM suppression of neck and chin EMG.