Inducing a meditative state by artificial perturbations: A mechanistic understanding of brain dynamics underlying meditation.
Paulina Clara Dagnino, Javier A. Galadí, Estela Càmara, Gustavo Deco, Anira Escrichs
Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) 2024 DOI: 10.1162/netn_a_00366 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study with computational modeling Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Expert meditators and controls |
| Intervention | meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Brain states Stimulation Whole-brain modeling FMRI |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key findings | Meditation involves distinct whole-brain dynamics compared to rest, and transitions between these states can be induced via localized artificial perturbations in a whole-brain model. |
Abstract
Contemplative neuroscience has increasingly explored meditation using neuroimaging. However, the brain mechanisms underlying meditation remain elusive. Here, we implemented a mechanistic framework to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of expert meditators during meditation and rest, and controls during rest. We first applied a model-free approach by defining a probabilistic metastable substate (PMS) space for each condition, consisting of different probabilities of occurrence from a repertoire of dynamic patterns. Moreover, we implemented a model-based approach by adjusting the PMS of each condition to a whole-brain model, which enabled us to explore in silico perturbations to transition from resting-state to meditation and vice versa. Consequently, we assessed the sensitivity of different brain areas regarding their perturbability and their mechanistic local-global effects. Overall, our work reveals distinct whole-brain dynamics in meditation compared to rest, and how transitions can be induced with localized artificial perturbations. It motivates future work regarding meditation as a practice in health and as a potential therapy for brain disorders.