Modulation of Event-related Potentials of Visual Discrimination by Meditation Training and Sustained Attention.
Anthony P Zanesco, Brandon G King, Chivon Powers, Rosanna De Meo, Kezia Wineberg, Katherine A Maclean, Clifford D Saron
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience August 1, 2019 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01419 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Longitudinal intervention with two cohorts (Retreat 1 and Retreat 2) and a wait-list control group Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Participants in intensive meditation retreats and wait-list controls |
| Intervention | Shamatha (focused-attention) meditation |
| Duration | Two 3-month interventions |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Focused-attention meditation Meditation retreats Meditation training Cognitive enhancement attention Perception Visual discrimination Attentional control Brain signals Ability Skill Capacity Improve Boost Enhanced Reduced decline Neuroplasticity brain changes Brain processing Early sensory processing Brain markers Fundamentally alter Discern details Visual tasks |
| Citations | 40 |
| Key findings | Intensive meditation training modulated event-related potentials of attention and perceptual processing during a vigilance task only when the difficulty of the visual target was held constant, not when it was adjusted to match improving perceptual capacity. |
Abstract
The ability to discriminate among goal-relevant stimuli tends to diminish when detections must be made continuously over time. Previously, we reported that intensive training in shamatha (focused-attention) meditation can improve perceptual discrimination of difficult-to-detect visual stimuli [MacLean, K. A., Ferrer, E., Aichele, S. R., Bridwell, D. A., Zanesco, A. P., Jacobs, T. L., et al. Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention. Psychological Science, 21, 829-839, 2010]. Here we extend these findings to examine how discrimination difficulty and meditation training interact to modulate event-related potentials of attention and perceptual processing during vigilance. Training and wait-list participants completed a continuous performance task at the beginning, middle, and end of two 3-month meditation interventions. In the first intervention (Retreat 1), the continuous performance task target was adjusted across assessments to match training-related changes in participants' perceptual capacity. In the second intervention (Retreat 2), the target was held constant across training, irrespective of changes in discrimination capacity. No training effects were observed in Retreat 1, whereas Retreat 2 was associated with changes in the onset of early sensory signals and an attenuation of within-task decrements at early latencies. In addition, changes at later stimulus processing stages were directly correlated with improvements in perceptual threshold across the second intervention. Overall, these findings demonstrate that improvements in perceptual discrimination can modulate electrophysiological markers of perceptual processing and attentional control during sustained attention, but likely only under conditions where an individual's discrimination capacity is allowed to exceed the demand imposed by the difficulty of a visual target. These results contribute to basic understanding of the dependence of perceptual processing and attentional control to contextual demands and their susceptibility to directed mental training.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 25
- Silence in Shamatha, Transcendental, and Stillness Meditation: An Evidence Synthesis Based on Expert Texts Frontiers in Psychology July 8, 2020
- Evidence synthesis indicates contentless experiences in meditation are neither truly contentless nor identical Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences May 24, 2022
- Psychedelic Experience October 26, 2023
- The path to contentless experience in meditation: An evidence synthesis based on expert texts Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences June 2, 2022
- Deconstructing the self and reshaping perceptions: An intensive whole-brain 7T MRI case study of the stages of insight during advanced investigative insight meditation. Neuroimage 2025
and 20 more in the library
Cites 10
- Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention. Psychological Science June 1, 2010
- Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence Journal of Neuroscience October 21, 2009
- Mental Training as a Tool in the Neuroscientific Study of Brain and Cognitive Plasticity Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2011
- Intensive training induces longitudinal changes in meditation state-related EEG oscillatory activity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Executive control and felt concentrative engagement following intensive meditation training. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
and 5 more in the library