Biophysical aspects of neurocognitive modeling with long-term sustained temperature variations
Serge Kernbach, Olga Kernbach, Andreas Kernbach
arXiv Preprint Archive February 2, 2023 preprint
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study with control measurements |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 159 |
| Population | Human participants performing focused attention and visualization exercises |
| Intervention | focused attention with visualization and breathing exercises |
| Duration | Five months |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Q-bio.nc Physics.bio-ph Physics.med-ph Biophysics Thermoregulation Consciousness |
| Key findings | Focused attention and visualization exercises can produce persistent body temperature increases up to 38.5 °C and intentional control of core temperature by 1.6 °C, with effects lasting over 60 minutes and high repeatability. |
Abstract
Long-term focused attention with visualization and breathing exercises is at the core of various Eastern traditions. Neurocognitive and psychosomatic phenomena demonstrated during such exercises were instrumentally explored with EEG and other sensors. Neurocognitive modeling in the form of meditative visualization produced persistent temperature effects in the body long after the exercise finished; this raises the question about their psychosomatic or biophysical origin. The work explores this question by comparing experiments with focusing attention inside and outside the body. EEG, temperature, heart and breathing sensors monitor internal body conditions, high resolution differential calorimetric sensors are used to detect thermal effects outside the body. Experiments with 159 attempts (2427 operator-sensor sessions) were carried over five months, control measurements run in the same conditions in parallel to experimental series. Increase of body temperature up to moderate fever zone 38.5 C and intentional control of up and down trend of core temperature by 1.6 C are demonstrated. Persistent temperature variations last >60 min. Experiments also demonstrated induced thermal fluctuations at 10^-3 C level in external calorimetric systems with 15 ml of water for 60-90 min. Repeatability of these attempts is over 90%, statistical Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests reject the null hypotheses about random character of outcomes. Thus, the obtained data confirm the persistent thermal effects reported in previous publications and indicate their biophysical dimension. To explain these results we refer to a new model in neuroscience that involves spin phenomena in biochemical and physical systems. These experiments demonstrate complex biophysical mechanisms of altered states of consciousness; their function in the body's neurohumoral regulation and non-classical brain functions is discussed.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |