Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice
Antoine Lutz, Lawrence L. Greischar, Nancy B. Rawlings, Matthieu Ricard, Richard J. Davidson
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 8, 2004 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0407401101 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls |
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Electroencephalography Audiology Cognition Scalp Term time Cognitive psychology Developmental psychology Anatomy |
| Citations | 1,325 |
| Key findings | Long-term Buddhist practitioners self-induce sustained high-amplitude gamma-band oscillations and phase-synchrony during meditation, with a higher gamma-to-slow-oscillation ratio that increases further during meditation and remains elevated post-meditation. |
Abstract
Practitioners understand "meditation," or mental training, to be a process of familiarization with one's own mental life leading to long-lasting changes in cognition and emotion. Little is known about this process and its impact on the brain. Here we find that long-term Buddhist practitioners self-induce sustained electroencephalographic high-amplitude gamma-band oscillations and phase-synchrony during meditation. These electroencephalogram patterns differ from those of controls, in particular over lateral frontoparietal electrodes. In addition, the ratio of gamma-band activity (25-42 Hz) to slow oscillatory activity (4-13 Hz) is initially higher in the resting baseline before meditation for the practitioners than the controls over medial frontoparietal electrodes. This difference increases sharply during meditation over most of the scalp electrodes and remains higher than the initial baseline in the postmeditation baseline. These data suggest that mental training involves temporal integrative mechanisms and may induce short-term and long-term neural changes.
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 | |
| Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Novice participants and those having attended an 8 week course in mindfulness meditation | 2007 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 423
- Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Neuroreport November 7, 2005
- Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 28, 2007
- Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise PLoS One March 25, 2008
- Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources PLoS Biology May 4, 2007
and 418 more in the library
Cites 3
- Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Psychosomatic Medicine July 1, 2003
- Increased Synchronization of Neuromagnetic Responses during Conscious Perception Journal of Neuroscience July 1, 1999
- Temporal binding, binocular rivalry, and consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition June 1, 1999