Open-eyed meditation suppresses functional connectivity in EEG across a broad frequency range
Vinod Jiani, Ankan Biswas, Supratim Ray
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) May 18, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.64898/2026.05.13.724915 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort with matched controls |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 71 |
| Population | Open-eyed meditators and gender- and age-matched controls, plus separate datasets of healthy middle-aged and elderly participants |
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Topics | Default mode network Meditation |
| Keywords | Spectral density Electroencephalography Functional connectivity Consistency knowledge bases Range aeronautics Spectral analysis Audiology |
| Key findings | Meditation induces a broadband state decrease in functional connectivity (15–200 Hz) while enhancing power, distinct from the narrow-band effects of aging, gender, and visual stimulation. |
Abstract
Abstract Functional connectivity (FC) is a statistical measure that reflects the degree of phase consistency between two signals and provides insights about potential interactions between two brain regions. Previous studies have reported conflicting results on the effect of meditation on FC, with some showing enhancement while others reporting suppression of FC. However, even though meditation increases power over a broad frequency range between 15-200 Hz and beyond, most FC studies have reported changes over fixed and narrow frequency bands below 50 Hz. Further, meditation-induced changes in power spectral density (PSD) and FC have never been compared with changes with other factors such as age, gender and stimulus. We recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) from open-eyed meditators (N=35) and their gender-and age-matched controls (N=36) and found that meditation was associated with a‘state’ decrease in FC across a broad frequency range (15-200 Hz), while PSD showed both ‘trait’ and ‘state’ enhancement. Furthermore, visual gratings, which are known to enhance narrow-band gamma power, led to reduced gamma FC in both meditators and controls. We also compared the effect of aging and gender on a different dataset of healthy middle-aged (N=78) and elderly (N=89) participants and found differences in distinct frequency bands that were limited to a narrow range. We also found that often-used average referencing heavily distorted the FC and gave uninterpretable results. Overall, our results suggest distinct neural mechanisms underlying healthy aging, vision, and meditation and further recommend caution while using average referencing to study phase-based metrics. Significance statement Meditation research has reported inconsistent effects on functional connectivity (FC), partly because most studies examined only narrow low-frequency bands despite meditation altering brain activity across a much broader frequency band. This study demonstrates that meditation produces a broadband state reduction in FC across 15–200 Hz, while simultaneously enhancing power. In contrast, healthy aging, gender, and visual stimulation showed frequency-specific effects confined to alpha (8-12 Hz) and high-beta (20-36 Hz) bands, highlighting meditation’s unique large-scale neural signature. The study also shows that average referencing can severely distort phase-based FC estimates, leading to misleading interpretations. These findings clarify conflicting literature, distinguish meditation from other neural modulators, and provide important methodological guidance for EEG connectivity research.
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
Cites 12
- Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences May 26, 2009
- Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences October 11, 2007
- Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 8, 2004
- A systematic review of the neurophysiology of mindfulness on EEG oscillations Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 2015
- The psychological and neurophysiological concomitants of mindfulness forms of meditation Acta Neuropsychiatrica April 1, 2007
and 7 more in the library