EEG Phase Slips Reveal Detailed Brain Activity Patterns of Novice Vipassana Meditators During Decision Making Tasks
Ratna Jyothi Kakumanu, Ajay Kumar Nair, Arun Sasidharan, Rahul Venugopal, Ravindra P. Nagendra, Bindu M Kutty, Ceon Ramon
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) September 9, 2025 preprint DOI: 10.1101/2025.09.03.674031 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 16 |
| Population | Novice Vipassana meditators and non-meditator controls |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Electroencephalography Pattern recognition psychology Neural activity Slip aerodynamics Phase matter Classification of discontinuities Audiology Artificial intelligence Oddball paradigm Speech recognition Object grammar Brain mapping Elementary cognitive task |
| Key findings | Spatiotemporal profiles of EEG potentials, first-order derivatives, and phase slip rates differed significantly between novice Vipassana subjects and non-meditator controls, with the meditators showing faster object recognition. |
Abstract
Abstract Our study adopted a novel approach, utilizing four biomarkers, namely EEG potentials, their first-order derivatives, and phase slip rates derived from each, to discern the differences between novice Vipassana (NVP) subjects and non-meditator controls (NMC). Phase slip rates are discontinuities in instantaneous phase that represent cortical phase transitions, indicating a significant change in the overall brain state. We employed 128-channel EEG data from eight NMC and eight NVP subjects, collected during a gamified protocol, to investigate object identification within a visual oddball paradigm. EEG was continuously acquired during the 50 trials for each subject. We retained 44 artifact-free trials per subject (the minimum common across all subjects) and computed within-subject averages. The EEGs were then averaged separately for NMC and NVP subjects. The EEG was filtered in the alpha band, and the phase was extracted using the Hilbert transform, unwrapped, and the phase slip rates were computed. A montage layout of electrodes was used to make the spatiotemporal plots of biomarkers. Our findings revealed that the spatiotemporal profiles of all four biomarkers differed significantly between the two groups of subjects. Furthermore, the NVP subjects demonstrated faster object recognition. These results not only provide a unique method to use phase slip rates to quantify cognitive differences between NMC and NVP subjects but also present a promising set of biomarkers for quantitative task-based EEG analyses.
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 15
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 28, 2007
- 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
- Decreased electrophysiological activity represents the conscious state of emptiness in meditation Frontiers in Psychology 2014
and 10 more in the library