Evaluating Brain Activity in Response to Short Meditation Stimuli Using R-Score, Electroencephalography, and Neural Networks.
Daisy Das, Nabamita Deb, Rita Rani Talukdar, Saswati Sanyal Choudhury
Annals of Neurosciences October 17, 2025 DOI: 10.1177/09727531251379925 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Pregnant participants |
| Intervention | brief auditory stimuli |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Brief Audio Electroencephalography EEG Machine learning Mantra Relaxation |
| Key findings | Short audio interventions can induce relaxation in pregnant women, and EEG channels CFz, F8, and CP2 resulted in 100% accuracy in recognizing meditative states during meditation. |
Abstract
Stress is a major problem in today's culture, especially for expectant mothers. Newer therapies that show promising avenues for the reduction of stress include sound therapy, yoga, mantra chanting, and meditation (M). Electroencephalography (EEG) electroencephalography plays an important role in understanding the relaxation effects caused by these practices. This study looks at the immediate neuro-physiological effects of brief auditory stimuli on pregnant participants, focusing on EEG responses during and after meditation (AM). Unlike the literature that has focused on AM, the significance of EEG readings during M is emphasised. The new classification model, namely REA (R-score, EEG and Artificial Neural Network [ANN]) was employed for the analysis against the conventional approach of ANN. The statistical feature analysis showed in M EEG more significant than AM EEG. The results indicated that short audio interventions can be used to induce relaxation, and the identified EEG channels of CFz (frontal midline), F8 (right frontal lobe), and CP2 (parietal lobe) resulted in 100% accuracy in recognising meditative states during M. This accuracy underlines the importance of these regions for the differentiation of the relaxation states. The present study offers novel insights into trimester-specific responses to brief M audio stimuli and highly underscores the crucial role of EEG monitoring in M. These results point out that short auditory interventions might serve as a useful tool in the realm of stress reduction in prenatal care and offer a future direction of research into the neuro-physiological effects of M.
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 9
- Mind and body connection in expert meditators: a computational study based on central and peripheral nervous system BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies March 7, 2024
- Tetrahedral feature map for analyzing meditative states in prenatal EEG Engineering Research Express May 6, 2025
- Changes in the Electrical Activity of the Brain in the Alpha and Theta Bands during Prayer and Meditation International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health December 1, 2020
- SVM classification of EEG signal to analyze the effect of OM Mantra meditation on the brain IEEE India Conference December 1, 2019
- EEG signal based classification before and after combined Yoga and Sudarshan Kriya. Neuroscience Letters August 1, 2019
and 4 more in the library