Neuroplasticity of pain processing mechanisms with long-term meditation: Insights from pain-related EEG oscillations
preprint DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5735623/v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Population | Highly experienced meditators and novice meditators |
| Topics | Meditation Neuroplasticity |
| Key findings | Experienced meditators exhibit proactive top-down inhibition of somatosensory areas, suppressing early pain processing even outside of meditation. |
Abstract
Abstract The experience of pain is a combined product of bottom-up and top-down influences mediated by attentional and emotional factors. Meditation states and traits are characterized by enhanced attention/emotion regulation and expanded self-awareness that can be expected to modify pain processing. The main objective of the present study was to explore the effects of long-term meditation on neural mechanisms of pain processing. EEG pain-related oscillations (PROs) were analyzed in highly experienced practitioners and novices during a non-meditative resting state with respect to (a) local frequency-specific and temporal synchronizing characteristics to reflect mainly bottom-up mechanisms, (b) spatial synchronizing patterns to reflect the neural communication of noxious information, (c) pre-stimulus oscillations to reflect top-down mechanisms during pain expectancy, and (d) the P3b component of the pain-related potential to compare the emotional/cognitive reappraisal of pain events by expert and novice meditators. Main results demonstrated that in experienced (long-term) meditators as compared to non-experienced (short-term) meditators (1) the temporal and spatial synchronizations of multispectral (from theta-alpha to gamma) PROs were substantially suppressed at primary and secondary somatosensory regions contra-lateral to pain stimulation within 200 ms after noxious stimulus; (2) pre-stimulus alpha activity was significantly increased at the same regions, which predicted the suppressed synchronization of PROs in long-term meditators; (3) the decrease of the P3b component was non-significant. These novel observations provide evidence that even when subjected to pain outside of meditation, experienced meditators exhibit a pro-active top-down inhibition of somatosensory areas resulting in suppressed processing and communication of sensory information at early stages of painful input. The emotional/cognitive appraisal of pain is reduced but remains preserved revealing a capacity of experienced meditators to dissociate pro-active and reactive top-down processes during pain control.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on neuroplasticity, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners Age-matched participants including expert meditators and novices | 2007 | Observational cohort | |
| Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms. Patients with treatment-resistant depression | 2017 | Observational cohort | n = 19 |
| Functional Reorganization of the Default Mode Network across Chronic Pain Conditions Patients with chronic back pain, complex regional pain syndrome, and knee osteoarthritis | 2014 | Observational cohort | |
| State and Training Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Brain Networks Reflect Neuronal Mechanisms of Its Antidepressant Effect Novice meditators | 2016 | Longitudinal study | n = 13 |
Citations in the library
Cites 33
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 28, 2007
- Neural mechanisms of attentional control in mindfulness meditation Frontiers in Neuroscience 2013
- Mindfulness meditation for the treatment of chronic low back pain in older adults: A randomized controlled pilot study ☆ Pain June 4, 2007
- Mindfulness meditation–based pain relief: a mechanistic account Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences June 1, 2016
and 28 more in the library