Analysis of Meditation vs. Sensory Engaged Brain States Using Shannon Entropy and Pearson’s First Skewness Coefficient Extracted from EEG Data
J. Davis, Robert Kozma, Florian Schübeler
Italian National Conference on Sensors January 23, 2023 DOI: 10.3390/s23031293 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | 11 meditators and 9 non-meditators |
| Interventions | Meditation video watching |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Shannon Entropy and Pearson's 1st Skewness Coefficient significantly discriminate between meditation and video-watching states, and between meditators and non-meditators. |
Abstract
It has been proposed that meditative states show different brain dynamics than other more engaged states. It is known that when people sit with closed eyes instead of open eyes, they have different brain dynamics, which may be associated with a combination of deprived sensory input and more relaxed inner psychophysiological and cognitive states. Here, we study such states based on a previously established experimental methodology, with the aid of an electro-encephalography (EEG) array with 128 electrodes. We derived the Shannon Entropy (H) and Pearson’s 1st Skewness Coefficient (PSk) from the power spectrum for the modalities of meditation and video watching, including 20 participants, 11 meditators and 9 non-meditators. The discriminating performance of the indices H and PSk was evaluated using Student’s t-test. The results demonstrate a statistically significant difference between the mean H and PSk values during meditation and video watch modes. We show that the H index is useful to discriminate between Meditator and Non-Meditator participants during meditation over both the prefrontal and occipital areas, while the PSk index is useful to discriminate Meditators from Non-Meditators based on the prefrontal areas for both meditation and video modes. Moreover, we observe episodes of anti-correlation between the prefrontal and occipital areas during meditation, while there is no evidence for such anticorrelation periods during video watching. We outline directions of future studies incorporating further statistical indices for the characterization of brain states.
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
Cited by 4
- Meditation and Complexity: a Systematic Review June 28, 2023
- Meditation and complexity: a review and synthesis of evidence. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2025
- Zen Meditation and Aromatherapy as a Core to Mental Health: Studies in Vietnamese Monasteries Religions April 14, 2025
- A study of different cognitive states for meditators and non-meditators with the use of multiple classification indices derived from the PSD of EEG data and lessons learned about cognitive states and the nature of intelligence in minds and machines. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 2025
Cites 11
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- Meditation Increases the Entropy of Brain Oscillatory Activity Neuroscience February 4, 2020
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