Eliciting brain waves of people with cognitive impairment during meditation exercises using portable electroencephalography in a smart-home environment: a pilot study
Ioulietta Lazarou, V. Oikonomou, Lampros Mpaltadoros, M. Grammatikopoulou, Vasilis Alepopoulos, Thanos G. Stavropoulos, Anastasios Bezerianos, S. Nikolopoulos, I. Kompatsiaris, M. Tsolaki
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience May 30, 2023 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1167410 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Pilot study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 40 |
| Population | People across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum: healthy controls, subjective cognitive decline, and mild cognitive impairment |
| Intervention | Kirtan Kriya meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Both MBSR and Kirtan Kriya meditation lead to marked differences in brain activation patterns across people at different cognitive states, with theta waves significantly reduced in healthy controls during Kirtan Kriya meditation compared to resting state. |
Abstract
Objectives: Meditation imparts relaxation and constitutes an important non-pharmacological intervention for people with cognitive impairment. Moreover, EEG has been widely used as a tool for detecting brain changes even at the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The current study investigates the effect of meditation practices on the human brain across the AD spectrum by using a novel portable EEG headband in a smart-home environment.
Methods: Forty (40) people (13 Healthy Controls—HC, 14 with Subjective Cognitive Decline—SCD and 13 with Mild Cognitive Impairment—MCI) participated practicing Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (Session 2-MBSR) and a novel adaptation of the Kirtan Kriya meditation to the Greek culture setting (Session 3-KK), while a Resting State (RS) condition was undertaken at baseline and follow-up (Session 1—RS Baseline and Session 4—RS Follow-Up). The signals were recorded by using the Muse EEG device and brain waves were computed (alpha, theta, gamma, and beta).
Results: Analysis was conducted on four-electrodes (AF7, AF8, TP9, and TP10). Statistical analysis included the Kruskal–Wallis (KW) nonparametric analysis of variance. The results revealed that both states of MBSR and KK lead to a marked difference in the brain’s activation patterns across people at different cognitive states. Wilcoxon Signed-ranks test indicated for HC that theta waves at TP9, TP10 and AF7, AF8 in Session 3-KK were statistically significantly reduced compared to Session 1-RS Z = –2.271, p = 0.023, Z = −3.110, p = 0.002 and Z = −2.341, p = 0.019, Z = −2.132, p = 0.033, respectively.
Conclusion: The results showed the potential of the parameters used between the various groups (HC, SCD, and MCI) as well as between the two meditation sessions (MBSR and KK) in discriminating early cognitive decline and brain alterations in a smart-home environment without medical support.
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 3
- Neurophysiological mechanisms of focused attention meditation: A scoping systematic review Imaging Neuroscience 2025
- Prana-Centered AI Integrating Subtle Yogic Energetics Into Intelligent Wellness Systems Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics June 18, 2026
- Bridging Science and Spirituality: Investigating the Effects of OM Chanting on Brain Waves Sakarya University Journal of Computer and Information Sciences October 13, 2025
Cites 27
- Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Neuroreport November 7, 2005
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- A systematic review of the neurophysiology of mindfulness on EEG oscillations Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 2015
- Review of the Neural Oscillations Underlying Meditation Frontiers in Neuroscience March 26, 2018
- “Thinking about Not-Thinking”: Neural Correlates of Conceptual Processing during Zen Meditation PLoS One September 2, 2008
and 22 more in the library