Open monitoring meditation alters the EEG gamma coherence in experts meditators: The expert practice exhibit greater right intra-hemispheric functional coupling.
Guaraci Ken Tanaka, T. Russell, Juliana Bittencourt, V. Marinho, Silmar Teixeira, Victor Hugo Bastos, Mariana Gongora, Maria Ramim, Henning Budde, Danielle Aprigio, Luís Fernando Basile, Mauricio Cagy, Pedro Ribeiro, D. Gupta, Bruna Velasques
Consciousness and Cognition May 27, 2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103354 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 21 |
| Population | Healthy adults, expert meditators and naive meditators |
| Intervention | open presence meditation practice |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Expert meditators had greater frontoparietal EEG gamma coherence in specific electrode pairs during rest and meditation compared to naive meditators. |
Abstract
Aim: This study investigated the differences in frontoparietal EEG gamma coherence between expert meditators (EM) and naïve meditators (NM). MATERIAL AND METHODS This is a cross-sectional study with a sample of twenty-one healthy adults divided under two groups (experts meditators vs. naive-meditators), with analyzing the intra-hemispheric coherence of frontoparietal gamma oscillations by electroencephalography during the study steps: EEG resting-state 1, during the open presence meditation practice, and EEG resting-state 2.
Results: The findings demonstrated greater frontoparietal EEG coherence in gamma for experts meditators in the Fp1-P3, F4-P4, F8-P4 electrode pairs during rest 1 and rest 2 (p ≤ 0.0083). In addition, we evidenced differences in the frontoparietal EEG coherence for expert meditators in F4-P4, F8-P4 during the meditation (p ≤ 0.0083).
Conclusion: Our results can support evidence that the connectivity of the right frontoparietal network acts as a biomarker of the enhanced Open monitoring meditation training.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups | 2008 | Cross-sectional study | |
| Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Adult participants | 2007 | Observational cross-sectional | n = 27 |
| Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). School-aged children and adolescents | 2011 | Cross-sectional validation study | n = 1,413 |
| Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators Experienced meditators and demographically matched nonmeditators | 2012 | Cross-sectional study | n = 152 |
| Mechanisms of Action in the Inverse Relationship Between Mindfulness and Psychological Distress Undergraduates | 2008 | Cross-sectional, correlational |
Citations in the library
Cited by 7
- EEG changes induced by meditative practices: State and trait effects in healthy subjects and in patients with epilepsy. Revue Neurologique April 1, 2024
- From theory to practice: a novel meditation program at a global corporation Current Psychology April 19, 2023
- Can heart rate variability demonstrate the effects and the levels of mindfulness? A repeated-measures study on experienced and novice mindfulness practitioners. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies July 3, 2025
- Alpha-Theta Correlations during the Different States of the Brain for a Designed Cognitive Task International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research June 30, 2023
- Distinct Patterns of Directed Brain Connectivity in Focused Attention, Open Monitoring, and Loving Kindness Meditation: An Electroencephalographic Granger Causality Study with Long-term Meditators Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2026
and 2 more in the library
Cites 37
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine May 1, 2009
- Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 8, 2004
- Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience August 13, 2007
- 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
and 32 more in the library