Learning to Attenuate Myself: A Predictive Processing Account of the Body-Scan Meditation
Valeria Becattini
PsyArXiv April 9, 2024 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/6mu85 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that the tension between attention's usual amplifying effect and the reported dissolution of body boundaries in the state of bhanga can be resolved through predictive processing: the body-scan technique is claimed to enhance the accuracy of low-level predictions on somatosensory cues, which in turn attenuates them, producing an "overly attenuated" body that may underlie the short-term phenomenology of the practice. |
Abstract
The practice of meditation consists in allocating attention on sensory stimuli. As it is commonly known, attention allocation tends to increase both the cortical and the phenomenal response to the target. Yet, in deep contemplative states practitioners often report to feel a complete dissolution of body boundaries, i.e. the state of banga (in Pali). This phenomenon creates a tension with existing literature on attention: How does attention decrease the perception of the sensory target instead of increasing it? This paper aims at solving the tension by examining computational, phenomenological, and embodied approaches to contemplative practices. The body-scan technique (Vipassana tradition) is taken as an exemplary practice that leads to the state of bhanga. Through a predictive processing account of the attentional processes of the body-scan, I propose an “overly attenuated” body of the practitioner may render the phenomenology of the state of bhanga. For this purpose, I first present the body-scan technique and its phenomenology (section 1, 2). Then, I present relevant concepts in the Predictive Processing framework (section 3), and propose a predictive processing analysis of attentional processes of the body-scan (section 4). I claim that the body-scan enhances the accuracy of (low-level) predictions on somatosensory cues, which in turn attenuate them. This mechanism, I suggest, may underlie the short-term phenomenology of the body-scan. Finally, implications of linking attention to body perception and future outlooks are examined (section 5).
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 52
- Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Neuroreport November 7, 2005
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
- An Interoceptive Predictive Coding Model of Conscious Presence Frontiers in Psychology 2012
- Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources PLoS Biology May 4, 2007
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
and 47 more in the library