Meditation and the brain: attention, control and emotion.
Gabriel José Corrêa Mograbi
Mens Sana Monographs 2011 DOI: 10.4103/0973-1229.77444 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Attention Compassion Concentration Emotion |
| Key points | Proposes a common structure for emotion processing during one-pointed concentration and compassion meditation based on analysis of neuroimaging studies. |
Abstract
Meditation has been for long time avoided as a scientific theme because of its complexity and its religious connotations. Fortunately, in the last years, it has increasingly been studied within different neuroscientific experimental protocols. Attention and concentration are surely among the most important topics in these experiments. Notwithstanding this, inhibition of emotions and discursive thoughts are equally important to understand what is at stake during those types of mental processes. I philosophically and technically analyse and compare results from neuroimaging studies, produced by leading authorities on the theme, dealing with two types of meditation: "one-pointed concentration" and "compassion meditation". Analysing "one-pointed concentration", I show the differences between novice and expert meditation practitioners in terms of brain activity and connectivity, considering the relationship among increased attention and concentration and decreased activity in areas related to discursive thought and emotion. Analysing "compassion meditation", I show the importance of the limbic circuitry in emotion sharing. I follow the same strategy of comparing novice and expert meditation practitioners. The conclusion establishes a common structure to those different ways of dealing with emotion during meditation.
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
Cited by 4
- Rescatando al sujeto: Una perspectiva budista sobre los estudios de la conciencia Girasol/Revista humanidades September 13, 2015
- Concentrative (Sahaj Samadhi) meditation training and visual awareness: An fMRI study on color afterimages. Progress in Brain Research 2019
- Dynamic correlations between heart and brain rhythm during Autogenic meditation Frontiers in Human Neuroscience July 31, 2013
- Towards an integrative theory of consciousness: part 1 (neurobiological and cognitive models). Mens Sana Monographs 2013