Electrophysiological correlates of dispositional mindfulness: A quantitative and complexity EEG study.

Dispositional mindfulness—a trait reflecting one's tendency to be attentive and aware in daily life—is linked to distinct patterns of brain electrical activity. In 120 participants, higher mindfulness scores were associated with lower frontal gamma power at rest, suggesting reduced default mode network involvement and less mind-wandering. During a learning task, mindful individuals showed a trend toward higher brain signal entropy, a pattern also seen during formal meditation. The findings indicate that even without meditation training, naturally mindful people exhibit a neural signature of reduced self-referential thought and greater task readiness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

While growing evidence supports that dispositional mindfulness relates to psychological health and cognitive enhancement, to date there have been only a few attempts to characterize its neural underpinnings. In the present study, we aimed at exploring the electrophysiological (EEG) signature of dispositional mindfulness using quantitative and complexity measures of EEG during resting state and while performing a learning task. Hundred twenty participants were assessed with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and underwent 5 min eyes-closed resting state and 5 min at task EEG recording. We hypothesized that high mindfulness individuals would show patterns of brain activity related to (a) lower involvement of the default mode network (DMN) at rest (reduced frontal gamma power) and (b) a state of 'task readiness' reflected in a more similar pattern from rest to task (reduced overall q-EEG power at rest but not at task), as compared to their low mindfulness counterparts. Dispositional mindfulness was significantly linked to reduced frontal gamma power at rest and lower overall power during rest but not at task. In addition, we found a trend towards higher entropy during task performance in mindful individuals, which has recently been reported during mindfulness meditation. Altogether, our results add to those from expert meditators to show that high (dispositional) mindfulness seems to have a specific electrophysiological pattern characteristic of less involvement of the DMN and mind-wandering processes.