Cortical plasticity, contingent negative variation, and transcendent experiences during practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique.
F Travis, J J Tecce, J Guttman
Biological Psychology November 1, 2000 DOI: 10.1016/s0301-0511(00)00063-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Age-matched subjects with few (<1 per year), more frequent (10-20 per year), or daily self-reported transcendent experiences |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Late CNV amplitudes in simple trials were smallest in the group with fewest transcendent experiences and largest in the group with most frequent transcendent experiences, while CNV distraction effects showed the opposite pattern. |
Abstract
This study investigated effects of transcendent experiences on contingent negative variation (CNV) amplitude, CNV rebound, and distraction effects. Three groups of age-matched subjects with few (<1 per year), more frequent (10-20 per year), or daily self-reported transcendent experiences received 31 simple RT trials (flash (S(1))/tone (S(2))/button press) followed by 31 divided-attention trials - randomly intermixed trials with or without a three-letter memory task in the S(1)-S(2) interval). Late CNV amplitudes in the simple trials were smallest in the group with fewest, and largest in the group with most frequent transcendent experiences. Conversely, CNV distraction effects were largest in the group with fewest and smallest in the group with most frequent transcendent experiences (the second group's values were in the middle in each case). These data suggest cumulative effects of transcendent experiences on cortical preparatory response (heightened late CNV amplitude in simple trials) and executive functioning (diminished distraction effects in letter trials).
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 17
- A Systematic Review of Transcendent States Across Meditation and Contemplative Traditions. Explore 2018
- Neurophysiological, cognitive-behavioral and neurochemical effects in practitioners of transcendental meditation - A literature review Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira May 1, 2019
- A Critical Analysis on Characterizing the Meditation Experience Through the Electroencephalogram Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience August 7, 2020
- Measuring Mindfulness: A Psychophysiological Approach. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2018
- A cross-sectional evaluation of meditation experience on electroencephalography data by artificial neural network and support vector machine classifiers. Medicine April 1, 2017
and 12 more in the library
Cites 2
- Autonomic and EEG patterns during eyes-closed rest and transcendental meditation (TM) practice: the basis for a neural model of TM practice. Consciousness and Cognition September 1999
- Autonomic patterns during respiratory suspensions: possible markers of Transcendental Consciousness. Psychophysiology January 1997