Visual signals suppress Alpha Power Increases & Frequency Decreases before and after a Mindfulness Meditation Intervention for Problem Gambling
Kaili-Larissa Martin, Farah Jindani, N. Turner, J. DeSouza
bioRxiv June 29, 2018 preprint DOI: 10.1101/359257 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Population | People with problem gambling |
| Interventions | Mindfulness meditation intervention Mindfulness meditation body scan |
| Duration | 8-week intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | In people with problem gambling, an eight-week mindfulness meditation intervention increased alpha power and decreased alpha peak frequency, while a brief body scan had the opposite effect. |
Abstract
The use of mindfulness meditation (MM) in the treatment of problem gambling (PG), has been used effectively for over five years. However, the neural mechanisms responsible for the improvements are unknown. The literature describes healthy individuals with an increase in alpha power and a decrease in alpha frequency after eight weeks of mindfulness meditation, but it is unknown if changes are similar amongst individuals with PG. Using resting-state electroencephalography (rsEEG), we measured the changes in alpha oscillations before and after an eight-week mindfulness meditation intervention (MMi) and a pre/ post-five-minute mindfulness meditation body scan (MMb). For people with PG, we observed an increase in alpha power and decreased alpha peak frequency after the MMi, while the inverse was true for the MMb. The most considerable alpha rhythm changes occurred in the frontal and temporal lobes, areas sensitive to reward and sensory processing in PG. Our observed changes may reflect theories that MMi for PG may improve attentional control as hypothesized by previous research in alpha oscillations and cue-reward processing.
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
Cites 4
- Mindfulness starts with the body: somatosensory attention and top-down modulation of cortical alpha rhythms in mindfulness meditation Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
- How Mindfulness Training May Help to Reduce Vulnerability for Recurrent Depression Clinical Psychological Science October 2, 2015
- Central and autonomic nervous system interaction is altered by short-term meditation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 2, 2009
- Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies. Psychological Bulletin March 2006