Trait lasting alteration of the brain default mode network in experienced meditators and the experiential selfhood
A. Fingelkurts, Tarja Kallio-Tamminen
February 12, 2016 DOI: 10.1080/15298868.2015.1136351 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional comparison |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 15 |
| Population | Experienced meditators and naïve participants about to start meditation training |
| Measures | electroencephalogram operational synchrony |
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Key findings | Experienced meditators, compared to novices, show increased frontal DMN module synchrony and decreased left and right posterior DMN module synchrony, consistent with changes observed in novices after four months of meditation training. The authors propose that these DMN subnet changes relate to components of experiential selfhood. |
Abstract
Based on the finding in novices that four months of meditation training significantly increases frontal default mode network (DMN) module/subnet synchrony while decreasing left and right posterior DMN modules synchrony, the current study tested the prediction whether experienced meditators (those who are practising meditation intensively for several years) had a change in the DMN “trinity” of modules as a baseline trait characteristic and whether this change is in a similar direction as in the novice trainees who practised meditation for only four months. Comparison of functional connectivity within DMN subnets (measured by electroencephalogram operational synchrony in the three separate DMN modules) between five experienced meditators and 10 naïve participants (who were about to start the meditation training) fully support the prediction. Interpretation that links such DMN subnets changes to the three-dimensional components of the experiential selfhood was proposed.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on default mode network, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 13
- From many to (n)one: Meditation and the plasticity of the predictive mind. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews September 1, 2021
- Selfhood triumvirate: From phenomenology to brain activity and back again. Consciousness and Cognition November 1, 2020
- Commentary: Patanjali and neuroscientific research on meditation Frontiers in Psychology February 27, 2018
- Nonlinear brain correlates of trait self-boundarylessness. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2023
- Novel machine learning-driven comparative analysis of CSP, STFT, and CSP-STFT fusion for EEG data classification across multiple meditation and non-meditation sessions in BCI pipeline Brain Informatics February 8, 2025
and 8 more in the library
Cites 16
- Functional connectivity of default mode network components: Correlation, anticorrelation, and causality Human Brain Mapping January 24, 2008
- Patterns of Brain Activity Supporting Autobiographical Memory, Prospection, and Theory of Mind, and Their Relationship to the Default Mode Network Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience July 6, 2009
- BOLD correlates of EEG alpha phase-locking and the fMRI default mode network Neuroimage January 15, 2009
- Minimal self-models and the free energy principle. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience September 12, 2013
- The default mode network and EEG alpha oscillations: An independent component analysis Brain Research June 3, 2011
and 11 more in the library