Academic achievement and the paired Hoffman reflex in students practicing meditation.
R K Wallace, David W. Orme-Johnson, P J Mills, Michael C. Dillbeck
The International journal of neuroscience November 1984 DOI: 10.3109/00207458409089814 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Students practicing the Transcendental Meditation program |
| Intervention | Transcendental Meditation |
| Measures | paired H reflex, grade point average, SAT scores, IQ measurements |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | The paired H reflex correlated significantly with grade point average but not with SAT scores or any of three IQ measurements. The authors suggest the facilitation period of the paired H-reflex recovery curve may be a useful indicator of academic achievement, perhaps reflecting awareness or wakefulness level. |
Abstract
The paired H reflex, considered to be the electrically evoked counterpart of the monosynaptic stretch reflex, provides a measure of motoneuron excitability under a variety of experimental and clinical conditions. It also offers a potentially useful tool in examining the neurophysiologic basis of alterations in reflex response in different states of awareness. This study investigated the relationship between the paired H reflex and academic achievement in students practicing the Transcendental Meditation program. The paired H reflex correlated significantly with grade point average, but not with SAT scores or any of three IQ measurements. These results suggest that the facilitation period of the paired H-reflex recovery curve may be a useful indicator of academic achievement, perhaps as a result of its relationship to awareness or wakefulness level.