Effortless Attention as a Biomarker for Experienced Mindfulness Practitioners.
Guaraci Ken Tanaka, Tolou Maslahati, Mariana Gongora, Juliana Bittencourt, Luiz Carlos Serramo Lopez, Marcelo Marcos Piva Demarzo, Henning Budde, Silmar Teixeira, Luís Fernando Basile, Javier García-campayo, Mauricio Cagy, Pedro Ribeiro, Bruna Velasques
PLoS One 2015 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138561 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 21 |
| Population | Long-term meditators and first-time meditators |
| Intervention | open monitoring (OM) meditation |
| Duration | 40 minutes of open monitoring meditation, with 4 minutes of rest before and after |
| Measures | frontal beta power (EEG) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Long-term meditators showed lower frontal beta power during open monitoring meditation compared to first-time meditators, with significant group-by-time interactions at multiple frontal electrodes. The authors suggest this pattern may be a biomarker for long-term meditation practice and could relate to improved attentional state and cognitive efficiency. |
Abstract
The present study aimed at comparing frontal beta power between long-term (LTM) and first-time meditators (FTM), before, during and after a meditation session. We hypothesized that LTM would present lower beta power than FTM due to lower effort of attention and awareness. Twenty one participants were recruited, eleven of whom were long-term meditators. The subjects were asked to rest for 4 minutes before and after open monitoring (OM) meditation (40 minutes). The two-way ANOVA revealed an interaction between the group and moment factors for the Fp1 (p<0.01), F7 (p = 0.01), F3 (p<0.01), Fz (p<0.01), F4 (p<0.01), F8 (p<0.01) electrodes. We found low power frontal beta activity for LTM during the task and this may be associated with the fact that OM is related to bottom-up pathways that are not present in FTM. We hypothesized that the frontal beta power pattern may be a biomarker for LTM. It may also be related to improving an attentive state and to the efficiency of cognitive functions, as well as to the long-term experience with meditation (i.e., life-time experience and frequency of practice).
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 12
- Beyond the veil of duality—topographic reorganization model of meditation Neuroscience of Consciousness 2022
- Mindfulness Training: Can It Create Superheroes? Frontiers in Psychology March 26, 2019
- Mindfulness and Nondual Well-Being – What is the Evidence that We Can Stay Happy? Review of General Psychology June 1, 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
- Electrophysiological correlates of zen meditation: An investigation using in-monastery EEG acquisition Biological Psychology October 1, 2025
and 7 more in the library
Cites 35
- Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders American Journal of Psychiatry July 1, 1992
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin May 14, 2012
- A systematic review of neurobiological and clinical features of mindfulness meditations Psychological Medicine November 27, 2009
and 30 more in the library