Facilitating Meditation with Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation: A Sham-Controlled Crossover Study in Long-Term and Novice Meditators
Joshua Cain, Micah Alan Johnson, Amirvala Tavakoli, Tracy Brandmeyer, Ninette Simonian, Geena Wang, Jezabel May, Alexander Bystritsky, Shinzen Young, Joseph Lacoste Sanguinetti, Matthew D. Sacchet, Nicco Reggente
October 21, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/6gjdp_v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Single-blind, sham-controlled, counterbalanced crossover study Randomized |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 48 |
| Population | Long-term practitioners of insight meditation in the S.N. Goenka Vipassana tradition (n = 36) and meditation-naïve novices (n = 12, exploratory cohort) |
| Interventions | Low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) bilateral caudate or bilateral anterior insula or sham |
| Duration | 12 minutes of FUS per session during hour-long meditation sessions |
| Measures | Meditative depth ratings (anchored "extremely shallow" to "extremely deep"), intensity ratings relative to normal experience, autonomic measures, mood measures, trait measures |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | In long-term meditators, caudate stimulation produced a steeper rise in meditative depth than sham and insula stimulation; in novices, PCC stimulation produced a steeper rise in depth than sham, caudate, and insula, with the caudate-versus-PCC slope difference reversing in sign between groups. No target altered intensity, insula stimulation had no sham-relative effect, and mood and trait measures were unchanged. |
Abstract
Sustained contemplative practice confers well-documented psychological and physiological benefits, yet the experiential deepening that motivates practitioners can require many hours of practice, and mastery is not assured. Methods that accelerate training would broaden access to these benefits and could also test mechanism: the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), caudate, and anterior insula are implicated in meditation, but only correlationally. We used low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) to ask whether reversibly perturbing each region shifts meditative experience in real time. In a single-blind, sham-controlled, counterbalanced crossover design, long-term practitioners of insight meditation in the S.N. Goenka Vipassana tradition (LTMs; n = 36) and meditation-naïve novices (n = 12; an exploratory cohort; meditation experience not randomized) received 12 minutes of inhibition-biased (5% duty cycle) FUS to the PCC, bilateral caudate, or bilateral anterior insula, or sham, in separate sessions during hour-long meditation. Every ~4 minutes, participants rated meditative depth (anchored from “extremely shallow” to “extremely deep”) and intensity (relative to their normal experience, along any dimension), with autonomic, mood, and trait measures as secondary outcomes. Sham-relative changes in rating trajectories were tested with generalized linear mixed models and false discovery rate (FDR)-corrected contrasts. In LTMs, caudate stimulation produced a significantly steeper rise in depth than sham and insula stimulation; in novices, PCC stimulation produced a significantly steeper rise in depth than sham, caudate, and insula stimulation, such that the caudate-versus-PCC difference in depth slopes differed significantly between groups, reversing in sign. No target altered intensity relative to sham, insula stimulation had no sham-relative effect on meditation, and post-session mood and trait measures were unchanged. Autonomic effects were modest and did not account for the meditative effects, and expectation of benefit did not differ across conditions in LTMs. FUS neuromodulation can causally and region-specifically accelerate meditative deepening, with the effective target differing by meditation experience (caudate in LTMs, PCC in novices), a dependence that may reflect practice itself or its correlates. Tempered by the single-blind protocol, the small novice cohort, and effects extending beyond sonication, these findings establish proof-of-principle for neuromodulatory facilitation of meditation and motivate individualized, closed-loop applications.
Comparable studies
Other randomized controlled trials on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Healthy employees in a work environment | 2003 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 41 |
| Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Recovered recurrently depressed patients | 2000 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 145 |
| Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Working adults | 2008 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 139 |
| Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Undergraduate Chinese students | 2007 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 40 |
| Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. Recovered recurrently depressed patients | 2004 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 73 |