Ekaterina Dobryakova, David V. Smith
preprint
Abstract The default mode network (DMN) has been theorized to participate in a range of social, cognitive, and affective functions. Yet, previous accounts do not consider how the DMN contributes to other brain regions depending on psychological context, thus rendering our understanding of DMN function incomplete. We addressed this gap by applying a novel network-based psychophysiological...
Shelley R. Upton, Tyler L. Renshaw
preprint
Training in mindfulness has been shown to improve a variety of psychological disorders as well as physical conditions. Additionally, mindfulness training has been shown to reduce risk-taking behaviors following several weeks of training. Reducing risk-taking behaviors is of particular importance in regard to specific mental health problems, such as substance use and eating disorders. Many...
Elizaveta Solomonova, Simon Dubé, Arnaud Samson-Richer et al.
Vipassana meditation is characterized by observing bodily sensations, developing emotional and attentional stability and promoting pro-social qualities. Whether these qualities are also reflected in dream content is not currently known. Evidence relating dream content with sleep-depending learning is mixed: some studies suggest that dreaming of a task is beneficial for improvement, while others...
Elizaveta Solomonova, Simon Dubé, Cloé Blanchette-Carrière et al.
Study objectives: Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and sleep spindles are all implicated in the consolidation of procedural memories. The relative contributions of sleep stages and sleep spindles was previously shown to depend on individual differences in task processing. Experience with Vipassana meditation is one such individual difference that has not been...
Zina-Mary Manjaly, Sandra Iglesias
preprint
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was developed to combine methods from cognitive behavioural therapy and meditative techniques, with the specific goal of preventing relapse in recurrent depression. While supported by empirical evidence from multiple clinical trials, the cognitive mechanisms behind the effectiveness of MBCT are not well understood in computational (information...
Shiran Israel, Raghda Alnabilsy, Michael Zaitchik et al.
preprint
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are increasingly used to promote mental health and resilience, yet their applicability within racially marginalized communities remains underexplored. Ethiopian-Israeli young adults face chronic stressors related to socioeconomic disadvantage, racialized discrimination, and complex identity negotiations, creating a distinctive context in which mindfulness...
Ashok Mahato, Ram Bilas Pachori, Vikram M. Gadre et al.
preprint
Mantra meditation (MM) is known to influence cognitive and emotional processes, and electroencephalogram (EEG) has been widely used to study meditation-related neural activity. However, automated identification of distinct auditory listening phases during MM remains challenging due to the non-stationary nature of EEG signals. This shows the need for physiologically interpretable analysis of...
Sucharit Katyal
preprint
Meditation training is proposed to enhance mental wellbeing by modulating neural activity, particularly alpha and theta brain oscillations, and autonomic activity. Though such enhancement also depends on the quality of meditation, little is known about how these neural and physiological changes relate to meditation quality. One model characterises meditation quality as five increasing levels of...
Ned Block
If consciousness depends on biology rather than computation, could machines ever truly feel—and might simple animals already do so?
Adam Safron
preprint
The Free Energy Principle and Active Inference Framework (FEP-AI) begins with the understanding that persisting systems must regulate environmental exchanges and prevent entropic accumulation. In FEP-AI, minds and brains are predictive controllers for autonomous systems, where action-driven perception is realized as probabilistic inference. Integrated Information Theory (IIT) begins with...