Discipline of Psychological Medicine and Northern Clinical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
J Altern Complement Med. 2009 Nov;15(11):1187-92. doi: 10.1089/acm.2009.0113.
In recent years, there has been significant uptake of meditation and related relaxation techniques, as a means of alleviating stress and maintaining good health. Despite its popularity, little is known about the neural mechanisms by which meditation works, and there is a need for more rigorous investigations of the underlying neurobiology. Several electroencephalogram (EEG) studies have reported changes in spectral band frequencies during meditation inspired by techniques that focus on concentration, and in comparison much less has been reported on mindfulness and nondirective techniques that are proving to be just as popular.
The present study examined EEG changes during nondirective meditation. The investigational paradigm involved 20 minutes of acem meditation, where the subjects were asked to close their eyes and adopt their normal meditation technique, as well as a separate 20-minute quiet rest condition where the subjects were asked to close their eyes and sit quietly in a state of rest. Both conditions were completed in the same experimental session with a 15-minute break in between.
Significantly increased theta power was found for the meditation condition when averaged across all brain regions. On closer examination, it was found that theta was significantly greater in the frontal and temporal-central regions as compared to the posterior region. There was also a significant increase in alpha power in the meditation condition compared to the rest condition, when averaged across all brain regions, and it was found that alpha was significantly greater in the posterior region as compared to the frontal region.
These findings from this study suggest that nondirective meditation techniques alter theta and alpha EEG patterns significantly more than regular relaxation, in a manner that is perhaps similar to methods based on mindfulness or concentration.
近年来，人们越来越多地采用冥想和相关放松技术来缓解压力和保持健康。尽管它很受欢迎，但人们对冥想的神经机制知之甚少，需要更严格地研究其潜在的神经生物学。几项脑电图 (EEG) 研究报告了在专注技术启发下的冥想过程中频谱带频率的变化，而关于正念和非指导性技术的报道则要少得多，这些技术也被证明同样受欢迎。
本研究检查了非指导性冥想过程中的 EEG 变化。研究方案包括 20 分钟的 acem 冥想，要求受试者闭上眼睛，采用正常的冥想技巧，以及 20 分钟的单独安静休息条件，要求受试者闭上眼睛，安静地坐在休息状态。这两种条件在同一实验会话中完成，中间休息 15 分钟。
发现整个大脑区域的冥想条件下的θ功率显著增加。进一步研究发现，与后区相比，额区和颞中区的θ显著增加。与休息条件相比，整个大脑区域的冥想条件下的α功率也显著增加，并且发现与额区相比，后区的α显著增加。
本研究的这些发现表明，非指导性冥想技术比常规放松更能显著改变θ和α EEG 模式，其方式可能与基于正念或专注的方法相似。
