Tsai Jui-Feng, Jou Shaw-Hwa, Cho WenChun, Lin Chieh-Min
Department of Psychiatry, Taichung Branch, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, No 66, Sec 1, Fongsing Road, Tanzih District, Taichung, 427, Taiwan,
Cogn Process. 2013 Nov;14(4):371-6. doi: 10.1007/s10339-013-0563-3. Epub 2013 Apr 5.
Increased alpha and theta activities in electroencephalography (EEG) have been found during various forms of meditation. However, advanced stage of meditation drew less attention to date. We aimed at exploring EEG characteristics during advanced meditation. Bilateral absolute alpha and theta EEG powers were recorded when a single meditator at rest, exercising breath meditation, and reaching the advanced meditative stage in 10 sessions of meditation. Averaged time-series data were analyzed using simulation modeling analysis to compare the powers during different meditative phases. During breath meditation, significantly higher activities compared with baseline were found only in bilateral theta (P = 0.0406, 0.0158 for left and right sides, respectively), but not in alpha (P = 0.1412, 0.0978 for left and right sides, respectively) bands. When meditation advanced, significantly increased activities were found both in bilateral alpha (P = 0.0218, 0.0258 for left and right sides, respectively) and theta (P = 0.0308, 0.0260 for left and right sides, respectively) bands compared against breath meditation. When advanced meditation compared against baseline, bilateral alpha (P = 0.0001, 0.0001 for left and right sides, respectively) and theta (P = 0.0001, 0.0001 for left and right sides, respectively) bands revealed significantly increased activities. Our findings support that internalized attention manifested as theta activity continuingly enhances significantly in sequential phases of meditation, while relaxation manifested as alpha activity is significant only after the advanced meditative phase is reached.
在各种形式的冥想过程中，脑电图（EEG）中的α波和θ波活动增强已被发现。然而，迄今为止，高级冥想阶段较少受到关注。我们旨在探索高级冥想过程中的脑电图特征。在10次冥想过程中，当一名冥想者处于休息状态、进行呼吸冥想以及进入高级冥想阶段时，记录双侧绝对α波和θ波脑电图功率。使用模拟建模分析对平均时间序列数据进行分析，以比较不同冥想阶段的功率。在呼吸冥想期间，仅在双侧θ波中发现与基线相比活动显著更高（左侧P = 0.0406，右侧P = 0.0158），而在α波中未发现（左侧P = 0.1412，右侧P = 0.0978）。当冥想进入高级阶段时，与呼吸冥想相比，双侧α波（左侧P = 0.0218，右侧P = 0.0258）和θ波（左侧P = 0.0308，右侧P = 0.0260）的活动均显著增加。当将高级冥想与基线相比时，双侧α波（左侧P = 0.0001，右侧P = 0.0001）和θ波（左侧P = 0.0001，右侧P = 0.0001）的活动均显著增加。我们的研究结果支持，内化注意力表现为θ波活动在冥想的连续阶段持续显著增强，而表现为α波活动的放松仅在达到高级冥想阶段后才显著。
