Skwara Alea C, King Brandon G, Zanesco Anthony P, Saron Clifford D
Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, 267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA 95616 USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL USA.
Mindfulness (N Y). 2022;13(10):2488-2506. doi: 10.1007/s12671-022-01974-9. Epub 2022 Sep 20.
A core assumption of meditation training is that cognitive capacities developed during formal practice will transfer to other contexts or activities as expertise develops over time. This implies that meditation training might influence domain-general neurocognitive systems, the spontaneous activity of which should be reflected in the dynamics of the resting brain. Previous research has demonstrated that 3 months of meditation training led to reductions in EEG beta band power during mindfulness of breathing practice. The current study extends these findings to ask whether concomitant shifts in power are observed during 2 min of eyes closed rest, when participants are not explicitly engaged in formal meditation.
Experienced meditation practitioners were randomly assigned to practice 3 months of focused attention meditation in a residential retreat, or to serve as waitlist controls. The waitlist controls later completed their own 3-month retreat. Permutation-based cluster analysis of 88-channel resting EEG data was used to test for spectral changes in spontaneous brain activity over the course of the retreats.
Longitudinal reductions in EEG power in the beta frequency range were identified and replicated across the two independent training periods. Less robust reductions were also observed in the high alpha frequency range, and in individual peak alpha frequency. These changes closely mirror those previously observed during formal mindfulness of breathing meditation practice.
These findings suggest that the neurocognitive effects of meditation training can extend beyond the bounds of formal practice, influencing the spontaneous activity of the resting brain. Rather than serving as an invariant baseline, resting states might carry meaningful training-related effects, blurring the line between state and trait change.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-022-01974-9.
冥想训练的一个核心假设是，随着专业技能随着时间的推移而发展，在正式练习中培养的认知能力将转移到其他情境或活动中。这意味着冥想训练可能会影响一般领域的神经认知系统，其自发活动应反映在静息大脑的动态变化中。先前的研究表明，3个月的冥想训练会导致在呼吸正念练习期间脑电图β波段功率降低。当前的研究扩展了这些发现，以探讨在参与者未明确进行正式冥想的2分钟闭眼休息期间，是否会观察到功率的相应变化。
有经验的冥想练习者被随机分配到在静修中心进行3个月的专注注意力冥想练习，或作为候补对照组。候补对照组随后完成了他们自己的3个月静修。使用基于排列的聚类分析对88通道静息脑电图数据进行分析，以测试静修期间自发脑活动的频谱变化。
在两个独立的训练期间，均识别并重复了脑电图β频率范围内功率的纵向降低。在高α频率范围以及个体峰值α频率中也观察到了不太明显的降低。这些变化与先前在正式的呼吸正念冥想练习中观察到的变化非常相似。
这些发现表明，冥想训练的神经认知效应可以超出正式练习的范围，影响静息大脑的自发活动。静息状态可能并非一成不变的基线，而是可能携带与训练相关的有意义的效应，从而模糊了状态变化和特质变化之间的界限。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s12671-022-01974-9获取的补充材料。
