A study conducted back in 2004 on a group of long term Buddhist meditators yielded a few interesting findings regarding neurological activity and adaptation within the brain. The study compared 8 long term meditators to 10 beginner meditators with only 1 weeks training in the technique, an objectless meditation technique aimed at developing 'unconditional loving-kindness and compassion'.
There were 2 significant findings in the study. The first was that the levels of high-amplitude gamma wave activity of the monks during meditation were the highest non pathological levels ever recorded. They also exhibited higher pre- and post-meditative levels of gamma wave activity. Gamma waves have been associated with the waking state of the brain and conscious awareness, and so these levels of activity and amplitude can only seem to be associated with higher states of awareness. This is a rudimentary extrapolation, but based on the very little we actually know about such things this would definitely seem to be the case. Second was the long distance phase synchrony that was present in the monks during meditation. The role of general synchronicity of oscillatory neural discharges has been linked to the constitution of transient neural networks that integrate distributed neural processes into highly ordered cognitive and effective functions. This, through simple extrapolation once again, appears to be related to an increase in cognitive capacity and function.
Clearly these are exciting findings irrespective of how incapable we still are of understanding such things. Brain activity that we associate with incredibly critical aspects of our consciousness are clearly malleable and are thus improved through the practice of meditation. The levels of adaptation then found in the monks suggest that we all have significant potential to improve.
The journey to scientifically understand meditation is young yet many positive things have already been found. We will make sure that you are kept in the loop so make sure to keep an eye out for future articles if you curious to understand this mystical phenomenon.
If you wish to read more on this paper, it can be found on PubMed over here.
There were 2 significant findings in the study. The first was that the levels of high-amplitude gamma wave activity of the monks during meditation were the highest non pathological levels ever recorded. They also exhibited higher pre- and post-meditative levels of gamma wave activity. Gamma waves have been associated with the waking state of the brain and conscious awareness, and so these levels of activity and amplitude can only seem to be associated with higher states of awareness. This is a rudimentary extrapolation, but based on the very little we actually know about such things this would definitely seem to be the case. Second was the long distance phase synchrony that was present in the monks during meditation. The role of general synchronicity of oscillatory neural discharges has been linked to the constitution of transient neural networks that integrate distributed neural processes into highly ordered cognitive and effective functions. This, through simple extrapolation once again, appears to be related to an increase in cognitive capacity and function.
Clearly these are exciting findings irrespective of how incapable we still are of understanding such things. Brain activity that we associate with incredibly critical aspects of our consciousness are clearly malleable and are thus improved through the practice of meditation. The levels of adaptation then found in the monks suggest that we all have significant potential to improve.
The journey to scientifically understand meditation is young yet many positive things have already been found. We will make sure that you are kept in the loop so make sure to keep an eye out for future articles if you curious to understand this mystical phenomenon.
If you wish to read more on this paper, it can be found on PubMed over here.
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