{"id":67,"date":"2007-04-27T01:16:28","date_gmt":"2007-04-26T23:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/?page_id=67"},"modified":"2007-05-07T03:11:59","modified_gmt":"2007-05-07T01:11:59","slug":"eeg-and-autonomic-patterns-during-meditation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/scientific-research\/eeg-and-autonomic-patterns-during-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"EEG and Autonomic Patterns during Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><strong>Travis, F.T. &amp; Wallace R.K. (1999). EEG and Autonomic Patterns during Eyes-Closed Rest and Transcendental Meditation Practice: The Basis for a Neural Model of TM practice. <em>Consciousness and Cognition<\/em>, 8, 302-318.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p align=\"left\"><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this single-blind within-subject study, autonomic and EEG variables were compared during 10-minute, order-balanced eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation (TM) sessions. TM sessions was distinguished by:<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p>(1) lower breath rates,<br \/>\n(2) lower skin conductance levels,<br \/>\n(3) higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia levels, and<br \/>\n(4) higher alpha anterior-posterior and frontal EEG coherence.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p>Alpha power was not significantly different between conditions. These results were seen in the first minute and were maintained throughout the 10-minute sessions. TM practice appears to:<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p>(1) lead to a state fundamentally different than eyes-closed rest;<br \/>\n(2) result in a cascade of events in the central and autonomic nervous systems leading to a rapid change in state (within a minute) that was maintained throughout the TM session; and<br \/>\n(3) be best distinguished from other conditions through autonomic and EEG alpha coherence patterns rather than alpha power.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p>Two neural networks are suggested that may mediate these effects. The rapid shift in physiological functioning within the first minute might be mediated by a &#8220;neural switch&#8221; in prefrontal areas inhibiting activity in specific and non-specific thalamo-cortical circuits. The resulting &#8220;restfully alert&#8221; state might be sustained by a basal ganglia\/ corticothalamic threshold regulation mechanism automatically maintaining lower levels of cortical excitability.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/neural-model.pdf\" title=\"neural-model.pdf\"><u>Neural Model.pdf<\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Travis, F.T. &amp; Wallace R.K. (1999). EEG and Autonomic Patterns during Eyes-Closed Rest and Transcendental Meditation Practice: The Basis for a Neural Model of TM practice. Consciousness and Cognition, 8, 302-318. Abstract In this single-blind within-subject study, autonomic and EEG variables were compared during 10-minute, order-balanced eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation (TM) sessions. TM sessions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":88,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/67"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/67\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/88"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalbrain.ch\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}