Abstract
Objective: To determine whether emotional stability distinguishes how experienced and novice meditators react to visual stimuli. Design: Participants practiced concentrative meditation and then responded to visual stimuli while continuing to meditate. Participants: Ten experienced and 10 novice meditators responded to sequences of visual stimuli after concentrative meditation. Results: As predicted, both groups had increased parasympathetic activities during concentrative meditation. Experienced meditators had increased low-frequency electroencephalography (EEG) rhythms in response to visual stimulation, whereas novices had increased high-frequency EEG rhythms. Correlational analyses revealed that novice meditators changed from a meditative state to a nonrelaxed state when the visual stimuli were presented, whereas experienced meditators maintained the meditative state. Conclusion: The study provides evidence that regular concentrative meditation can improve emotional stability and that recording physiologic responses to visual stimuli can be a good method for identifying the effects of long-term concentrative meditation practice.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 31-39 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 Jan 1 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Complementary and alternative medicine