Open monitoring meditation alters the EEG gamma coherence in experts meditators: The expert practice exhibit greater right intra-hemispheric functional coupling

Guaraci Ken Tanaka; Tamara A Russell; Juliana Bittencourt; Victor Marinho; Silmar Teixeira; Victor Hugo Bastos; Mariana Gongora; Maria Ramim; Henning Budde; Danielle Aprigio; Luís Fernando Basile; Mauricio Cagy; Pedro Ribeiro; Daya S Gupta; Bruna Velasques

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2022.103354

Open monitoring meditation alters the EEG gamma coherence in experts meditators: The expert practice exhibit greater right intra-hemispheric functional coupling

Conscious Cogn. 2022 Jul:102:103354. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103354. Epub 2022 May 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Brain Mapping and Sensory Motor Integration Laboratory, Institute of Psychiatry of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Institute of Applied Neuroscience, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Mente Aberta, Brazilian Center for Mindfulness and Health Promotion, Federal University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
² Neuroimaging Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience of King's College, London, UK.
³ Institute of Applied Neuroscience, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Veiga de Almeida University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁴ Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Delta do Parnaíba, Parnaíba, Brazil. Electronic address: victormarinhophb@hotmail.com.
⁵ Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Delta do Parnaíba, Parnaíba, Brazil.
⁶ Brain Mapping and Functionality Laboratory, Federal University of Delta do Parnaíba, Brazil.
⁷ Brain Mapping and Sensory Motor Integration Laboratory, Institute of Psychiatry of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁸ Brain Mapping and Sensory Motor Integration Laboratory, Institute of Psychiatry of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Institute of Applied Neuroscience, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁹ Faculty of Human Sciences, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
¹⁰ Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Faculdade da Saúde - UMESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
¹¹ Biomedical Engineering Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹² Brain Mapping and Sensory Motor Integration Laboratory, Institute of Psychiatry of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Institute of Applied Neuroscience, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Bioscience Department, School of Physical Education of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹³ College of Science and Humanities, College of Health and Pharmacy, Husson University, Bangor, USA.

PMID: 35636352
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103354

Abstract

Aim: This study investigated the differences in frontoparietal EEG gamma coherence between expert meditators (EM) and naïve meditators (NM).

Material and methods: This is a cross-sectional study with a sample of twenty-one healthy adults divided under two groups (experts meditators vs. naive-meditators), with analyzing the intra-hemispheric coherence of frontoparietal gamma oscillations by electroencephalography during the study steps: EEG resting-state 1, during the open presence meditation practice, and EEG resting-state 2.

Results: The findings demonstrated greater frontoparietal EEG coherence in gamma for experts meditators in the Fp1-P3, F4-P4, F8-P4 electrode pairs during rest 1 and rest 2 (p ≤ 0.0083). In addition, we evidenced differences in the frontoparietal EEG coherence for expert meditators in F4-P4, F8-P4 during the meditation (p ≤ 0.0083).

Conclusion: Our results can support evidence that the connectivity of the right frontoparietal network acts as a biomarker of the enhanced Open monitoring meditation training.

Keywords: EEG gamma coherence; Fronto-parietal neuronal network; Meditation; Open monitoring meditation.

MeSH terms

Adult
Cross-Sectional Studies
Electroencephalography
Humans
Meditation*
Rest