Cortical and autonomic responses during staged Taoist meditation: Two distinct meditation strategies

Plos One. 2021. Vol. 16. No. 12. Article e0260626.

Volodina M., Smetanin N., Lebedev M., Ossadtchi A.

Meditation is a consciousness state associated with specific physiological and neural correlates.
Numerous investigations of these correlates reported controversial results which prevented
a consistent depiction of the underlying neurophysiological processes. Here we
investigated the dynamics of multiple neurophysiological indicators during a staged meditation
session. We measured the physiological changes at rest and during the guided Taoist
meditation in experienced meditators and naive subjects. We recorded EEG, respiration,
galvanic skin response, and photoplethysmography. All subjects followed the same instructions
split into 16 stages. In the experienced meditators group we identified two subgroups
with different physiological markers dynamics. One subgroup showed several signs of general
relaxation evident from the changes in heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and EEG
rhythmic activity. The other subgroup exhibited mind concentration patterns primarily noticeable
in the EEG recordings while no autonomic responses occurred. The duration and type
of previous meditation experience or any baseline indicators we measured did not explain
the segregation of the meditators into these two groups. These results suggest that two distinct
meditation strategies could be used by experienced meditators, which partly explains
the inconsistent results reported in the earlier studies evaluating meditation effects. Our findings
are also relevant to the development of the high-end biofeedback systems.

Keywords: EEG, Biofeedback

Publication based on the results of: Двунаправленные электрокортикографические интерфейсы мозг-компьютер для управления, стимуляции и коммуникации (2020)