Brain–Heart Interactions in Novice Meditation Practitioners During Breath Focus and an Arithmetic Task

Self-regulation practices, such as meditation, have been shown to influence neural and cardiac activities, which are critical for managing stress and emotions. However, most research focuses on these physiological subsystems independently, overlooking their interactions. This study sought to address this gap by investigating the relationship between brain and heart dynamics during meditation and cognitive tasks in novice meditators, providing insights that could guide future interventions for emotion and stress regulation

Using recordings of electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG), we assessed transient relationships between the alpha neural band and heart rate during an arithmetic task and a breath-focused meditation in a sample of 20 young participants (10 women, age range 20–29 years) with no prior experience in meditation practices

In terms of the relationship between alpha frequency and heart rate, the arithmetic task exhibited cross-frequency ratios of smaller magnitude compared to the breath-focused meditation. Furthermore, during the arithmetic task, a higher incidence of the specific 8:1 cross-frequency relationship was evident, which is proposed to enable cross-frequency coupling among neural and cardiac rhythms during a state of heightened cognitive effort. Heart rate and alpha frequency were also significantly higher during the arithmetic task, compared to the breath-focused meditation condition. The changes in cross-frequency relationships were primarily driven by changes in heart rate between the two tasks, as indicated through surrogate data analyses.

Our results provide novel evidence that stress responses and physiological changes during meditation practices can be better characterized by integrating physiological markers and, more crucially, their interactions. Together, this physiologically integrative approach can aid in guiding interventions such as physiological modulation protocols (biofeedback and neurofeedback) for regulation of emotion and stress.

This study is not preregistered.