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Electroencephalography when meditation advances: a case-based time-series analysis

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Abstract

Increased alpha and theta activities in electroencephalography (EEG) have been found during various forms of meditation. However, advanced stage of meditation drew less attention to date. We aimed at exploring EEG characteristics during advanced meditation. Bilateral absolute alpha and theta EEG powers were recorded when a single meditator at rest, exercising breath meditation, and reaching the advanced meditative stage in 10 sessions of meditation. Averaged time-series data were analyzed using simulation modeling analysis to compare the powers during different meditative phases. During breath meditation, significantly higher activities compared with baseline were found only in bilateral theta (P = 0.0406, 0.0158 for left and right sides, respectively), but not in alpha (P = 0.1412, 0.0978 for left and right sides, respectively) bands. When meditation advanced, significantly increased activities were found both in bilateral alpha (P = 0.0218, 0.0258 for left and right sides, respectively) and theta (P = 0.0308, 0.0260 for left and right sides, respectively) bands compared against breath meditation. When advanced meditation compared against baseline, bilateral alpha (P = 0.0001, 0.0001 for left and right sides, respectively) and theta (P = 0.0001, 0.0001 for left and right sides, respectively) bands revealed significantly increased activities. Our findings support that internalized attention manifested as theta activity continuingly enhances significantly in sequential phases of meditation, while relaxation manifested as alpha activity is significant only after the advanced meditative phase is reached.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Tsai would like to thank Brojaw Inc., Taichung branch, Taiwan for the technical assistance in measuring chest circumference.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Taichung Branch, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, No 66, Sec 1, Fongsing Road, Tanzih District, Taichung, 427, Taiwan

    Jui-Feng Tsai, Shaw-Hwa Jou & Chieh-Min Lin

  2. Department of Medicine, Buddhist Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan

    Shaw-Hwa Jou

  3. Graduate Institute of Counseling Psychology & Rehabilitation Counseling, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    WenChun Cho

Authors
  1. Jui-Feng Tsai
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  2. Shaw-Hwa Jou
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  3. WenChun Cho
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  4. Chieh-Min Lin
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Correspondence to Jui-Feng Tsai.

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Jui-Feng Tsai and Shaw-Hwa Jou equally contributed to this work.

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Tsai, JF., Jou, SH., Cho, W. et al. Electroencephalography when meditation advances: a case-based time-series analysis. Cogn Process 14, 371–376 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-013-0563-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-013-0563-3

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