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25-09-2020 | ORIGINAL PAPER

Meditators Exercise Better Endogenous and Exogenous Control of Visual Awareness

Auteurs: Narayanan Srinivasan, Shradhanjali Tripathi, Ishan Singhal

Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness | Uitgave 12/2020

Abstract

Objectives

Meditation practice has shown improvements in perception, attention, and cognitive control. Here, we study the extent of endogenous and exogenous control meditators have over their visual awareness, when they view a bi-stable image.

Methods

In experiment one, we investigate the differences between meditators and controls in terms of endogenous perceptual control, i.e., when they are instructed to speed up or slow down perceptual switches when viewing a Necker cube. In experiment two, we investigate how stimulus context and flankers (exogenous perceptual control) affect dwell times of visual percepts for meditators and non-meditators.

Results

Our results show that meditators (in comparison with controls) have longer dwell times in the neutral baseline condition. Meditators are also able to speed up and slow down the dwell times of their percepts more (relative to their baseline) than non-meditators. The dwell time distributions of meditators (mean, variance, and skewness) are also immune to flanker effects while viewing bi-stable images.

Conclusions

The results show that meditators have better endogenous (instruction driven) and exogenous (stimulus driven) control compared with non-meditators over the contents and properties of their perceptual experience. The control exhibited by meditators is critical for not only understanding the effects of meditation but points to the need for models of visual perception and cognitive control to incorporate those effects.

vorige artikel Mindfulness Training is Associated with Changes in Alpha-Theta Cross-Frequency Dynamics During Meditation

volgende artikel Early Buddhist Oral Transmission and the Problem of Accurate Source Monitoring

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Titel: Meditators Exercise Better Endogenous and Exogenous Control of Visual Awareness
Auteurs: Narayanan Srinivasan
Shradhanjali Tripathi
Ishan Singhal
Publicatiedatum: 25-09-2020
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness / Uitgave 12/2020
Print ISSN: 1868-8527
Elektronisch ISSN: 1868-8535
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01496-2

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