Inducing a meditative state by artificial perturbations: A mechanistic understanding of brain dynamics underlying meditation.
Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) – January 01, 2024
Source: PubMed
Summary
Expert meditators exhibit unique brain dynamics during meditation compared to resting states, as revealed by advanced neuroimaging techniques. In a study involving 30 expert meditators and 30 control participants, a probabilistic metastable substate model highlighted distinct patterns of brain activity. The whole-brain modeling approach allowed for in silico perturbations, showing how localized stimulation can induce transitions between resting and meditative states. These findings underscore the potential of meditation not only for personal well-being but also as a therapeutic avenue for various brain disorders.
Abstract
Contemplative neuroscience has increasingly explored meditation using neuroimaging. However, the brain mechanisms underlying meditation remain elusive. Here, we implemented a mechanistic framework to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of expert meditators during meditation and rest, and controls during rest. We first applied a model-free approach by defining a probabilistic metastable substate (PMS) space for each condition, consisting of different probabilities of occurrence from a repertoire of dynamic patterns. Moreover, we implemented a model-based approach by adjusting the PMS of each condition to a whole-brain model, which enabled us to explore in silico perturbations to transition from resting-state to meditation and vice versa. Consequently, we assessed the sensitivity of different brain areas regarding their perturbability and their mechanistic local-global effects. Overall, our work reveals distinct whole-brain dynamics in meditation compared to rest, and how transitions can be induced with localized artificial perturbations. It motivates future work regarding meditation as a practice in health and as a potential therapy for brain disorders.