Differential Effects of Meditation States on Neural Pain Processing in Novice and Long-Term Meditators
Mindfulness April 1, 2026 Vasil Kolev, Peter Malinowski, Antonino Raffone et al.
Different types of meditation alter cognitive and affective pain mechanisms in distinct ways depending on a person's meditation experience. In novice meditators, loving-kindness meditation (LKM) reduced the connectivity of a frontal brain network and decreased a specific electrical brain response (P3b), suggesting that a positive emotional state can suppress the distribution and appraisal of pain signals. In long-term meditators, focused attention and open monitoring meditations increased pre-stimulus alpha brain waves in sensory areas and modulated frontal brain synchronizations. Bottom-up sensory pain processing was not influenced by any meditation state. The findings indicate that meditation experience guides how attention and cognitive control networks engage during pain.