Frontiers in Psychology
January 28, 2021
Dylan Thomas Lott, Tenzin Yeshi, N. Norchung et al.
18 citations
Recent EEG studies on the early postmortem interval suggest the persistence of electrophysiological coherence and connectivity in the brain of animals and humans, reinforcing the need for further investigation of brain activity during the dying process. Under the direction of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, research was conducted in India on a postmortem meditative state (tukdam) cultivated by some Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, in which decomposition is putatively delayed. For healthy baseline and postmortem subjects, resting state EEG, mismatch negativity, and auditory brainstem response data were collected. Living subjects displayed well-defined MMN and ABR responses, but no recognizable EEG waveforms were discernable in any of the tukdam cases.
Journal of counseling psychology
March 1, 2024
Kevin M Riordan, Otto Simonsson, Corrina Frye et al.
12 citations
A two-week compassion-based meditation program delivered via the Healthy Minds Program app was tested in undergraduates with elevated depression or anxiety (N=351). Participants were randomly assigned to either one 20-minute meditation per day or two 10-minute meditations per day. Both groups showed improvements in psychological distress, experiential avoidance, fear of missing out, loneliness, and self-compassion from before to after the intervention, and daily distress and loneliness also improved over time. No significant differences were found between the two dosing schedules on any measure. When total daily meditation time is equal, distributing practice into shorter sessions does not affect outcomes for distressed beginners.
February 19, 2023
Kevin M. Riordan, Otto Simonsson, Corrina Frye et al.
2 citations
preprint
A two-week compassion-based meditation intervention delivered via the Healthy Minds Program app led to improvements in psychological distress, experiential avoidance, fear of missing out, loneliness, and self-compassion among undergraduates with clinically elevated depression and/or anxiety. Participants were randomized to either one 20-minute meditation per day (Massed condition) or two 10-minute meditations per day (Distributed condition). Both groups showed similar improvements, with no significant differences between conditions on any outcome. When total daily meditation time is held constant, distributing practice across the day does not appear to influence outcomes for distressed beginners, supporting flexibility in meditation scheduling.