Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2012
Douglas Roberts-Wolfe, Matthew D Sacchet, Elizabeth Hastings et al.
79 citations
A 12-week mindfulness course increased recall of positive words and improved psychological well-being in university students compared to an active control (music) course. Greater positive word recall was linked to higher well-being and lower depression and anxiety. Mindfulness training may enhance well-being by altering how emotional information is processed, though self-selection could have influenced results.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2021
Terje Sparby, Matthew D Sacchet
68 citations
Classifying meditation techniques is crucial for research but faces fundamental challenges. This paper describes problems in defining meditation and suggests an integrated model. Drawing on classical, contemporary, and holistic systems, it proposes that all meditation techniques involve a specific set of activities: focusing, releasing, imagining, and moving in relation to an object of meditation or fields of experience. These activities can be combined and unified into observing, producing, and being aware, and all are unified in awareness of awareness. Defining specific techniques involves specifying which activities and objects are involved. This approach can account for the inner workings of existing classification systems, laying a foundation for an overarching system to guide future research and practice.
Progress in brain research
January 1, 2023
Ruben E Laukkonen, Matthew D Sacchet, Henk Barendregt et al.
56 citations
Meditation practitioners report being able to induce a total absence of consciousness lasting up to seven days, known as cessation or nirodha samāpatti. Unlike sleep, individuals in this state cannot be woken by external stimulation, experience no sense of time or tiredness, and have a stiff rather than relaxed body. Emerging from cessation is said to produce profound effects such as sudden clarity, openness, and insights. This paper outlines the historical context, presents preliminary data from two labs, sets a research agenda, and provides an initial framework for understanding these experiences. It integrates classical Buddhist concepts of nirodha and nirodha samāpatti into current cognitive-neurocomputational and active inference frameworks of meditation.
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
January 14, 2024
Winson Fu Zun Yang, Avijit Chowdhury, Marta Bianciardi et al.
41 citations
Jhanas are profound meditative states that can deconstruct ordinary consciousness, according to a case study of an adept meditator. Using 4 hours of 7T fMRI data collected across 27 sessions, the study identified distinctive brain activity patterns in cortical, subcortical, brainstem, and cerebellar regions during jhana meditation. Correlations between brain activity and phenomenological qualities of attention, jhanic qualities, and narrative processing showed that jhanas differ from non-meditative states. The findings suggest jhana practice offers unique insights into consciousness and potential benefits for mental health and well-being.
Journal of cognitive neuroscience
November 1, 2024
Isaac N Treves, Kannammai Pichappan, Jude Hammoud et al.
35 citations
Greater trait mindfulness, measured by self-report scales, is consistently linked with reduced amygdala reactivity to emotional stimuli, increased cortical thickness in frontal and insular regions, and decreased connectivity within the default-mode network, converging with findings from intervention studies and mindfulness experts. However, associations with EEG metrics and between-network resting-state fMRI remain inconclusive. The authors recommend larger samples, multivariate approaches, and careful reliability testing, urging a move away from simplistic explanations of mindfulness and brain function.
Brain topography
September 1, 2024
Remko Van Lutterveld, Avijit Chowdhury, Daniel M Ingram et al.
29 citations
A single advanced meditator with over 6,000 hours of retreat mindfulness training experienced 37 cessation events—dramatic moments of profound clarity and equanimity involving a complete break in experience—while EEG was recorded. From 21 seconds before each cessation, whole-brain functional connectivity in the alpha band decreased linearly, then returned to prior levels over the 40 seconds following. The decrease was driven by frontal-to-left-temporal and posterior connections, while the recovery involved widespread increases. No change in network integration was observed. These findings provide neuroscientific evidence of large-scale brain modulation during cessation events, laying groundwork for future studies of advanced meditation.
Human brain mapping
May 1, 2024
Saampras Ganesan, Winson F Z Yang, Avijit Chowdhury et al.
23 citations
In an adept practitioner performing jhana meditation over 5 days inside a 7 Tesla MRI scanner (27 runs), the thalamus and several cortical networks—somatomotor, limbic, default-mode, control, and temporo-parietal—showed good within-subject reliability across all jhanas. When fMRI measurements were adjusted for variability in self-reported phenomenology, other networks such as attention and salience showed noticeable increases in reliability. The findings provide a preliminary template of reliable brain areas likely underpinning core neurocognitive elements of jhana meditation and highlight the value of neurophenomenological designs for characterizing neuronal variability in advanced meditative states.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
June 1, 2025
Idil Sezer, Matthew D Sacchet
14 citations
Long-term meditators provide a way to study how extensive meditation training affects the autonomic nervous system. Research has described a state of 'relaxed alertness' with both sympathetic and parasympathetic activation, but findings vary widely, showing either branch alone, both, or shifting patterns. This review synthesizes these inconsistent results by considering three factors: the specific style of meditation, the meditator's expertise level, and within-practice variations. Accounting for these factors reveals consistent patterns, shifting from 'long-term' to a more precise 'advanced' meditation concept that highlights skills and stages. Specific heart rate variability patterns, including very low and low-frequency spectral power peaks and cardiac-respiratory coupling, emerge, which can inform improved meditation training.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
April 1, 2025
Ruchika S Prakash, Anita Shankar, Vaibhav Tripathi et al.
13 citations
Network neuroscience examines brain organization by mapping connections between its elements. This review describes how mindfulness meditation may alter structural and functional brain networks. Although evidence is preliminary, studies suggest mindfulness shifts connector hubs—the anterior cingulate cortex, thalamus, and mid-insula—and reduces intraconnectivity within the default mode network. Global connectivity findings are mixed. The authors call for rigorous study designs, open science, and diverse samples to better understand mindfulness's impact on brain networks.
Scientific reports
February 19, 2024
Rosalind G McAlpine, Matthew D Sacchet, Otto Simonsson et al.
13 citations
A 21-day self-directed digital course (DIPP) was co-designed to improve psychedelic preparation. The intervention, built on a four-factor model of psychedelic preparedness, was developed through two mixed-methods studies: interviews with 19 past high-dose psilocybin retreat attendees and co-design workshops with 28 current retreat participants. The course includes daily meditation, weekly module exercises, and mood tracking. The authors suggest DIPP offers a scalable, comprehensive tool to enhance safety and therapeutic benefits by addressing knowledge, psychophysical readiness, safety planning, and intention.
NeuroImage
January 1, 2025
Winson F Z Yang, Avijit Chowdhury, Terje Sparby et al.
12 citations
The stages of insight (SoI) are a series of psychological realizations experienced during advanced investigative insight meditation (AIIM). In a case study of one adept meditator who underwent 4 hours of 7T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) across 26 runs with concurrent phenomenological reports, distinct whole-brain activity patterns were identified for specific SoI, differing from non-meditative control states. SoI consistently deactivated brain regions involved in self-related processing, such as the medial prefrontal cortex and temporal poles, while activating areas linked to awareness and perception, including parietal and visual cortices, caudate, brainstem nuclei, and cerebellum. Patterns of brain activity related to affective processing and SoI phenomenology were also observed. This provides the first neurophenomenological evidence that SoI shifts and deconstructs self-related perception and conceptualization, increasing general awareness and perceptual sensitivity.
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
February 5, 2025
Ruby M Potash, Winson F Z Yang, Brian Winston et al.
11 citations
Advanced concentrative absorption meditation produces distinct, distributed brain-wide activity patterns that differ from ordinary consciousness, as shown by ultrahigh-field 7T fMRI in a single expert meditator. Using geometric eigenmode decomposition, the study found elevated global brain state power and energy during meditation compared to control tasks, with mid-frequency brain state power and energy following a non-random, cubic trajectory across the meditation sequence. These brain state differences correlated with subjective reports of attention, meditation quality, and sensations. The findings reveal similarities and differences between advanced meditation and psychedelic-induced states, offering insights into refined conscious states and their implications for well-being.
Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)
January 1, 2025
Sebastian Ehmann, Idil Sezer, Isaac N Treves et al.
9 citations
Long-term meditators show a distinct pattern of cognitive and neural changes from prolonged mindfulness practice, including enhanced sensory integration, reduced negative emotional responses to pain, more rational decision-making, and altered self-awareness. Neuroimaging reveals increased activation in brain networks linked to interoception and pain (salience network), reduced connectivity between executive and salience networks, diminished fear and amygdala activation, and altered default-mode network activity associated with emotional neutrality and non-ordinary states of consciousness. Methodological limitations prevent firm conclusions about lasting trait effects, and a unified neurophenomenological framework is needed to systematically study advanced meditation's states and stages.
Journal of cognitive neuroscience
May 14, 2025
Ruby M Potash, Sean D van Mil, Mar Estarellas et al.
7 citations
During an advanced concentrative absorption meditation called jhana, characterized by highly stable attention and mental absorption, the brain's nonoscillatory dynamics—captured by nonlinear connectivity metrics—distinguish the meditative state better than oscillatory synchrony. Combining attention-related phenomenological ratings with these nonlinear metrics improves the detection of the meditative state compared to using neural data alone. Deeper absorption states show an equalization of feedback and feedforward processes, suggesting a balance between internally and externally driven information processing. The findings, based on EEG recordings from a single meditator with over 20,000 hours of practice across 29 sessions, offer initial insights into the distinct neural dynamics of refined conscious states.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
April 1, 2025
Saampras Ganesan, Fernando A Barrios, Ishaan Batta et al.
6 citations
Meditation practices, which have shown therapeutic benefits for conditions like depression, pain, addiction, and anxiety, have been studied with neuroimaging over the past decade. However, existing neuroscientific models are based on small, heterogeneous datasets, limiting generalizability and replicability. The ENIGMA-Meditation consortium is the first worldwide collaborative effort to conduct systematic meta- and mega-analyses of globally distributed neuroimaging data using standardized methods. This framework aims to improve statistical power and address multidomain heterogeneity in meditation practice types, experience, and experimental design. The consortium will generate rigorous neuroscientific insights into the mechanisms underlying meditation's therapeutic effects on psychological and cognitive attributes.
Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)
January 1, 2025
Isaac N Treves, Winson F Z Yang, Terje Sparby et al.
6 citations
Advanced meditation involves states and stages that develop with experience. A case study using 7-T fMRI and dynamic functional connectivity analysis of a meditator practicing jhāna advanced absorptive concentration meditation (ACAM-J) identified three distinct brain states: a default-mode network (DMN)-anticorrelated state, a hyperconnected state, and a sparsely connected state. The DMN-anticorrelated state was more prevalent during ACAM-J than control conditions and increased with deeper meditation. The hyperconnected state, marked by elevated thalamocortical and somatomotor connectivity, was also more common during ACAM-J but decreased over the session, corresponding to reports of wider attention and reduced physical sensations. This suggests that functional neuroimaging can track the dynamics of altered states of consciousness in advanced meditators.
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
April 1, 2025
Umay Demir, Winson Fu Zun Yang, Matthew D Sacchet
5 citations
Advanced concentrative absorption meditation known as jhana (ACAM-J) disrupts the brain's typical hierarchical organization, shifting functional gradients toward a more globally integrated state between sensory and higher-order cognitive regions. It also increases differentiation between sensory-related and attention modulation-related areas, consistent with meditators' subjective reports. These findings come from an intensive case study using nonlinear dimensionality reduction of functional neuroimaging data, analyzed with linear mixed models and correlations. The work highlights the need for further research on brain reorganization and health implications of both short-term and long-term ACAM-J practice.
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
January 1, 2024
Marjorie Woollacott, Justin Riddle, Niffe Hermansson et al.
5 citations
An intensive meditation practice called Fire Kasina can induce mystical experiences comparable to those produced by high-dose psychedelics. Six individuals completed a retreat and reported experiences they described as the most intense of their lives. Mean scores on the Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire reached 85%, similar to prior observations with high-dose psilocybin and stronger than moderate-dose psilocybin. Scores on the Hood Mystical Experience Scale averaged 93%, exceeding levels reported for near-death experiences (74%) and high-dose psilocybin (77%). Participants also described substantial shifts in worldview following the retreat.
Brain imaging and behavior
April 1, 2025
Jovan Jande, Isaac N Treves, Samantha L Ely et al.
4 citations
A systematic narrative review of neuroimaging studies on mindfulness-based interventions in youth (ages 5–18) found that such interventions may alter brain connectivity and activity. Analyzing 13 studies with 467 participants, most used a pre-post design with resting-state fMRI. Consistent patterns included increased functional connectivity within and between the salience, frontoparietal, and default mode networks, enhancements in white matter microstructure, and decreased default mode network activation with heightened salience network reactivity during mindfulness practice. These changes may support self-regulation and cognitive control, but methodological variability and small sample sizes limit generalizability.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
March 1, 2026
Hagar Tal, Malcolm Wright, Shawn Prest et al.
2 citations
Computational models of advanced meditation, particularly those using Active Inference, increasingly point to precision weighting—the confidence assigned to different model parameters—as a shared mechanism that shapes shifts in experience. Early models emphasize top-down attentional modulation toward interoception or specific objects, while later models focus on layer-specific precision re-weighting within the meditator's hierarchical generative model to target more specific phenomenology. Despite progress, minimal phenomenal experiences such as nonduality and cessations remain largely unaddressed. Few models account for increased cognitive flexibility or learning from meditation, and mechanisms behind informal practice, affective processes, and compassion traditions are underexplored.
NeuroImage
November 19, 2025
Sebastian Ehmann, Idil Sezer, Arielle S Keller et al.
2 citations
Attention regulation is a core mechanism of mindfulness meditation. Long-term meditation enhances trait-level improvements in executive attention, sustained attention, orienting, and reduces the attentional blink. Preliminary evidence also shows improvements in response inhibition, alertness, and less mind-wandering. Alertness benefits most from long-term and intensive practice. Attention-based techniques outperform non-attention-based ones, while observe-and-release techniques aid orienting and detection of closely spaced stimuli. These findings suggest that meditation enhances attention according to training specificity, but meditative development is non-linear and multidimensional, requiring balanced cultivation of multiple faculties. Methodological limitations, such as heterogeneous designs and insufficient state-trait differentiation, complicate interpretations.
Frontiers in psychiatry
January 1, 2025
Kaveh Rayani, Andrea Grabovac, Peter Chan et al.
2 citations
In a pilot trial, 31 adults with PTSD received either real or sham repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Mindfulness scores, measured by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, did not improve significantly immediately after treatment when corrected for multiple comparisons. However, by three months after treatment, those who received real rTMS showed significant gains in total mindfulness and nonreactivity. The delayed improvement suggests the benefits of rTMS on dispositional mindfulness may take time to emerge. The findings indicate that brain stimulation might eventually help reduce PTSD-related suffering by boosting mindfulness.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
August 1, 2026
Clarita Bonamino, Clara Hausen, Matthew D Sacchet
Consciousness can persist, transform, and dissolve across wakefulness, sleep, and advanced meditation. An interdisciplinary perspective reveals converging phenomena that challenge binary accounts of consciousness and highlight its graded, dynamic, and trainable nature. The interface of advanced meditation, sleep, and consciousness science constitutes a promising frontier for understanding the structure, dynamics, and limits of conscious experience. Advanced meditation offers cultivable means for modulating these dimensions, while sleep provides recurring biological states in which awareness, experiential content, embodiment, and sensory input coupling systematically dissociate. Evidence from these domains highlights states such as deep absorption meditation, cessations, lucid dreaming, sleep-wake transitions, and clear light sleep that challenge binary distinctions between consciousness and unconsciousness. An integrated, mixed-methods perspective enables a more nuanced examination of graded and minimal forms of conscious experience.
BMJ open
March 12, 2026
Rosalind McAlpine, Magdalena Jaglinska, Krisztina Jedlovszky et al.
A 21-day mobile-accessible programme called the Digital Intervention for Psychedelic Preparation (DIPP) is being tested for feasibility and preliminary efficacy in a randomised controlled trial. The study will recruit 40 non-treatment-seeking adults without a clinical diagnosis, randomly assigning them to either a guided meditation with music condition or a music-only condition. After the digital intervention, all participants will attend an in-person supervised psilocybin session with a standardised 25 mg dose. Primary outcomes include recruitment efficiency, retention, and adherence; secondary outcomes assess preparedness, quality of the psychedelic experience, and wellbeing, with follow-ups up to 9 months. The trial is registered as NCT06815653.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
January 13, 2026
Caitlin Baten, Gladys Zamora, Amanda M Klassen et al.
A meta-analysis of 135 fMRI studies involving 6,391 participants found that youth and adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) show different patterns of brain activation during tasks. Compared to adults with MDD, youth with MDD had distinct activation differences in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). After controlling for illness duration, youth showed less activation than adults with shorter-duration MDD in regions like the sgACC. Among adults, those with longer-duration MDD showed less activation in the dlPFC compared to those with shorter-duration MDD. These results suggest that both age and length of illness matter for understanding brain changes in depression.