Review of the Neural Oscillations Underlying Meditation
Frontiers in Neuroscience March 26, 2018 Darrin J. Lee, Edwin Kulubya, Philippe R. Goldin et al. 256 citations
Different forms of meditation—focused attention, open-monitoring, transcendental, and loving-kindness—produce distinct patterns of brainwave activity. Meditators show greater overall oscillatory activity than meditation-naïve adults, with larger changes as training increases. Focused attention and open-monitoring both increase anterior theta activity, but only focused attention affects posterior theta. Alpha power rises in posterior regions during both practices; in anterior regions, focused attention bilaterally increases alpha, while open-monitoring decreases left-sided alpha. Gamma activity is similar in frontal areas across practices but varies in parietal and occipital regions. These distinct neural signatures may help explain the cognitive and therapeutic benefits of each practice and guide neuromodulation targets.