Biological psychiatry global open science
July 1, 2025
Oussama Abdoun, Arnaud Poublan-Couzardot, Stéphane Offort et al.
5 citations
Most meditation research uses trait questionnaires that miss moment-to-moment changes during practice. The Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology (LAMP) questionnaire was developed to capture contextual, emotional, bodily, attentional, cognitive, and metacognitive dimensions of meditation. Fifty-three experienced meditators completed the LAMP after each session during a 10-day retreat. Over 60% of the assessed dimensions changed significantly over time, with distinct trajectories depending on meditation type (focused attention vs. open monitoring) and individual expertise. Three clusters of individual trajectories emerged, linked to prior experience and difficulties during the retreat. Findings on pain regulation were replicated and extended. This approach offers a rich, dynamic characterization of meditative experience.
PsyArXiv
September 30, 2025
Christopher Timmermann, Tommaso Barba, James Sanders et al.
preprint
In an advanced meditator and Lama from the Mahāmudrā tradition, nondual meditation and a low dose (5 mg) of 5-MeO-DMT both produced timelessness, reduced labeling of sensory content, and diminished narrative self and thoughts. Both states showed increased alpha power and decreased gamma power in the brain, with neural overlap driven by posterior and right frontal gamma reductions. Nondual meditation uniquely emphasized recognition of nonduality and clarity of mind, while low-dose 5-MeO-DMT was characterized by visual imagery. High-dose (12 mg) 5-MeO-DMT produced sensory disconnection, seeing a 'white-light', and broad increases in gamma power. The findings suggest two distinct routes to self-dissolution: a 'saturation' route with increased neural firing and entropy (high-dose 5-MeO) and a 'subtractive' route with reduced firing and entropy (nondual meditation and low-dose 5-MeO).
Oussama Abdoun, Arnaud Poublan-Couzardot, Stéphane Offort et al.
preprint
A new questionnaire, the Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology (LAMP), captures how meditation experiences change over time across seven domains: context, intention, emotion, body, attention, thought, and self-awareness. Fifty-three experienced meditators completed the LAMP after each session during a 10-day retreat. Over 60% of the measured dimensions changed significantly, with distinct patterns for focused attention versus open monitoring meditation and for meditators of different expertise levels. Three clusters of individual trajectories emerged, linked to prior experience and difficulties during the retreat. The approach also replicated and extended prior findings on pain regulation. The findings suggest that meditation experience is dynamic and multidimensional, and the LAMP may help deepen understanding of meditation's mechanisms.