Donal G. Maccoon, Katherine A. Maclean, Richard Davidson et al.
9 citations
Eight weeks of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training did not improve sustained attention or visual discrimination more than an active control program (Health Enhancement Program) in a randomized trial with 63 community adults. The study had sufficient statistical power to show that the two groups did not differ in their improvement over time on a continuous performance task. One prediction about attentional fatigue was statistically significant but uninterpretable. Some evidence for improved visual discrimination partially replicated earlier findings. Attentional sensitivity appears unaffected by MBSR, but whether mindfulness might benefit vigilance remains unclear.
European Journal of Neuroscience
December 2, 2019
Constanza Baquedano, Vladimir Lopez, Diego Cosmelli et al.
8 citations
Dereification—viewing mental events as mere representations rather than accurate depictions of reality—is a core feature of mindfulness meditation, contrasted with subjective realism, where one becomes immersed in mental contents. This study examined how mindful versus immersed instructions affect approach-avoidance tendencies toward visual stimuli. Novices and experienced meditators viewed neutral and attractive food images under both states, then performed an approach-avoidance task with behavioral, salivary, EEG, and self-report measures. Approach bias toward attractive food correlated with N2 amplitude (response inhibition), and mindful instruction modulated this bias via N1 amplitude (early attention). Experienced meditators showed less late affective reappraisal during mindfulness, indicated by lower LPP amplitude. Findings suggest mechanisms by which mindfulness-based interventions may help psychiatric conditions.
January 24, 2019
Antoine Lutz, Jérémie Mattout, Giuseppe Pagnoni
7 citations
A predictive processing framework, grounded in active inference and free-energy minimization, can explain how focused attention meditation works. Paying voluntary attention to the body during meditation downweights habitual automatic reactions and distracting spontaneous thoughts, thereby settling the mind. The framework also links phenomenological concepts like opacity and de-reification to the voluntary allocation of attention and precision-weighting. The authors propose this theoretical approach as a promising strategy for contemplative research, though explicit computational simulations and comparisons with experimental data are still needed.
Lars Sandved-Smith, Juan Diego Bogotá, Jakob Hohwy et al.
7 citations
preprint
This paper extends the neurophenomenology program by using Bayesian mechanics, specifically deep parametric active inference, to show how first-person accounts of experience and third-person physiological data can mutually constrain each other. The dual information geometry of Bayesian mechanics establishes generative passages between lived experience and its physiological instantiation under certain conditions. The authors argue that shifting focus from the contents of experience to the activities of consciousness—the 'how' of experience—yields incremental epistemic gains. The resulting framework, deep computational neurophenomenology, gains explanatory power from disciplined circulation between perspectives, enabled by generative models that form beliefs about their own modeling parameters. Trained reflective awareness is essential for this approach.
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.
PloS one
January 1, 2023
Marco Schlosser, Olga M Klimecki, Fabienne Collette et al.
6 citations
An 18-month meditation training program for healthy older adults aged 65 to 84 improved a composite measure of well-being encompassing awareness, connection, and insight, compared to an active control of English language training. The meditation group also showed significant increases in psychological quality of life, awareness, insight, and the global score from the start to the end of the study. However, meditation did not outperform the active control on the Psychological Well-being Scale total score, and improvements in psychological quality of life were no longer significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons. The trial, involving 137 participants, represents the longest randomized meditation training study to date.
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.
Journal of Experimental Psychology General
February 22, 2024
Enrico Fucci, Oussama Abdoun, Constanza Baquedano et al.
5 citations
Compassion in Western psychology is described as being conditioned by cost-benefit appraisals, such as attributing responsibility for suffering, whereas Buddhist traditions maintain that compassion can become unconditioned and universal. This study tested whether expert Buddhist practitioners show compassion that is less influenced by moral judgments about the causes of suffering. Using self-report and behavioral data from both expert practitioners and trained novices, the researchers found that contextual information affected responsibility and blame attribution in both groups. However, experts reported higher willingness to help that was less influenced by context compared to novices.
bioRxiv Preprint Server
December 6, 2023
Sébastien Czajko, Jelle Zorn, Loïc Daumail et al.
5 citations
preprint
Short mindfulness-based interventions improve well-being, cognition, and clinical symptoms, but they are considered early steps on a longer transformative path that may produce lasting trait changes. Little is known about the brain correlates of these meditation traits.
October 17, 2024
Thomas Andrillon, Antoine Lutz, Jennifer Windt et al.
4 citations
preprint
Mind blanking (MB) refers to moments during wakefulness when people report no specific thoughts. This review maps MB by examining its reportable expressions, brain signatures, and links to meditative practices and sleep (white dreams). The authors propose a mechanistic account linking MB to changes at physiological, neural, and cognitive levels. They argue that ongoing experience varies in richness and that seemingly contentless events are distinct mental states with their own diversity, challenging the view of the mind as primarily content-oriented.
PsyArXiv
June 11, 2024
Antoine Lutz, Oussama Abdoun, Yair Dor-Ziderman et al.
4 citations
preprint
A review of recent advances in neurophenomenology, a research program that rigorously examines subjective experience using first-person methods inspired by phenomenology and contemplative practices. The review covers three areas: new multidimensional tools for capturing dynamic changes in consciousness during meditation; empirical studies using experienced meditators to deconstruct aversive and self-related processes, revealing markers for pain regulation, self-dissolution, and acceptance of mortality; and a deep computational neurophenomenology framework that uses deep parametric active inference to naturalize phenomenology. These innovations suggest that mutual constraints among phenomenological, computational, and neurophysiological domains can contribute to an integrated understanding of mental illness and its treatment.
Scientific Reports
May 2, 2024
Sucharit Katyal, Oussama Abdoun, Hugues Mounier et al.
4 citations
Long-term meditators in an open monitoring (OM) state show reduced automatic mental processing of objects that imply actions, compared to their baseline state. Novice meditators did not show this reduction. The study used EEG to measure µ-rhythm desynchronization, which correlated with how long objects were perceived. The findings suggest OM meditation can help decouple automatic cognitive processing of action-related mental content.
Sci Rep
November 27, 2024
Sacha Haudry, Anne-Laure Turpin, Brigitte Landeau et al.
3 citations
Expert meditators show preserved brain structure and better psycho-affective health compared to meditation-naive older adults, suggesting that long-term meditation practice may protect against age-related decline. The study examined older expert meditators and older meditation-naive participants, finding that the expert group had greater brain preservation and more favorable psycho-affective profiles. These results indicate that meditation could be a protective factor for brain and mental health in aging.
Sci Rep
November 27, 2024
Sacha Haudry, Anne-Laure Turpin, Brigitte Landeau et al.
3 citations
Expert meditators show preserved brain structure and better psycho-affective health compared to meditation-naive older adults, suggesting that long-term meditation practice may protect against age-related decline. The study examined older expert meditators and older meditation-naive participants, finding that the expert group had greater brain preservation and more favorable psycho-affective profiles. These results indicate that meditation could be a protective factor for brain and mental health in aging.
PsyArXiv
August 21, 2023
Yair Dor-Ziderman, Yoav Schweitzer, Ohad Nave et al.
3 citations
preprint
The brains of mindfulness meditators exhibit an acceptance of death that predicts positively-valenced meditative self-dissolution experiences.
December 9, 2022
Enrico Fucci, Oussama Abdoun, Constanza Baquedano et al.
3 citations
preprint
Compassion in Western psychology is thought to depend on cost-benefit appraisals, such as whether a person is blamed for their suffering. Buddhist traditions claim compassion can become unconditioned, free from moral judgment. This study tested expert Buddhist practitioners and trained novices using an experiment that manipulated contextual information to influence moral judgments about suffering scenarios. Context manipulation affected responsibility and blame attribution in both groups, but experts reported a higher willingness to help that was less influenced by context. Blame was negatively linked to willingness to help in novices but not in experts. The findings challenge the view that compassion is always conditioned by moral appraisals.
Scientific Reports
November 2, 2024
Marco Schlosser, Julie Gonneaud, Stefano Poletti et al.
2 citations
Older adults who spent more time practicing meditation perceived greater benefits from an 18-month meditation program. The study involved 90 healthy adults aged 65-84 years who were randomly assigned to either meditation training or a non-native language training. Higher levels of formal practice were associated with higher combined ratings of self- and teacher-perceived responsiveness across measures of connection, emotions, and meta-awareness during sessions and in daily life. Global responsiveness scores were not correlated with actual changes in well-being. The findings suggest that engagement, rather than baseline characteristics like personality or expectancy, predicts perceived response to meditation training.
April 8, 2024
Saampras Ganesan, Aki Tsuchiyagaito, Greg J. Siegle et al.
2 citations
preprint
Meditation practices, which have been adapted into manualized interventions for conditions like depression, pain, addiction, and anxiety, show therapeutic promise, but their neuroscientific basis remains unclear. Current neuroimaging studies rely on small, heterogeneous datasets that vary in practice types, participant experience, clinical targets, and imaging methods, limiting generalizability and replicability. To address this, the ENIGMA-Meditation consortium was formed as a global collaboration to conduct systematic meta- and mega-analyses of distributed neuroimaging data using standardized methods. This framework aims to improve statistical power and rigorously characterize the neural mechanisms underlying meditation's effects on psychological and cognitive attributes, advancing the field of contemplative neuroscience.
medRxiv
June 16, 2021
Tammi R. A. Kral, Kaley Davis, Cole Korponay et al.
2 citations
preprint
A large, rigorously controlled study combining data from two three-arm randomized controlled trials found no evidence that an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course produces changes in brain structure. Meditation-naive participants (218 total) were randomly assigned to a waitlist, an 8-week MBSR program, or a validated active control group. Structural MRI scans taken before and after the intervention showed no significant differences in gray matter volume, gray matter density, or cortical thickness between MBSR and either control group, at either the whole-brain level or in brain regions previously linked to MBSR. These results fail to replicate earlier, widely cited claims of MBSR-induced neuroplasticity.
April 13, 2021
Marco Schlosser, Thorsten Barnhofer, Florence Requier et al.
2 citations
A theory-based classification of meditation practices—attentional, constructive, and deconstructive—can guide the creation of composite scores from existing psychological questionnaires. In three samples (meditation-naïve older adults, meditation-naïve older adults with subjective cognitive decline, and long-term meditators with at least 10,000 hours of practice), these composite scores showed adequate psychometric properties, including low floor and ceiling effects, interpretability, and convergent validity with well-being, anxiety, and depression measures. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the predicted three-factor structure. The findings suggest that theoretical models of meditation mechanisms can yield empirically meaningful composite scores for research.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
July 3, 2026
Sébastien Czajko, Jelle Zorn, Oussama Abdoun et al.
Nondual meditation, specifically Open Presence (OP) practice, is associated with reduced bodily self susceptibility and increased large-scale integration of functional brain networks. Expert meditators with over 10,000 hours of practice showed lower global network eccentricity during OP compared to novices, particularly in dorsal attention, ventral attention, and frontoparietal networks, indicating greater integration. These neural patterns correlated positively with measures of bodily self illusion and negatively with cognitive defusion, a construct reflecting reduced self-grasping toward thoughts. The findings suggest that nondual awareness involves alterations in self-representation and large-scale functional brain integration.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
November 7, 2025
Arnaud Poublan-Couzardot, Alexandre Foncelle, Éric Koun et al.
Active inference theory holds that motor actions rely on suppressing prediction errors from the body to match expected movements. This study investigated whether experienced meditators show altered somatosensory attenuation during a force-matching task. At baseline, a general somatosensory attenuation effect was present and correlated negatively with trait mindfulness, as predicted. However, intensive meditation practice did not produce a global reduction in attenuation. Instead, control participants showed a regression-to-the-mean effect that increased with task repetition, while active participants maintained their baseline level, suggesting the retreat may have affected the formation of prior expectations about force intensity. The authors discuss multiple, possibly opposite effects of meditation on proprioceptive inference.
Scientific Reports
October 28, 2025
Sacha Haudry, Natacha Lambert, Christian Gaser et al.
Older adults with more than 20 years of meditation experience have a younger predicted brain age compared to cognitively unimpaired older adults without such expertise, as measured by a machine learning model trained on brain structure and metabolism data. The difference in brain age was linked to total meditation hours, mental imagery, and prosocialness. However, an 18-month meditation training program did not produce a significant effect on brain age, suggesting that long-term, sustained practice may be necessary to support healthy brain aging.
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).
Journal of sleep research
July 29, 2025
Pierre Champetier, Anaïs Hamel, Claire André et al.
Long-term meditation practice in older adults is linked to more preserved brain activity during rest and sleep, and to EEG features that suggest higher cognitive states during NREM sleep. Expert meditators (mean age 70.7 years) slept longer, had less stage N1 sleep, and more stage N2 sleep than controls. During NREM sleep, they showed reduced delta power, increased alpha power, and greater theta permutation entropy. During REM sleep, they tended to have greater theta power. Self-reported sleep quality did not differ between groups. Greater meditation expertise was associated with less stage N1 sleep and tended to correlate with more stage N2 and REM theta power.