2 papers in the library · publishing 2021-2023
bioRxiv Preprint Server December 1, 2023 Anna Rusinova, Maria Volodina, Alexei Ossadtchi preprint
Meditation is widely used for well-being, but it is unclear how quickly physiological changes appear in non-devoted practitioners. This work asks whether changes during meditation can be observed and used with biofeedback or neurofeedback to improve training outcomes.
bioRxiv Preprint Server November 8, 2021 Maria Volodina, Nikolai Smetanin, Mikhail Lebedev et al. preprint
During guided Taoist meditation, experienced meditators split into two subgroups with distinct physiological patterns. One subgroup showed general relaxation, with changes in heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and EEG activity. The other subgroup exhibited mind concentration patterns visible in EEG but no autonomic responses. Neither the duration or type of prior meditation experience nor baseline indicators explained this split. These results suggest two distinct meditation strategies may be used by experienced meditators, partly explaining inconsistent findings in earlier studies.