From many to (n)one: Meditation and the plasticity of the predictive mind
Ruben Eero Laukkonen, Heleen A Slagter
PsyArXiv November 17, 2020 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/5sw6m
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA unifying account of deconstructive meditation under the predictive processing view is offered. The brain makes predictions based on past experience, and deconstructive meditation disengages anticipatory processes, gradually reducing counterfactual temporally deep cognition until all conceptual processing falls away, unveiling a state of pure awareness. Three main styles of meditation (focused attention, open monitoring, and non-dual) are placed on a single continuum, where each technique relinquishes increasingly engrained habits of prediction, including the predicted self. This deconstruction can permit certain insights by making these processes available to introspection. The framework is consistent with empirical and (neuro)phenomenological evidence and illuminates the top-down plasticity of the predictive mind.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Interventions | open monitoring non-dual) |
| Citations | 17 |
| Key finding | Deconstructive meditation reduces counterfactual temporally deep cognition by disengaging predictive processes, ultimately unveiling a state of pure awareness, and three meditation styles form a continuum of relinquishing increasingly engrained predictive habits, including the self. |
Abstract
How profoundly can humans change their own minds? In this paper we offer a unifying account of deconstructive meditation under the predictive processing view. We start from simple axioms. First, the brain makes predictions based on past experience, both phylogenetic and ontogenetic. Second, deconstructive meditation brings one closer to the here and now by disengaging anticipatory processes. We propose that practicing meditation therefore gradually reduces counterfactual temporally deep cognition, until all conceptual processing falls away, unveiling a state of pure awareness. Our account also places three main styles of meditation (focused attention, open monitoring, and non-dual) on a single continuum, where each technique relinquishes increasingly engrained habits of prediction, including the predicted self. This deconstruction can also permit certain insights by making the above processes available to introspection. Our framework is consistent with the state of empirical and (neuro)phenomenological evidence and illuminates the top-down plasticity of the predictive mind. Experimental rigor, neurophenomenology, and no-report paradigms are needed to further understanding of how meditation affects predictive processing and the self.