A Methodological Review of Meditation Research

After more than 50 years of research, no clear neurophysiological signatures have been found for states of consciousness induced by meditation practices. The failure is largely due to the narrow range of variables examined, with most studies focusing only on correlations between neurophysiological measures and specific practices while ignoring content and context. The authors argue that more meaningful results require expanding the methodological paradigm to include the cultural setting, the meditator's life situation, details of the practice, and the meditator's state of consciousness. Including all these domains will improve predictions of psychophysiological variables associated with specific meditation states and help explore the mysteries of human consciousness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Despite over 50 years of research into the states of consciousness induced by various meditation practices, no clear neurophysiological signatures of these states have been found. Much of this failure can be attributed to the narrow range of variables examined in most meditation studies, with the focus being restricted to a search for correlations between neurophysiological measures and particular practices, without documenting the content and context of these practices. We contend that more meaningful results can be obtained by expanding the methodological paradigm to include multiple domains including: the cultural setting ("the place"), the life situation of the meditator ("the person"), details of the particular meditation practice ('the practice'), and the state of consciousness of the meditator ("the phenomenology"). Inclusion of variables from all these domains will improve the ability to predict the psychophysiological variables ("the psychophysiology") associated with specific meditation states and thus explore the mysteries of human consciousness.