Case Study of Ecstatic Meditation: fMRI and EEG Evidence of Self-Stimulating a Reward System

The first neural recordings during the ecstatic meditative states called jhanas show that the extreme joy reported by an experienced meditator is associated with activation of the nucleus accumbens in the brain's dopamine/opioid reward system, along with changes in 10 other brain regions. These brain changes occurred promptly after entering jhana. The findings demonstrate an apparently novel method of self-stimulating a brain reward system using only internal mental processes, as three possible external mechanisms were tested and rejected.

Study at a glance

Abstract

We report the first neural recording during ecstatic meditations called jhanas and test whether a brain reward system plays a role in the joy reported. Jhanas are Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) that imply major brain changes based on subjective reports: (1) external awareness dims, (2) internal verbalizations fade, (3) the sense of personal boundaries is altered, (4) attention is highly focused on the object of meditation, and (5) joy increases to high levels. The fMRI and EEG results from an experienced meditator show changes in brain activity in 11 regions shown to be associated with the subjective reports, and these changes occur promptly after jhana is entered. In particular, the extreme joy is associated not only with activation of cortical processes but also with activation of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the dopamine/opioid reward system. We test three mechanisms by which the subject might stimulate his own reward system by external means and reject all three. Taken together, these results demonstrate an apparently novel method of self-stimulating a brain reward system using only internal mental processes in a highly trained subject.