Neuroscientists and Buddist Monks Team Up

            Fadel Zeidan, Robert C. Coghill, and a team of neuroscientists from the Wake Forest School of Medicine performed an experiment with the help of fifteen volunteers who were given a painful stimulus. During the first trial, the volunteers rated the pain intensity and unpleasantness with a higher value, indicating severe pain, due to the increased activity in structures associated with pain processing (Koch). However, after four days of mindfulness meditation, which incorporated focused attention or Buddhist mind-calming practice (shamatha), the ratings decreased radically. The sensation of pain felt by the volunteers had reduced by more than half! How could such minimal mind training relieve the real, physical sensation of pain? 

According to Christof Koch, meditation and mindfulness have profound effects on the brain. The reduction of intensity of pain was correlated to a drastic increase of activity in the right insular cortex and both sides of the anterior cingulate cortices, areas of the brain associated with perception, awareness, cognitive rational functioning, and motor control. On the other hand, a reduction in the unpleasantness of pain was correlated to increased activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and thalamus, areas involved with cognitive processing of decision-making, regulation of consciousness, sleep, and alertness, along with relaying sensory signals to the cerebral cortex. Koch proposes mindfulness and all meditations are defined as the capability to regulate emotions and responses to external stimuli, such as sight, sound or heat as adapt to their effects on the brain. By rigorous training and practice, skills of mindfulness and meditation can be utilized and sufficiently have these profound effects on the brain.

Another study conducted by Richard J. Davidson and his group of neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison involved the participation of Buddhist monks. Who better to get insight of the effects of mindfulness and meditation on neural activity than the experts? The experiment involved recording electroencephalographic data on ten Buddhist experienced "meditators" and ten student volunteers. The monks were asked to enter a state of “unconditional loving-kindness and compassion” while the students were simply asked to think about someone he or she deeply cared about (Koch). The results were captivating: regardless of whether the monks were in states of meditation or whether they were quietly resting, their baseline brain activity was quite unique compared to that of the students. The EEG records indicated a high level of gamma band activity, which is usually correlated with focused attention. The students were not even able to compare in terms of this brain activity. Perhaps the devoted practitioners of this Easter tradition were more knowledgeable than the neuroscientists themselves on the effects of meditation and mindfulness on the brain and how it can be used to control the mind.

         Marcia Grabowecky, a PhD in the Department of Psychology at Northwester University, also proposes that mindfulness and meditation have many positive benefits and effects on the brain. Grabowecky states that attention is the “gateway to awareness and probably to happiness” and that multitasking is the issue in recent generations. She hypothesizes that society is approaching a “zombie nation” because of this lack of ability to focus attention. According to Grabowecky, mindfulness encompasses attention and in order to attain mindfulness, one must be paying attention, but also know how to pay attention. “It is important for the cultivation of meditative concentration, but powerful on its own”. Grabowecky believes it is important to meditate to train the mind and become familiar with its operation, stabilize attention, gain insight, and cultivate particular mental and emotional states. This last benefit relates to the study conducted with the help of the Buddhist monks.  In order to attain the state of “unconditional-loving-kindness and compassion”, the monks needed to meditate, which they had a high level of expertise in. Grabowecky promotes shamatha, the Buddhist mind-calming practice, or shine attention training, which helps bring about focused attention. Her findings also agree with the study in saying that the profound effects on the brain by mindfulness and meditation include increased brain activity, which may lead to cortical thickness. Whether it’s research conducted with neuroscientists teaming up with Buddhist monks, or Grabowecky’s research on the cognitive benefits mindfulness and meditation, I think most can agree with the fact that we should all practice some of it in our day to day lives to improve our overall focus, attention, and other cognitive functions. 

References:

Koch, C. (2013, June 06). Neuroscientists and Dalai Lama swap insights on meditation. Scientific American. 24. Retrieved from (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/neuroscientists-dalai-lama-swap-insights-meditation/?page=1).