Source-space EEG neurofeedback links subjective experience with brain activity during effortless awareness meditation

Remko van Lutterveld; Sean D Houlihan; Prasanta Pal; Matthew D Sacchet; Cinque McFarlane-Blake; Payal R Patel; John S Sullivan; Alex Ossadtchi; Susan Druker; Clemens Bauer; Judson A Brewer

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.047

Source-space EEG neurofeedback links subjective experience with brain activity during effortless awareness meditation

Neuroimage. 2017 May 1:151:117-127. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.047. Epub 2016 Feb 26.

Affiliations

¹ Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
² Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Neurosciences Program and Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁴ Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation; Laboratory of Control of Complex Systems, Institute of Problems of Mechanical Engineering, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia.
⁵ Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: Judson.Brewer@umassmed.edu.

Abstract

Background: Meditation is increasingly showing beneficial effects for psychiatric disorders. However, learning to meditate is not straightforward as there are no easily discernible outward signs of performance and thus no direct feedback is possible. As meditation has been found to correlate with posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) activity, we tested whether source-space EEG neurofeedback from the PCC followed the subjective experience of effortless awareness (a major component of meditation), and whether participants could volitionally control the signal.

Methods: Sixteen novice meditators and sixteen experienced meditators participated in the study. Novice meditators were briefly trained to perform a basic meditation practice to induce the subjective experience of effortless awareness in a progressively more challenging neurofeedback test-battery. Experienced meditators performed a self-selected meditation practice to induce this state in the same test-battery. Neurofeedback was provided based on gamma-band (40-57Hz) PCC activity extracted using a beamformer algorithm. Associations between PCC activity and the subjective experience of effortless awareness were assessed by verbal probes.

Results: Both groups reported that decreased PCC activity corresponded with effortless awareness (P<0.0025 for each group), with high median confidence ratings (novices: 8 on a 0-10 Likert scale; experienced: 9). Both groups showed high moment-to-moment median correspondence ratings between PCC activity and subjective experience of effortless awareness (novices: 8, experienced: 9). Both groups were able to volitionally control the PCC signal in the direction associated with effortless awareness by practicing effortless awareness meditation (novices: median % of time=77.97, P=0.001; experienced: 89.83, P<0.0005).

Conclusions: These findings support the feasibility of using EEG neurofeedback to link an objective measure of brain activity with the subjective experience of effortless awareness, and suggest potential utility of this paradigm as a tool for meditation training.

Keywords: EEG; Meditation; Mindfulness; Neurofeedback; PCC; Posterior cingulate cortex.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Awareness / physiology*
Electroencephalography*
Female
Gamma Rhythm
Gyrus Cinguli / physiology*
Humans
Male
Meditation / methods*
Middle Aged
Mindfulness
Neurofeedback*
Volition

Source-space EEG neurofeedback links subjective experience with brain activity during effortless awareness meditation

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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