Effortless attention as a biomarker for experienced mindfulness practitioners

Tanaka, G.K. ; Maslahati, T. ; Gongora, M. ; Bittencourt, J. ; Lopez, L.C.S. ; Demarzo, M.M.P. ; Budde, H. ; Teixeira, S. ; Basile, L.F. ; Garcia Campayo, J. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Cagy, M. ; Ribeiro, P. ; Velasques, B.

Resumen: Objective: The present study aimed at comparing frontal beta power between long-term (LTM) and first-time meditators (FTM), before, during and after a meditation session. We hypothesized that LTM would present lower beta power than FTM due to lower effort of attention and awareness. Methods: Twenty one participants were recruited, eleven of whom were long-term meditators. The subjects were asked to rest for 4 minutes before and after open monitoring (OM) meditation (40 minutes). Results: The two-way ANOVA revealed an interaction between the group and moment factors for the Fp1 (p<0.01), F7 (p = 0.01), F3 (p<0.01), Fz (p<0.01), F4 (p<0.01), F8 (p<0.01) electrodes. Conclusion: We found low power frontal beta activity for LTM during the task and this may be associated with the fact that OM is related to bottom-up pathways that are not present in FTM. Significance: We hypothesized that the frontal beta power pattern may be a biomarker for LTM. It may also be related to improving an attentive state and to the efficiency of cognitive functions, as well as to the long-term experience with meditation (i.e., life-time experience and frequency of practice).

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138561

Año: 2015

Publicado en: PloS one 10, 10 (2015), [13 pp]
ISSN: 1932-6203

Factor impacto JCR: 3.057 (2015)

Categ. JCR: MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES rank: 11 / 62 = 0.177 (2015) - Q1 - T1

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 1.427 - Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Medicine (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous) (Q1)

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Area Psiquiatría (Dpto. Medicina, Psiqu. y Derm.)