Edgar,
Pretty neat! Technology is getting more capable of studying these things. I
hope that the "subjects" of the studies become more worthy of study, too.
Previously, we had a lot of technology in this country, but were not producing
many subjects to study (although there have been many studies of Zen monks in
Japan and Korea, and studies in USA of subjects imported from elsewhere).
Members of our Zen sangha and some musicians and non-musician/non-meditators
once participated in a similar study at University of Arizona, Dept. of
Psychology, over a decade ago. Simpler technology was used at the time, and
was not imaging, but signal analysis via digitized electroencephalography,
instead. Breathing, heart rate, and galvanic skin resistance were also
monitored continuously. We wore rubber "shower-caps" each fitted with 32
electrodes which pressed into the scalp. The study sessions were LONG, and
after two or three hours, those electrodes pressing down gave the entire head
rather a big headache. ;-)
But a lot was learned. It was a pilot study, and on the basis of the study, a
larger project to study the same effects, and others, was granted funding.
It was found that trained musicians had about half the strength of effects that
practiced meditators showed, versus the control group of non-meditators and
non-musicians (who, by definition, showed no enhanced effects: their average
performance formed a base).
I'll try to post a link to this (rather old) study here soon.
--Joe
> Edgar Owen wrote:
>
> >
> > A neural basis for benefits of meditation
> >
> > February 13th, 2013 in Psychology & Psychiatry
> > Magnetoencephalographic studies show that people who have been trained in
> > mindfulness have quicker and larger changes in alpha wave amplitude when
> > they shift focus. Credit: Mike Cohea/Brown University Credit: Mike
> > Cohea/Brown University
[snip]
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