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Occipital gamma activation during Vipassana meditation

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Check out this Knowledge Base article from StressTherapy Solutions: Occipital gamma activation during Vipassana meditation.

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Study at a glance

Area
Other research
Study type
Observational study
Authors
Cahn BR, Delorme A, Polich J
Journal
Cognitive Processing
Year
2009
Participants
16 Vipassana meditators (5 women, 11 men; ages 24-56)
Population
Adults
Protocol
EEG during meditation vs. mind-wandering rest

Key findings

  • Meditation reduced frontal delta (1-4 Hz) power, especially in those not reporting drowsiness
  • Parieto-occipital gamma (35-45 Hz) power increased significantly during meditation
  • Meditators with 10+ years of daily practice showed the highest gamma and the largest meditation-related increase
  • No meditation effect on alpha; alpha was sensitive to condition order and dropped with drowsiness

DOI 10.1007/s10339-009-0352-1 → PubMed 20013298 →

EEG was recorded from 16 long-term Vipassana meditators during 21 minutes of meditation and 21 minutes of mind-wandering rest, in counterbalanced order. Comparing the final 6 minutes of each state, meditation brought lower frontal delta, relatively higher frontal theta and significantly more parieto-occipital gamma power. Gamma was highest, and rose most during meditation, in those with 10 or more years of daily practice. The authors conclude long-term practice is linked to increased occipital gamma related to meditative expertise and heightened sensory awareness.