This article consists of Section 5.02. Meditation,contemplation & mysticism, of the presentation abstracts presented in the previously posted article:

"Toward a Science of Consciousness 2006" Conference, Tuscon, AZ"

This topic is of special interest to me and I hope to other readers of SCIY. We can dialogue about these abstracts by posting comments to this article and threaded Replies ('child comments') under each parent comment.

[05.02] Meditation,contemplation & mysticism

248 Nondual awareness and the mutual transparency of self and other
Judith Blackstone <realizationctr@aol.com> (Woodstock, NY, Ulster)

This paper examines the relationship between nondual realization, psychological and relational healing, and somatic transformation. Nondual realization is described, in accordance with the Shentong traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, such as Mahamudra and Dzog-chen, as the realization of one's own nature as subtle, unbounded awareness, pervading one's own body and one's environment as a unified whole. The paper argues that the radical openness of nondual realization is based on deep contact with the internal space of one's own body. We therefore experience ourselves as coherent, authentic individuals at the same time as we experience ourselves as unified with our environment. The paper also looks at nondual awareness as the basis of direct contact between human beings. In addition to the paper, there will be an experiential component to the presentation. This will be a series of original exercises, developed by the author, called Realization Process. These exercises facilitate direct attunement to nondual awareness, as well as the experience of being with another person in this dimension. When two people attune to nondual awareness together, they experience mutual transparency: a single expanse of awareness pervading them both as a unity. Judith Blackstone, Ph.D. is author of The Enlightenment Process, Living Intimately, The Subtle Self, and the upcoming Intersubjectivity and Nonduality. P11

249 Neuroscience, mystical states, and quadratic consciousness: A contemporary model of mind and preliminary field test results
Robert Christie <r.christie@att.net> (General Education, DeVry University, North Brunswick, New Jersey)

First, the neuroscientific findings of D'Aquilli and Newberg (The Mystical Mind) will be analyzed and shown to imply a contemporary model of mind. Particularly relevant is the identification of seven "cognitive operators" that correlate with specific locations in the brain and which process and determine conscious experience. Underlying this correlation is the ground for a contemporary philosophy of mind that ultimately grounds the model of consciousness presented later in the paper. Secondly, utilizing the results of the collaboration of the Mind and Life Institute's interdisciplinary dialogue between science and religion ("The Scientific Study of Consciousness," in Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama), the correlations between neuroscientific studies of perception and response and Buddhist philosophy and epistemology will be analyzed, particularly data drawn from the experience of meditation. Particularly relevant is the justification for first-person (phenomenological) reports in addition to empirical studies to validate conscious experience. The import of the role of emotion in consciousness and behavior will be discussed, especially the Dalai Lama's insight that "there can be no perception without emotion." A comparison will be made to the work of D'Aquilli and Newberg. These two stages provide the framework for a final and thorough presentation of a contemporary model of mind, or a "cognitive architecture," with four essential complex quadrants, termed quadratic consciousness. Both the structure and functioning of the model will be demonstrated "in living color" with powerpoint. Its philosophical and religious implications will be discussed. Lastly, the preliminary field test results of this model, which have been conducted utilizing student volunteers, will be presented. P9

250 The neuroscientific study of Tibetan contemplative practice: Methodological issues and details of practice
John Dunne <jdunne@emory.edu> (Religion, Emory University, Atlanta , GA)

This presentation provides background and contextual information concerning recent neuroscientific research on long-term Buddhist practitioners. In such research, the methodological problems begin with the need to specify clearly the way in which a particular practicerather than "meditation" in generalmay or may not be suitable for neuroscientific study. To make a detailed examination of a particular contemplative practice, one clearly requires the cooperation of contemplatives educated within the relevant tradition, but in turning to traditional accounts, the researcher encounters another problem: one must discern which parts of a traditional account are useful in formulating a research strategy and experimental design, as opposed to parts that are not suitable for that purpose. The problem here is that traditional accounts often describe techniques and resultant states that are measurable and repeatable in a laboratory context; nevertheless, parts of the same account may also focus on issues that can neither be measured nor repeated. In many traditions, the distinction between these parts of an account reflects a tension between 1) close descriptions of meditative techniques and states; and 2) the metaphysical or soteriological requirements that must be met by those states. Having worked through these methodological issues, this presentation will then discuss the specific practice of "non-referential compassion" (Tib., dmigs med rnying rje), a significant focus of recent neuroscientific research. The discursive strategies and other techniques that initially enable the practitioner to cultivate a particular emotional state will be presented. So too, "luminosity" (Tib., gsal ba) as the central metaphor in the Buddhist theory of consciousness will be addressed, along with the process that allegedly enables the practitioner to develop a type of reflexive meta-awareness in which "luminosity" is said to be experienced or known. Finally, the types of changes that such a practice are meant to effect in the individual will be presented in both emic and etic terms. PL5

251 Psychophysiological characteristics of meditation state
Simon Golosheykin, Ljubomir Aftanas <goloshes@psychiatry.wustl.edu> (Psychiatry, Washington University in St.Louis, St. Louis, MO)

According to the age-old theory the true meditation, as an altered state of consciousness, should include at least three important concomitants: sustaining internal focus of attention, elimination of thinking activity, and persistent positive emotional experience. (Sat-Chit-Anand state in Sanskrit). On the other hand modern psychophysiology advanced a lot in understanding of such components and manifestations of human awareness as attention, emotions and cognitive functions. Thus there was hypothesized that appropriate changes can be revealed in brain electrophysiological activity of subjects involved in meditation process. In order to test this hypothesis the high-resolution EEG study was performed. The 62-channel Neuroscan system was used to record EEG of novice and experienced meditators during the closed eyes rest condition and meditation session. In the meditation state the experienced meditators shown the significant increase of theta 1 (4-6Hz), theta 2 (6-8Hz), and alpha 1 (8-10Hz) power over the frontal scalp areas. Spectral and spatial characteristics of EEG power changes definitely indicate the ongoing processes of internalization of attention, decreasing thinking activity and emotional experience. After the session all the subjects were asked to formalize their meditation experience using specially designed quantitative scales. The subjective score of the specific meditative positive emotional experience and intensity of thinking activity significantly correlated with theta 1 and theta 2 power changes respectively. Therefore the results of this study appears to be a useful to define a reliable physiological markers of meditation induced altered state of consciousness traditionally known as Thoughtless Awareness. P11

252 The effects of sahaja yoga meditation on anxiety
Wolfgang Hackl <wolfgang.hackl@aon.at> (impact, vienna, austria)

Abstract In different cultures people talk about a living energy within human beings which can transform human awareness and awaken different powers. The names given are manyfold and we know some like: Kundalini, Ruah, Holy Ghost, Waters of Life and others. If this energy is awakened different effects can be expected such as described at JANANDEVA in the JNANESHWARI (6/42) in the 13th century "I think that the body is an incarnation of tranquillity, or it is a colourful piece of the work in the picture of god, or the form of the self-bliss. The body gets full of brilliance." According to SHRI MATAJI NIRMALA DEVI (1993-06-06) an individual whose energy is activated and who keeps it up by his own meditation can pass on the awakening of Kundalini. So the hypothesis says that meditators can act as catalysts to create a state of tranquillity and mental peace, which is a state beyond anxiety. Design In the Austrian college of Wr.Neustadt young people of five different classes had been randomly sampled. 103 students participated  101 forms could be used. A very difficult unit test was used as stressor. It was a pre- and after- test situation and the sample was randomly spilt into three groups. Control group KG (no systematic variable  neutral situation) Test Group 1 VG1 (Relaxation and Mozart music "alla turca" Test Group 2 VG2 (Awakening of Kundalini without the knowledge of participants) Hypothesis in short A significant deviation of STATE mean values is expected between the pre and after situation from VG1 and VG2. (Limit of significance for p<0,01) The deviation of STATE pre and after mean values of VG2 should be significantly higher as in KG and VG1. (Limit of significance for p<0,01) Test The "STAI" State-Trait Anxiety Inventory of SPIELBERGER was used. It discriminates anxiety between State and Trait. State: Anxiety as an emotional temporary condition and Trait: Anxiety as a temporal relatively stabile attribute. The scale reaches from 20 (lowest anxiety) to 80 (highest anxiety). The lowest standard values of STATE (N=2385) under "neutral conditions" were quantified by Spielberger for females (34,75) and for males (35,42). Results There was a significant decrease of STATE anxiety in both groups of VG1 (from 54 to 43) and VG2 (from 53 to 32) between the pre and after condition of p<0,001. The STATE value of VG2 after the meditation was less than SPIELBERGERs standard value under neutral conditions. KG decreased as expected insignificantly from 48 to 47,5. The TRAIT values decreased surprisingly significant for p<0,001 in the VG2 only. They decreased slightly significant in the VG1 for p<0,05. The difference of STATE mean values between KG and VG1 was significant for p<0,001 and p<0,05 for TRAIT. Between KG and VG2 the significance was at the level of p<0,001 for both forms of anxiety. There was also a highly significant difference of STATE mean values between VG1 and VG2 (p<0,001) and for the TRAIT of p<0,05. C14

253 Imaginative freedom in comparative meditation: A cross-cultural analysis of meditation techniques
Brandon Harwood <tiresiaspallas@yahoo.com> (Louisville, KY)

Though meditation has been prescribed by holy men and women since the ancient period, this technique has only recently entered into the realm of science, medicine, and psychotherapy. A possible reason for this reticence is the view that meditation is "cultic" as inferred by Herbert Benson in his work on The Relaxation Response. Meditation, however, is as present in every major religion as prayeri.e. nearly all. This project began as an attempt to uncover the examples of meditation, so that future psychotherapeutic practice can provide forms of this practice to any client regardless of religious faith. Through investigating six modern faithsCatholicism, Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism (Islam), Judaism, and Wiccaa spectrum of imaginative attention was discovered. This article illustrates the variety of meditation practices in regards to how much encouragement is given to imaginative freedom. The phenomenon of negative meditation, focused attention on negative experience (darkness, nothingness, suffering), and active meditation, focused attention on the physical body and movement, is also explored. Through exposition on meditation technique, could increase the base of clients that could benefit from this ancient practice. P6

254 Influence of meditation styles on visual/spatial cognition: Neural correlates of nondual awareness
Zoran Josipovic, Maria Kozhevnikov, Michael A. Motes <ZJ108@aol.com> (Psychology, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ)

This study was undertaken to examine the effects of non-conceptual versus conceptual constructed meditation styles on visual/spatial cognition. We contrasted emptiness meditation, which employs open-ended attention, with the deity-yoga meditation, which employs focused attention and extensive visualization. Computerized mental rotation and visual memory tests were administered before and after the meditation, and compared with the control group of non-meditators that rested. Our results show that the practice of deity-yoga meditation facilitates visual/spatial abilities, while the practice of emptiness meditation appears to inhibit them, at least immediately afterward. Our hypothesis is that this is due to the activation of a number of areas involved in mental imagery during the deity yoga meditation, and to their de-afferentation during emptiness meditation. The study points to the need for further fMRI and EEG studies of the deity yoga and emptiness meditations. _______________________________________________________________________ Second study: Neural Correlates of Nondual Awareness: This fMRI study of nondual awarenesspure consciousness occurring with experienceadvances a hypothesis that nondual (open-ended) awareness is mediated by the neural correlates of space in the posterior parietal cortex in conjunction with the areas in pre-frontal cortex. Nine long-term meditators, selected by their teachers from either the Tibetan Buddhist or Zen traditions, did nondual awareness meditation (Tib. Rig-pa; Jap. Shikan-taza) in the MR scanner, both with eyes open and with eyes closed. Block design was used to compare periods of nondual awareness meditation with resting and with counting (adding numbers). P11

255 Using meditation expertise to study brain neuroplasticity and the neural correlates of subjective experience
Antoine Lutz <alutz@wisc.edu> (Waisman Laboratory For Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, usa)

The goal of this presentation is to explore some of the motivations and initial findings of neuroscientific research on long-term Buddhist practitioners. Two claims made by Buddhist contemplative traditions are particularly relevant for a neuroscientific research agenda. The first claim is that experience is a flexible and transformable process. This claim resonates with the scientific view that experience changes the brain, a concept known as neuroplasticity. The findings on neuroplasticity raise the possibility that training and practices which are specifically designed to cultivate positive qualities such as compassion and loving kindness will produce selective alterations in brain functions. The plasticity of these emotional processes has not been studied yet. The second claim is that meditative training develops first-person introspective skills such that advanced practitioners can provide more refined first-person descriptions of their experiences than naive subjects. Thus, these first-person accounts can help the experimenter to more easily define, identify and interpret the neurophysiological counterpart of subjectivity. These two claims will be evaluated in the light of recent neuroelectric (EEG) and neuroimaging (fMRI) correlates of compassion and loving-kindness meditation in a group of expert Buddhist meditators (> 10,000 hours of retreat practice) and in a group of newly trained control subjects (one hour of daily practice for one week prior to the collection of data). PL5

256 Meditation, Sahaja and the Indian idea of optimal consciousness: Reconciling the modern evidence base with popular and traditional perceptions by revisiting the original definitions of meditation
Ramesh Manocha <r.manocha@healthed.com.au> (INSEAD, unsw, Randwick, NSW, Australia)

1-Does Meditation Have Unique Effects? Is there scientific evidence for meditation as a unique state of consciousness? Popular perception and traditional ideas of meditation clearly connect meditative consciousness with therapeutic effects and better performance. A review of the scientific database shows that poorly designed scientific studies support this idea whereas the thoroughly designed ones do not (1, 2). This may not however mean that meditation is a lost cause. A closer examination of the scientific publications indicates that western scientists have assimilated a definition of meditation that characterizes it PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICALLY as a method of evoking physiological relaxation (3,4) whereas the ancient tradition characterizes it EXPERIENTIALLY as a state of consciousness whose main feature is mental silence (5). The media, and meditation entrepreneurs focus on the former definition yet it is the latter that appears to stand up to scientific scrutiny. Our research team has for the past several years conducted rigorous clinical studies of a traditional Indian form of meditation called Sahaja Yoga (6) which appears to elicit the state of mental silence even in novices. Randomised controlled trials indicate a robust specific therapeutic effect on conditions such as asthma (7) and occupational stress. Experimental clinics also suggest its effectiveness in the management of such diverse conditions as ADHD (8), menopausal hot flushes, migraine, epilepsy (9), hypertension (10) and anxiety (11). Importantly, physiological trials suggest that this state is biologically distinct from simple relaxation (12). Brain studies demonstrate large, significant correlations between subjective experience of this state of meditation and electrical activation patterns which again suggest a characteristic neurophysiological state with important implications for neural correlates of consciousness (13,14). 2-The Traditional Eastern Understanding of Consciousness. A powerful thought Experiment that clearly illustrates the relevance of the traditional definition of meditation In order to understand the traditional idea of meditation it is important to become acquainted with the Eastern philosophical perspective on the nature of thought, mind, self and the principal of non-dual awareness. The Eastern tradition views normal mind-oriented awareness (duality) as an inferior state of consciousness whereas consciousness devoid of the interfering effect of the mind (non-duality) is viewed as fundamentally superior, therapeutic and more reliable. The non-dual state has is known as the "Sahaja State", and represents the ideal state of consciousness (15). This notion is simply illustrated by a guided thought experiment in which participants are able to personally perceive the significance of mind versus non-mind awareness and the ramifications of this for our notions of consciousness and self. Western academic thinking is dominated by mind-oriented awareness and this has become a fundamental obstacle in the West's study of meditation. 3-A simple meditation session A brief hands-on meditation session aimed at eliciting the state of mental silence. The Same technique that was used in our clinical and physiological trials, Sahaja Yoga, will be demonstrated for the audience to personally experience the practical aspects of meditation. Delegates can take this basic skill with them and use it whenever they wish to combat stress or experience some sense of inner rest see refernces in comments section C14

257 Effect of meditation on plasma beta-endorphins in humans
Ram Mishra, Cia Barlas, A. Pradhan <mishrar@mcmaster.ca> (Psychiatry, Mcmaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)

Meditation is considered a state of mind when it is focused upon a single point of reference (Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, 1991). Certain types of yoga or meditation involve the mental state of internalized attention and emotionally positive experience of "bliss". The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of the meditative practice of Sahaja yoga on plasma -endorphin levels. Elevated levels of -endorphins have been shown to be associated with pain relieving mechanisms; therefore, changes in the levels of such molecules following meditation may serve as a useful physiological measure for the effectiveness of the type of meditation. 15 control and 15 meditating subjects were used in this study. The subjects in the meditating group were allowed to meditate for 45 minutes in a comfortable situation. One subject at a time from the meditation room was called upon and blood was withdrawn in a separate room. Subjects in the control group were allowed to do their routine work. Blood samples were collected and plasma was used for the estimation of -endorphins by radioimmunoassay. This protocol was approved by the local ethics board. Data were analyzed using a t-test. There was a significant increase (p<0.01) between control and meditating subjects when controlled for age and gender. Female subjects, however, displayed less increase in the -endorphins as compared to male subjects. This difference may be attributable to hormonal or menstrual state of the female subjects. In conclusion, the results of this study clearly show that at least one form of the meditation, namely Sahaja yoga, has a profound effect on -endorphin release. The mechanisms involved in the regulation of -endorphin following meditation can only be speculated. However, the mechanisms involved in the release of endorphins may be explained by considering the assumption that the Kundalini energy upon rising from the sacreal region to the limbic system may trigger the stimulation of anterior pituitary gland. Kundalini is described as an indwelling divine feminine energy (according to Eastern religion) that can be awakened during meditation. This awakening involves the Kundalini moving up the central channel and reaches to the limbic system. The stimulation of the pituitary gland by this energy results in increased release of -endorphins and elevated levels of this class of proteins. P7

258 The Buddhist science of mind and the western mandala of consciousness
Bill Potter <billpotter@uq.net.au> (IP First, Toowong, QLD, Australia)

I refer to the Buddhist understanding of the mind, 'Abidharma' as a science, since it is based on an experiential method of meditation which is as rigorous in its way as the Western method of testing scientific theories. I also depict the view of consciousness which I see emerging from Western science as a mandala since it is best expressed in the graphic form of the mandala which attempts to express the nature of both the external and internal worlds in symbolic form. Accordingly I first describe the mind as revealed by the practice of Buddhist meditation which can be divided into three categories. The first is meditation on the very nature of mind, the second comprises analytical meditations on the dependant and transitory nature of the self and the external world and the third seeks to visualize the unity of mind in all sentient beings. I then construct a mandala of the universe which incorporates the concepts developed in Western philosophy and science. It is built on the axes of space and time and of reason and emotion, concepts which we use to order conscious experience. Of these axes space and time are the most familiar and the most highly developed. Physics has moved from the primitive notions of here/there and before/now/after to orthogonal xyz co-ordinates and sophisticated definitions of past /present /future in relativity theory. Reason and emotion as axes of conscious experience are not as familiar as space and time but they play a similar role in ordering our experience. Thus we use our deductive and inductive powers of reasoning to order our experience and extend it from the observed to the unobserved. The notions of number, positive/negative, true/false and valid/invalid perform ordering functions which are no less relational than those of spatial and temporal relations. Similarly although emotion is the least understood of the organising principles of consciousness in the West, whatever analysis we give of the notions of good/bad, right/wrong, love/hate, trust/fear and the numerous other value laden binaries, they surely constitute ways in which we order conscious experience. The integrated scientific view of consciousness represented in The Mandala correlates closely with Buddhist teaching on the mind. Clearly Science tells a more detailed story about the material world of space and time and has promoted technologies which have transformed the physical world. However the evidence of wide spread suffering in the world, much of which has accompanied technological advances, indicates that Science is not a complete solution to the human condition. Tibetan Buddhism has developed an understanding of the nature of mind and a practice of meditation that has been successful in removing suffering and producing harmony. It is an obvious complement to Western Science. P11

259 The effect of meditation on the behaviour of children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder
Katya Rubia, Ramesh Manocha, Linda Harrison <k.rubia@iop.kcl.ac.uk> (Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, LOndon, UK)

The eastern concept of meditation is that of a state of mental silence characterised by the elimination of unnecessary thought, effortless attention on the present moment and alert awareness. Meditation is thus thought to enhance self-awareness, attentional focus, and self-control, functions that are typically impaired in children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The aim of this study was therefore to investigate whether meditation has a beneficial effect in improving ADHD behaviour. In this study, Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) was used as a family treatment programme for children with ADHD and their parents in a 6week programme of twice-weekly clinic meditation sessions and regular meditation at home. Pre-and post-treatment assessments showed significant improvements in the parents' ratings of the core ADHD behaviours of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Furthermore, improvements were also observed in associated symptoms of poor self-esteem and poor relationship quality. Benefits were described by children at school (better concentration, less conflict) and at home (improved sleep pattern and anxiety). Parents reported feeling happier, less stressed and better able to manage their child's behaviour. Indications from this pioneering study thus suggest that SYM offers an effective management tool for treatment of ADHD. There are several potential mechanisms of action of SYM on ADHD behaviours that will be discussed. Meditation has been suggested to relax the sympathetic nervous system by activating parasympathetic-limbic pathways that relax both body and mind, which has been confirmed by modern imaging studies showing limbic activation during meditation (Lazar et al., 2000). Improvements in hyperactivity may thus be related to the relaxation effect of meditation. Electrophysiological (EEG) studies of SYM have shown an enhancement of beta and alpha rhythms and a reduction of the complexity of EEG patterns over fronto-central brain regions (Aftanas & Golocheikine, 2002), suggestive of enhanced attentional control over cognitive processing, allowing the maintenance of focused internalised attention via inhibition of irrelevant processes. Similarly, Tibetan Buddhist meditation has shown to increase consciousness-related high amplitude gamma synchrony in medial fronto-parietal brain regions (Lutz et al., 2004). Poor inhibitory and attention control are key cognitive impairments in ADHD that have been shown to be associated with a reduction in brain activation in mesial and prefrontal brain regions (Rubia et al., 1999, 2005). Meditation with its potential for enhancement of frontal-lobe mediated attentional focus, self-awareness and self-control seems thus to be a most suitable tool for a disorder of attentional control that is ADHD. Aftanas L.I., Golocheikine S.A. (2001) Neurosci Letters 310: 57-60. Lazar SW, et al.. (2000) NeuroReport 11 (7): 1581-1585. Lou HC et al., (1999) Human Brain Mapping 7:98-105. Lutz et al., (2004) PNAS 101: 16369-16373. Rubia K et al. (1999). Am J Psychiatry, 156:6:891-896. Rubia, K. (2005) Am J Psychiatry, 162, 1067-1075. P11

260 Contemplative mind and consciousness research: An integral perspective
Marilyn Schlitz <schlitz@noetic.org> (Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, CA)

This is a remarkable time in human history. Great truth systems, including science, religion, and the wisdom traditions, are coming into contact as never before. Each has its own way of knowing and understanding consciousness. Just as an understanding of consciousness is expanding through the application of science to contemplative practices, so too does science have the chance to expand and grow through its interface with the world's wisdom and spiritual traditions. An integral perpsective, which brings together subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and objectivity, may offer a way of bridging the different epistemological and ontological assumptions inherent in the differing truth systems, leading to a more complete understanding of consciousness. This talk will apply the integral model to the topic of contemplative practice and meditation. PL5

261 The physiology of mental silence: Is meditation the same as relaxation?
David Spiro <dms@dspiro.com> (Institute of Psychiatry, London, London, UK)

There are many traditional descriptions of meditation that define it as a specific state of consciousness, best described as "Mental Silence", rather than as a state of relaxation. In some of the early scientific investigations into meditation it was proposed that meditation was a particular state of consciousness. However more rigorous studies failed to demonstrate any specific physiological, behavioural or clinical effects. Thus, despite popular and traditional expectations that there should be a difference between meditation and "just resting" meditation has come to be viewed simply as a process characterized by physiological rest/relaxation. Our study seeks to re-explore the possibility that meditation involves physiological changes different from simple rest/reduced arousal. We designed a physiological trial involving 26 subjects which compared a group of meditators skilled at achieving the state of mental silence with a matched control group of non-meditators who simply rested. Subjects were instructed to either meditate or rest in a temperature-controlled environment for 10 minutes while heart rate and skin temperature were monitored. The control group experienced an increase in skin temperature, would be expected on physiological grounds. Despite the expectation that the meditation group would show a similar change in skin temperature, the opposite occurred: This group manifested a significant (p<.05) reduction in skin temperature. Yet there was no difference in heart rate between the two groups. In addition to feeling relaxed, meditators reported a sensation of coolness on the hands. This study raises the possibility that the state of consciousness characterized by mental silence is physiologically different from the state of consciousness that is associated with rest. We explore the implications of this with regard to the traditional yogic description of 4 fundamental modes of consciousness as well as our modern understandings of consciousness. C14

262 Is fetal NREM the archetype for deep meditative state's of consciousness?
John Sullivan <consciousness@gmail.com> (Tucson, Arizona)

The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the plausibility that the adult experience of State VIII  Ultimate Being (as defined by James Austin) may be the reemergence of physiological conditions and neural activation patterns that where used by the developing fetus to model the brain for consciousness. This is accomplished by comparing the similarities and differences in physiology between fetal NREM and the adult experience of deep meditative states of consciousness. P11

263 Are all meditations the same? Comparison of brain patterns, mental benefits and descriptions of mindfulness meditation, Tibetan Buddhism, and Transcendental Meditation
Frederick Travis <ftravis@mum.edu> (Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA)

Current neural imaging and EEG (brain wave) patterns answer the question: Are all meditations the same? The research answers with a resounding "No!" Mindfulness meditation is characterized by greater left hemisphere activationalpha lateral asymmetry. This is reflected in higher left hemisphere cerebral metabolic rate and lower left hemisphere EEG alpha activity. Mindfulness involves attention on one's breath with eyes-closed, and dispassionate observation of bodily, mental and perceptual states with eyes-open. Preliminary research suggests that Mindfulness Meditation improves immune functioning. Grossman's recent meta-analysis of 10 areas of mental benefits reported significant effects of Mindfulness Meditation only on reduction in pain perception. Tibetan Buddhism is characterized by heightened 40 Hz power and coherence. This meditation is done with eyes half open, while one creates inner states such as "pure compassion" or "loss of sense of self." Research has not yet reported physiological or mental benefits of practice of Tibetan Buddhism. Transcendental Meditation is characterized by higher frontal 6-45 Hz coherence and higher global alpha power. TM practice is described as an "effortless" process of transcendinginner awareness expanding to a state of complete freedom, unboundedness, and silence, called transcendental consciousness. Meta-analyzes report significant reductions in anxiety, breath rate, heart rate, blood lactate, blood pressure, and cigarette and alcohol use, and significant increases in self-esteem resulting from TM practice. Recent research investigated one-year longitudinal changes in alpha lateral asymmetry, gamma activity, and broadband coherence in the first year of TM practice. This research is the first to compare in a single population these three brain patterns, which are reported in the literature to characterize different meditation practices. Data were recorded during TM practice, eyes-closed rest, and computer tasks. Alpha lateral asymmetry and gamma power and coherence did not change over the year in any of the three conditions. Broadband frontal coherence rose to a high level during TM practice after 2 months practice and remained at that high level at 6 and 12 months practice. Coherence linearly increased during eyes closed rest and the computer tasks over the year. Now is the time that meditation researchers should agree on common physiological variables and measure them in their perspective meditating populations. The resulting physiological profiles could objectively classify meditation practices, serving as a brain-based matrix to discuss meditation practices and understand their effects on the mind, body and the environment. C14

264 Effects of level of meditation experience on attentional focus: Is the efficiency of executive or orientation networks improved?
Marjorie Woollacott, Davina Chan <mwool@uoneuro.uoregon.edu> (Institute of Neuroscience, Dept.of Human Physiology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR)

Background: There is increasing research (using fMRI, EEG, etc) attempting to delineate neural circuitry underlying the process of attentional focus during meditation. Though this research is of interest, it is also important to understand the long-term effects of meditation on attentional processing in daily tasks, both through behavioral studies of attentional performance and understanding the attentional networks contributing to the behavioral change. Networks hypothesized to be involved in attentional processing include the orienting network (e.g., to specific sensory information; involving parietal lobe) and the executive control network, involving conflict resolution (e.g., ignoring irrelevant stimuli; involving anterior cingulate/frontal cortex). It could be hypothesized that meditation improves the efficiency of orientational processing in order to focus on a specific object or alternatively, that meditation improves executive processing, which monitors for conflict in sensory information and inhibits incorrect responses. In order to test the above hypotheses, this study aimed to compare the effect of meditation experience on the performance of two behavioral tasks (Global/Local Letters task vs Stroop task) designed to test, respectively, the efficiency of the orienting vs the executive attentional networks. Methods: Participants included meditators (50 total, 22 male/28 female, mean age 43 yrs) varying in degree of meditation experience (6-150 min/day and .5 to 35 yrs overall) and type of meditation practiced, and non-meditating controls (10 total, 5 male/5 female, mean age 47 yrs). There was no difference in age, education or gender between groups. Experiments compared the performance of these participants on the Stroop task (measuring executive attentional network processing) and Global/Local Letters task (measuring orientational network processing). Results: Meditators showed superior overall performance on the Stroop task, indicated by significantly higher scores than non-meditators on detecting words alone (p<0.001, one-tailed), colors alone (p<0.001), and dealing with color-word interference (p<0.03). Meditation experience as measured by minutes/day of meditation was negatively correlated with Stroop interference (p<0.05), suggesting that the more time individuals spend meditating/day, the less susceptible they are to Stroop interference. No correlation was found between meditation experience as measured by total years of meditative practice and Stroop interference (r=-0.06). Meditators also responded faster than non-meditators across all trial types. On the Global/Local Letters task no correlation was found between the congruency effect score (measure of orientation abilities) and meditation experience, as measured by minutes of meditation/day or years of practice, in either the global or local conditions (all p's>0.13). However, again, meditation experience, as measured by minutes of meditation/day, was associated with faster response time across all trial types. Discussion: The significant improvement in Stroop task performance associated with meditational experience, in contrast to the lack of effect of meditation on Global/Local Letters task performance suggests that meditation produces long-term increases in the efficiency of the executive attentional network (anterior cingulate/prefrontal cortex) while showing no effect on the orientation network (parietal systems). It is unclear whether the additional meditation-related facilitation in RT performance in all task conditions may simply be due to enhanced visual-motor abilities or whether it reflects greater ability to focus attention. C14

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