Reorganization of the brain and heart rhythm during autogenic meditation

The underlying changes in heart coherence that are associated with reported EEG changes in response to meditation have been explored. We measured EEG and heart rate variability (HRV) before and during autogenic meditation. Fourteen subjects participated in the study. Heart coherence scores were significantly increased during meditation compared to the baseline. We found near significant decrease in high beta absolute power, increase in alpha relative power and significant increases in lower (alpha) and higher (above beta) band coherence during 3~min epochs of heart coherent meditation compared to 3~min epochs of heart non-coherence at baseline. The coherence and relative power increase in alpha band and absolute power decrease in high beta band could reflect relaxation state during the heart coherent meditation. The coherence increase in the higher (above beta) band could reflect cortico-cortical local integration and thereby affect cognitive reorganization, simultaneously with relaxation. Further research is still needed for a confirmation of heart coherence as a simple window for the meditative state.

[1]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  Regulatory control and adults' stress-related responses to daily life events. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[2]  Henry Kennedy,et al.  The development of cortical connections , 2006, The European journal of neuroscience.

[3]  P. Naitoh,et al.  EEG delta activity during human sleep as a damped ultradian rhythm. , 1973, Psychophysiology.

[4]  S. Porges,et al.  Social Engagement and Attachment , 2003, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[5]  J. Kaiser,et al.  Induced Gamma-Band Activity and Human Brain Function , 2003, The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.

[6]  Roberto D. Pascual-Marqui.  Low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) , 1997 .

[7]  Aribert Rothenberger,et al.  Developmental event‐related gamma oscillations: effects of auditory attention , 2002, The European journal of neuroscience.

[8]  T. Dierks,et al.  Brain mapping of EEG in autogenic training (AT) , 1989, Psychiatry Research.

[9]  J. Polich,et al.  Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies. , 2006, Psychological bulletin.

[10]  D. Isaacowitz,et al.  Fixing Our Focus: Training Attention to Regulate Emotion , 2011, Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

[11]  Regulatory control and adults' stress-related responses to daily life events. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[12]  D. Contreras,et al.  Synchronization of fast (30-40 Hz) spontaneous oscillations in intrathalamic and thalamocortical networks , 1996, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[13]  F. Zeidan,et al.  Mindfulness meditation-related pain relief: Evidence for unique brain mechanisms in the regulation of pain , 2012, Neuroscience Letters.

[14]  Johannes Sarnthein,et al.  High thalamocortical theta coherence in patients with neurogenic pain , 2008, NeuroImage.

[15]  L. Pbert,et al.  Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders. , 1992, The American journal of psychiatry.

[16]  S. Bauer-Wu.  Mindfulness meditation. , 2010, Oncology.

[17]  T. Teyler.  Comparative aspects of hippocampal and neocortical long-term potentiation , 1989, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[18]  M. Fujita,et al.  Effect of autogenic training on cardiac autonomic nervous activity in high-risk fire service workers for posttraumatic stress disorder. , 2006, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[19]  João Ricardo Sato,et al.  Meditation training increases brain efficiency in an attention task , 2012, NeuroImage.

[20]  C. Lursinsap,et al.  Changes in heart rate variability during concentration meditation. , 2008, International journal of cardiology.

[21]  O. Bertrand,et al.  Oscillatory gamma activity in humans and its role in object representation , 1999, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[22]  J. Brewer,et al.  Meditation-induced changes in high-frequency heart rate variability predict smoking outcomes , 2012, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[23]  F. H. Lopes da Silva,et al.  Dynamic characteristics of visual evoked potentials in the dog. II. Beta frequency selectivity in evoked potentials and background activity. , 1970, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[24]  Adrian L. Williams,et al.  Task-Related Changes in Cortical Synchronization Are Spatially Coincident with the Hemodynamic Response , 2002, NeuroImage.

[25]  S. Porges.  The polyvagal perspective , 2007, Biological Psychology.

[26]  Rollin McCraty,et al.  Emotion Self-Regulation, Psychophysiological Coherence, and Test Anxiety: Results from an Experiment Using Electrophysiological Measures , 2010, Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback.

[27]  Yi-Yuan Tang,et al.  Mucosal immunity modulated by integrative meditation in a dose-dependent fashion. , 2010, Journal of alternative and complementary medicine.

[28]  J. Lubar,et al.  Spectral analysis of the central nervous system effects of the relaxation response elicited by autogenic training. , 1989, Behavioral medicine.

[29]  M M Mesulam,et al.  Report of IFCN Committee on Basic Mechanisms. Basic mechanisms of cerebral rhythmic activities. , 1990, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[30]  M. Steriade.  Slow-wave sleep: serotonin, neuronal plasticity, and seizures. , 2004, Archives italiennes de biologie.

[31]  Xiao-Jing Wang.  Neurophysiological and computational principles of cortical rhythms in cognition. , 2010, Physiological reviews.

[32]  Robert J. Barry,et al.  EEG coherence and symptom profiles of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder , 2011, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[33]  J. Sarnthein,et al.  High Thalamocortical Theta Coherence in Patients with Parkinson's Disease , 2007, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[34]  Craig J. Brozinsky,et al.  Oscillatory EEG correlates of episodic trace decay. , 2006, Cerebral cortex.

[35]  Christoph Braun,et al.  Coherence of gamma-band EEG activity as a basis for associative learning , 1999, Nature.

[36]  J. Shear,et al.  Focused attention, open monitoring and automatic self-transcending: Categories to organize meditations from Vedic, Buddhist and Chinese traditions , 2010, Consciousness and Cognition.

[37]  W. Singer,et al.  Temporal binding and the neural correlates of sensory awareness , 2001, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[38]  M. Malik,et al.  Sympathovagal balance: a critical appraisal. , 1998, Circulation.

[39]  Arnaud Delorme,et al.  EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis , 2004, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[40]  R. Mccraty,et al.  The effects of emotions on short-term power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability . , 1995, The American journal of cardiology.

[41]  W. Singer,et al.  Meditation Increases the Depth of Information Processing and Improves the Allocation of Attention in Space , 2012, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[42]  Jessica A. Cardin,et al.  Driving fast-spiking cells induces gamma rhythm and controls sensory responses , 2009, Nature.

[43]  Walton T Roth,et al.  Psychophysiological Effects of Breathing Instructions for Stress Management , 2007, Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback.

[44]  S. Uijtdehaage,et al.  Assessing the accuracy of topographic EEG mapping for determining local brain function. , 1998, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[45]  Derrick G. Watson,et al.  State dissociation in bulimic eating disorders: an experimental study. , 2005, The International journal of eating disorders.

[46]  P. Fink,et al.  Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials , 2011, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica.

[47]  Andreas K. Engel,et al.  Temporal Binding, Binocular Rivalry, and Consciousness , 1999, Consciousness and Cognition.

[48]  R. Thatcher,et al.  EEG and intelligence: Relations between EEG coherence, EEG phase delay and power , 2005, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[49]  Robert W Thatcher,et al.  Development of cortical connections as measured by EEG coherence and phase delays , 2008, Human brain mapping.

[50]  B. Ditto,et al.  Short-term autonomic and cardiovascular effects of mindfulness body scan meditation , 2006, Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

[51]  A. Malliani,et al.  Heart rate variability. Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation, and clinical use , 1996 .

[52]  Jan K. Buitelaar,et al.  The increase in theta/beta ratio on resting-state EEG in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is mediated by slow alpha peak frequency , 2011, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

[53]  T. Gruber,et al.  Regular, brief mindfulness meditation practice improves electrophysiological markers of attentional control , 2012, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[54]  A. von Stein,et al.  Different frequencies for different scales of cortical integration: from local gamma to long range alpha/theta synchronization. , 2000, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[55]  R. Mccraty,et al.  The Coherent Heart Heart-Brain Interactions, Psychophysiological Coherence, and the Emergence of System-Wide Order , 2009 .

[56]  J. Kropotov.  Quantitative EEG, Event-Related Potentials and Neurotherapy , 2008 .

[57]  G. Breithardt,et al.  Heart rate variability: standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use. Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. , 1996 .

[58]  Mitsuru Kikuchi,et al.  Changes in EEG and autonomic nervous activity during meditation and their association with personality traits. , 2005, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[59]  Cardiorespiratory synchronization during Zen , 2005 .

[60]  D. Cysarz,et al.  Cardiorespiratory synchronization during Zen meditation , 2005, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[61]  J. Russell.  Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. , 2003, Psychological review.

[62]  Andreas K. Engel,et al.  Temporal binding and the neural correlates of consciousness , 2003 .

[63]  A. Lutz,et al.  Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation , 2008, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[64]  W. Singer,et al.  Stimulus-specific neuronal oscillations in orientation columns of cat visual cortex. , 1989, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[65]  Mircea Miclea,et al.  Reduced heart rate variability and vagal tone in anxiety: Trait versus state, and the effects of autogenic training , 2009, Autonomic Neuroscience.

[66]  O. Bertrand,et al.  Attention modulates gamma-band oscillations differently in the human lateral occipital cortex and fusiform gyrus. , 2005, Cerebral cortex.

[67]  A. Lutz,et al.  Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice. , 2004, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[68]  James A. J. Heathers.  Sympathovagal balance from heart rate variability: an obituary , 2012, Experimental physiology.

[69]  Claire Braboszcz,et al.  Meditation and neuroscience: From basic research to clinical practice. , 2010 .

[70]  Werner Lutzenberger,et al.  Human gamma-band activity: a window to cognitive processing. , 2005, Neuroreport.

[71]  S. Seo,et al.  Stress and EEG , 2010 .

[72]  E. Ernst,et al.  Autogenic training for tension type headaches: a systematic review of controlled trials. , 2006, Complementary therapies in medicine.

[73]  L. Thompson,et al.  Functional Neuroanatomy and the Rationale for Using EEG Biofeedback for Clients with Asperger’s Syndrome , 2010, Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback.

[74]  Brandon G. King,et al.  Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators , 2011, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[75]  P. Lo,et al.  Inward-attention meditation increases parasympathetic activity: a study based on heart rate variability. , 2008, Biomedical research.

[76]  P. Lehrer,et al.  Principles And Practice Of Stress Management , 1984 .

[77]  Pei-Chen Lo,et al.  Cardiorespiratory phase synchronization during normal rest and inward-attention meditation. , 2010, International journal of cardiology.

[78]  Zoran Josipovic.  Duality and nonduality in meditation research , 2010, Consciousness and Cognition.

[79]  J. Bouyer,et al.  Ventral mesencephalic tegmentum (VMT) controls electrocortical beta rhythms and associated attentive behaviour in the cat , 1982, Behavioural Brain Research.

[80]  Marius Crisan,et al.  Convergence and Hybrid Information Technologies , 2010 .

[81]  Jongwha Kim,et al.  Dynamic correlations between heart and brain rhythm during Autogenic meditation , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[82]  The Neurological Foundations of Psychiatry , 1966 .

[83]  W. Singer,et al.  Oscillatory responses in cat visual cortex exhibit inter-columnar synchronization which reflects global stimulus properties , 1989, Nature.

[84]  F. L. D. Silva,et al.  Basic mechanisms of cerebral rhythmic activities , 1990 .