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Long-term meditation training induced changes in the operational synchrony of default mode network modules during a resting state

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Abstract

Using theoretical analysis of self-consciousness concept and experimental evidence on the brain default mode network (DMN) that constitutes the neural signature of self-referential processes, we hypothesized that the anterior and posterior subnets comprising the DMN should show differences in their integrity as a function of meditation training. Functional connectivity within DMN and its subnets (measured by operational synchrony) has been measured in ten novice meditators using an electroencephalogram (EEG) recording in a pre-/post-meditation intervention design. We have found that while the whole DMN was clearly suppressed, different subnets of DMN responded differently after 4 months of meditation training: The strength of EEG operational synchrony in the right and left posterior modules of the DMN decreased in resting post-meditation condition compared to a pre-meditation condition, whereas the frontal DMN module on the contrary exhibited an increase in the strength of EEG operational synchrony. These findings combined with published data on functional–anatomic heterogeneity within the DMN and on trait subjective experiences commonly found following meditation allow us to propose that the first-person perspective and the sense of agency (the witnessing observer) are presented by the frontal DMN module, while the posterior modules of the DMN are generally responsible for the experience of the continuity of ‘I’ as embodied and localized within bodily space. Significance of these findings is discussed.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. This conclusion is further supported by evidence that DMN structured interactions do not exist in preterm infants (Fransson et al. 2007, 2009), are underdeveloped in infants (Gao et al. 2009), and develop an adult-like structural patterns only by age 7–9 (Fair et al. 2008; Thomason et al. 2008). The role of the DMN in supporting self-conscious experience is also confirmed by empirical evidence from patients with disorders of consciousness (Laureys 2005; Vanhaudenhuyse et al. 2010; Fingelkurts et al. 2012), as well as during anesthesia (Greicius et al. 2008) and brain death (Boly et al. 2009).

  2. State effect refers to altered sensory, cognitive, and neurophysiological effects that can arise during meditation practice (Cahn and Polich 2006).

  3. Trait effect refers to lasting changes in altered sensory, cognitive, and neurophysiological effects that persist in the meditator irrespective of being actively engaged in meditation at the moment (Cahn and Polich 2006).

  4. Though there are some studies where correlation of DMN with other frequency bands has been found (Berkovich-Ohana et al. 2012, 2014; Neuner et al. 2014), the positive correlation of DMN with alpha band is the most reproducible.

  5. Even though some researchers attribute to the term ‘agency’ just the active (volitional) control or action, the term is much broader. Starting from the early phenomenologists like Merleau-Ponty or Husserl, the agency is understood as ‘mines,’ or the ‘sense of ownership’ of thoughts, perceptions, and actions relevant to selfhood (Metzinger 2004; de Vignemont and Fourneret 2004; Hohwy 2007; Blanke and Metzinger 2009). In other words, agency means the sense that it is ‘I’ who is undergoing an experience in its implicit first-person mode of givenness (Gallagher 2000; Zahavi 2005). It is this ‘self-ownership’ that has been claimed to be the most fundamental aspect of phenomenal selfhood (Gallagher 2000; Aspell et al. 2009; Blanke and Metzinger 2009). In such conceptualization, the agent could be a passive observer, who just witnesses events, perceptions, or thoughts in its implicit first-person mode of givenness.

  6. While usually meditation effects considered to be positive and beneficial, they could become maladaptive and negative if overexpressed in individuals with a particular set of constitutional neurophysiological characteristics (for a detailed analysis see Fingelkurts et al. 2015).

  7. Interestingly, narrative thoughts and mind-wandering has been linked to negative emotions (Smallwood et al. 2009) and a sense of unhappiness (Killingsworth and Gilbert 2010; Fell 2012).

Abbreviations

qEEG:

Quantitative electroencephalogram

DMN:

Default mode network

OM:

Operational module

OS:

Operational synchrony

RTP:

Rapid transitional period

SC:

Synchrocomplex

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Acknowledgments

The authors did not receive funding for this study. The authors would like to thank Dmitry Skarin for language editing and all participants of the meditation training course. Special thanks go to Tapio Saarinen with whom the authors discussed DMN-related aspects, which then motivated the authors to conduct this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BM-Science – Brain and Mind Technologies Research Centre, P.O. Box 77, 02601, Espoo, Finland

    Andrew A. Fingelkurts & Alexander A. Fingelkurts

  2. Physics Foundations Society and Society for Natural Philosophy, Helsinki, Finland

    Tarja Kallio-Tamminen

Authors
  1. Andrew A. Fingelkurts
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  2. Alexander A. Fingelkurts
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  3. Tarja Kallio-Tamminen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew A. Fingelkurts.

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Handling Editor: Narayanan Srinivasan, University of Allahabad.

Reviewers: Joseph Glicksohn, Bar-Ilan University; Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, University of Haifa; Fred Travis, Maharishi University.

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Fingelkurts, A.A., Fingelkurts, A.A. & Kallio-Tamminen, T. Long-term meditation training induced changes in the operational synchrony of default mode network modules during a resting state. Cogn Process 17, 27–37 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-015-0743-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-015-0743-4

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