Long-Term Inquiry Meditation Reduces EEG Spectral Dynamics in Self-Schema Processing

Abstract

Objective: Intuitive inquiry meditation is a unique form of Buddhist Chan practice that actively and intuitively utilizes the cognitive functions of doubt to explore the concept of self. This event-related potential (ERP) study aimed to investigate how intuitive inquiry meditation engages the doubt process and probed its potential neural correlates.

Methods: Twenty experienced- and eighteen beginner- intuitive inquiry meditators were recruited for this ERP study, which would probe into the doubt process and concepts of self and Buddha. A 128-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) system was used to collect the EEG data. The ERP data were processed and analysed using EEGLAB.

Results: It showed a double dissociation between beginners and experienced meditators in concepts of self and Buddha: intuitive inquiry meditation reduced the brain activity of beginners when they viewed the Buddha picture but not of themselves. However, for the experienced meditators, intuitive inquiry meditation reduced brain activity when they viewed images of themselves but not when viewing the Buddha image. Further event-related perturbation spectrum analysis revealed that monks had a more dynamic brain spectrum mainly at the theta wave range, indicating that monks engaged more dynamic cognitive resources than the less experienced participants.

Discussion: Intuitive inquiry meditation could help beginning meditators to detach from concepts of the Buddha but not the self. However, for the long-term meditators, it is the opposite.  ERSP analysis shows that only long-term meditators have significant dynamic brain activities during intuitive inquiry meditation, which might enable these practitioners to become spontaneously detached from the concept of self.

Keywords: Event Related Potential (ERP), Inquiry meditation (Zen, Chan), Self schema, Doubt, Belief, EEG spectral dynamics