Patterns of EEG coherence, power, and contingent negative variation characterize the integration of transcendental and waking states

• Published in: Biological psychology Vol. 61; no. 3; pp. 293 - 319
• Main Authors: Travis, Fred, Tecce, Joe, Arenander, Alarik, Wallace, R.Keith
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 01.11.2002; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adult; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; CNV; Coherence; EEG; Electroencephalography; Electrophysiology; Enlightenment; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Meditation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reaction Time; Sleep - physiology; Transcendental experiences; Visual Perception - physiology; Wakefulness - physiology; Meditation; Enlightenment; EEG; Coherence; TM; CNV; Transcendental experiences; Human; Vigilance; Electrophysiology; Cognition; Electroencephalography; Transcendental meditation; Spectral analysis; Investigation method; Arousal; Information processing; Problem solving; Reaction time; Contingent negative variation
• ISSN: 0301-0511; 1873-6246
• DOI: 10.1016/S0301-0511(02)00048-0

Long-term meditating subjects report that transcendental experiences (TE), which first occurred during their Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice, now subjectively co-exist with waking and sleeping states. To investigate neurophysiological correlates of this integrated state, we recorded EEG in these subjects and in two comparison groups during simple and choice contingent negative variation (CNV) tasks. In individuals reporting the integration of the transcendent with waking and sleeping, CNV was higher in simple but lower in choice trials, and 6–12 Hz EEG amplitude and broadband frontal EEG coherence were higher during choice trials. Increased EEG amplitude and coherence, characteristic of TM practice, appeared to become a stable EEG trait during CNV tasks in these subjects. These significant EEG differences may underlie the inverse patterns in CNV amplitude seen between groups. An ‘Integration Scale,’ constructed from these cortical measures, may characterize the transformation in brain dynamics corresponding to increasing integration of the transcendent with waking and sleeping.