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    Common spatial pattern for classification of loving kindness meditation EEG for single and multiple sessions
    (BioMed Central Ltd, Springer Nature, 2023-09-09) Liyanagedera ND; Hussain AA; Singh A; Lal S; Kempton H; Guesgen HW
    While a very few studies have been conducted on classifying loving kindness meditation (LKM) and non-meditation electroencephalography (EEG) data for a single session, there are no such studies conducted for multiple session EEG data. Thus, this study aims at classifying existing raw EEG meditation data on single and multiple sessions to come up with meaningful inferences which will be highly beneficial when developing algorithms that can support medita- tion practices. In this analysis, data have been collected on Pre-Resting (before-meditation), Post-Resting (after- meditation), LKM-Self and LKM-Others for 32 participants and hence allowing us to conduct six pairwise comparisons for the four mind tasks. Common Spatial Patterns (CSP) is a feature extraction method widely used in motor imaginary brain computer interface (BCI), but not in meditation EEG data. Therefore, using CSP in extracting features from medi- tation EEG data and classifying meditation/non-meditation instances, particularly for multiple sessions will create a new path in future meditation EEG research. The classification was done using Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) where both meditation techniques (LKM-Self and LKM-Others) were compared with Pre-Resting and Post-Resting instances. The results show that for a single session of 32 participants, around 99.5% accuracy was obtained for clas- sifying meditation/Pre-Resting instances. For the 15 participants when using five sessions of EEG data, around 83.6% accuracy was obtained for classifying meditation/Pre-Resting instances. The results demonstrate the ability to classify meditation/Pre-Resting data. Most importantly, this classification is possible for multiple session data as well. In addi- tion to this, when comparing the classification accuracies of the six mind task pairs; LKM-Self, LKM-Others and Post- Resting produced relatively lower accuracies among them than the accuracies obtained for classifying Pre-Resting with the other three. This indicates that Pre-Resting has some features giving a better classification indicating that it is different from the other three mind tasks.
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    A Framework for the Empirical Investigation of Mindfulness Meditative Development
    (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2023-05) Galante J; Grabovac A; Wright M; Ingram DM; Van Dam NT; Sanguinetti JL; Sparby T; van Lutterveld R; Sacchet MD
    Millions of people globally have learned mindfulness meditation with the goal of improving health and well-being outcomes in both clinical and non-clinical contexts. An estimated half of these practitioners follow mindfulness teachers’ recommendations to continue regular meditation after completion of initial instruction, but it is unclear whether benefits are strengthened by regular practice and whether harm can occur. Increasing evidence shows a wide range of experiences that can arise with regular mindfulness meditation, from profoundly positive to challenging and potentially harmful. Initial research suggests that complex interactions and temporal sequences may explain these experiential phenomena and their relations to health and well-being. We believe further study of the effects of mindfulness meditation is urgently needed to better understand the benefits and challenges of continued practice after initial instructions. Effects may vary systematically over time due to factors such as initial dosage, accumulation of ongoing practice, developing skill of the meditator, and complex interactions with the subjects’ past experiences and present environment. We propose that framing mindfulness meditation experiences and any associated health and well-being benefits within integrated longitudinal models may be more illuminating than treating them as discrete, unrelated events. We call for ontologically agnostic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research to study the effects of continued mindfulness meditation and their contexts, advancing the view that practical information found within religious and spiritual contemplative traditions can serve to develop initial theories and scientifically falsifiable hypotheses. Such investigation could inform safer and more effective applications of mindfulness meditation training for improving health and well-being.
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    Altered States of Consciousness are Prevalent and Insufficiently Supported Clinically: A Population Survey
    (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2024-05-17) Wright MJ; Galante J; Corneille JS; Grabovac A; Ingram DM; Sacchet MD
    Objectives: Adoption of potentially consciousness-altering practices may be leading to a rise in emergent phenomena (EP): sudden unusual mental or somatic experiences often interpreted as spiritual, mystical, energetic, or magical in nature. It is unclear how frequently these altered states of consciousness occur and what the clinical implications may be. Anecdotal accounts and prior literature suggest that EP may be common, under-reported, and followed by either positive or negative changes to well-being. We sought to supplement prior evidence on the prevalence and effects of EP among general populations with large-scale quantitative measurements. Method: We measured the prevalence of EP, while not on mind-altering substances, through completion of online surveys by representative samples from three international communities (n = 3135). The communities sampled were UK Qualtrics online panelists, US-based MTurk workers, and the readers of a popular rationalist blog. Samples were broadly representative of underlying populations. Results: Forty-five percent of participants reported experiencing non-pharmacologically induced EP at least once in their lives, including derealization (17%), unitive experiences (15%), ecstatic thrills (15%), vivid perceptions (11%), changes in perceived size (10%), bodily heat or electricity (9%), out-of-body experiences (8%), and perception of non-physical lights (5%). Respondents reported a mix of positive and negative well-being outcomes following EP, with 13% claiming moderate or greater suffering and 1.1% claiming life-threatening suffering. Of those who experienced suffering, 63% did not seek help. Conclusions: EP are widespread among the studied populations with potential for both positive and negative outcomes, the latter of which do not appear to be adequately addressed through recourse to clinical practice.
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    Network models of mindfulness : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Smith, Joseph Hendry
    Contemporary mindfulness research at the level of self-report has often represented mindfulness as a latent (trait) variable. Recently, a novel psychometric methodology has been developed which allows mindfulness to be modelled as a complex system or network at the level of self-report. This network perspective is argued to provide a more plausible conceptualisation of mindfulness. A network perspective implies that a more densely connected network of practices may be indicative of a greater level of development of mindfulness. It also implies that certain practices may be more strongly interconnected or central than others. These highly central practices may be potentially useful targets for interventions. Mindfulness networks were estimated for practitioners and non-practitioners using the Friedberg Mindfulness Inventory (Study 1) and an adapted version of the Applied Mindfulness Process Scale (Study 2). A total of 371 regular mindfulness practitioners, 224 non-practitioners and 59 irregular practitioners were recruited online from the Amazon Mechanical Turk database. Across both measures, comparisons between practitioners and non-practitioners’ networks indicated that network density did not significantly differ, whereas evidence was found in support of a significant difference in network structure. Exploratory analyses revealed practitioners’ networks to be characterised by greater differentiation in their community structures relative to non-practitioners across both measures. In Study 1, Acceptance was revealed to be much more central to the practitioners’ network relative to non-practitioners; and Returning to the Present much more peripheral. The practice of Attending to Actions and/or the negative path it shared with Self-kindness were identified as possible targets to facilitate mindfulness in non-practitioners. In Study 2, highly eudemonic practices were revealed to be more central to the practitioners’ network relative to non-practitioners, whilst more foundational de-centering practices were more peripheral. These studies provide support for the plausibility of investigating mindfulness as a complex network at the level of self-report. However, the lack of difference in network density indicates that future research is needed to examine network dynamics in the context of regular mindfulness practice. Future research is also required to establish whether the networks estimated are behavioural or semantic.
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    Ngā mea kōaro o ngā wā tamarikitanga, te taumahatanga o aua mea me ētahi mahi whakaora hinegaro mō ngā wāhine Māori = Adverse childhood experiences, HPA axis functioning and culturally enhanced mindfulness therapy among Māori women in Aotearoa New Zealand : a dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Ketu-McKenzie, Miriama Deborah
    Chronic health conditions such as obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression and anxiety are prevalent among Māori women in New Zealand, as are adverse experiences in childhood and chronic stress. Recent studies have shown a link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and chronic health problems later in life. Many of those studies propose that dysregulation in the stress response system - specifically the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis - mediates that link. Cortisol is the primary corticosteroid released by the HPA axis and is commonly used as a biomarker for assessing HPA axis functioning. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a therapy that uses a range of breathing techniques, stretches, formal meditations and awareness exercises designed to help regulate the stress response by changing the way the brain manages and relates to stress. Due to its Eastern roots, MBSR therapy assumes an holistic view of health that mirrors some of the key concepts promoted in Te Ao Māori. This research tested the HPA axis functioning of eight adult Māori women who had experienced high ACEs, and explored associations between cortisol dysregulation, visceral obesity (a risk factor for many chronic health conditions) and psychological distress. This research also tested the clinical effectiveness and cultural responsiveness of an MBSR course that had been enhanced to suit a Māori audience. Participants provided pre, mid and post-treatment salivary cortisol samples that measured changes to their acute stress cortisol response, as well as changes to their daily cortisol slope, their cortisol awakening response and their overall cortisol levels. They also provided pre and post-treatment waist circumference measurements. Self-report data assessing depression and anxiety levels, PTSD levels, stress eating habits, perceived stress levels and mindful awareness levels, was collected, as was qualitative data in the form of pre and post-treatment interviews. The results indicated that culturally enhanced MBSR therapy was well received with this sample of Māori women and that the participants reported a wide range of benefits as a result of practicing mindfulness meditation.
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    The relative effects of hypnosis, transcendental meditation, and a Western meditation on anxiety and self actualization in high and low susceptibility subjects : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1981) Zika, Bill
    This study investigated the relationship between hypnosis and varying forms of meditation in order to determine their effects upon psychological measures of anxiety and self-actualization. Furthermore, an attempt was made to determine whether the subject variable of hypnotic susceptibility interacted with hypnosis and meditation in a similar manner to elicit significant decreases in anxiety and increases in self-actualization. The postulated antecedent variables to hypnotic susceptibility 1 positive attitudes, expectancies and motivation together with 2 a shift in cognitive orientation from an objective perspective to one of involvement in suggestion-related imagining were also investigated to assess their predictability of hypnotic susceptibility and their independent effects on anxiety and self-actualization. Finally, a placebo control condition was included for the purpose of assessing any placebo effects evident in the outcome achieved using hypnosis and meditation as well as to compare the efficacy of this technique with that of hypnosis and meditation. In recent years, a number of studies have focused upon the psychological and psychotherapeutic effects of the regular practice of self regulation strategies including hypnosis and meditation. While many of these studies have drawbacks in terms of poor methodology, there are a significant number of tightly controlled investigations into the effects of hypnosis and meditation which have indicated similar subjective and behavioural outcomes. These studies have shown similar effects upon psychological and psychotherapeutic measures using hypnosis and meditation treatment modalities. In addition, some recent investigations have suggested that common subject variables, including hypnotic susceptibility, may interact with these conditions to produce beneficial psychological effects. Furthermore, in studies where a placebo technique was utilized, the results showed similar beneficial effects by those practicing this "technique" compared with those practicing meditation. Therefore, further clarification of the relationship between the practice of hypnosis, meditation and a placebo technique was indicated. The 57 subjects who volunteered for the study were randomly assigned to one of the five treatment or control conditions following their assessment of hypnotic susceptibility using the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Form A, and pre tests on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) along with an attitudes questionaire. These conditions were: 1 hypnosis 2 Transcendental Meditation 3 A Western Meditation 4 placebo control 5 non-meditating control. Subjects were given a tape-cassette recording of the technique and instructions to practice over the six-week treatment period. At the conclusion of the treatment period, subjects were post tested on the STAI, the POI, and those in groups one to four were given an Imagining Questionaire. The data was collected and analyzed using a 2-way and 3-way analysis of variance (groups by pre and post test/groups by susceptibility by pre and post test/groups by attitudes by pre and post test/groups by imagining by pre and post test). A priori comparisons were drawn to assess significant within group and between group changes using 2-tailed F tests of significance. In addition, correlational data was obtained through a multiple regression correlation to assess the relationships of the antecedent variables (Attitudes and Imagining) to the mediating variable (Hypnotic Susceptibility). The results suggest that the regular practice of hypnosis and meditation elicit beneficial psychotherapeutic effects in terms of anxiety reduction and increased self-actualization. This tendency was shown to be very similar for the hypnosis and the TM groups with some differences noted in the major scales on which the Western Meditation and placebo control groups recorded significant improvements. There was some indication of a placebo effect operating in both the hypnosis and meditation treatment conditions. However, this effect alone was insufficient to explain the significance of results obtained by the hypnosis and TM groups and indicates the importance of a hypnotic or meditative state and/or cognitive-behavioural factors in addition to expectancies. For the subject variable of hypnotic susceptibility, the results are complex and somewhat contradictory. They indicate that hypnotic susceptibility interacts with the practice of hypnosis and meditation to reduce anxiety; perhaps due to the common effects of relaxation. Whereas, for the dependent variable of self-actualization, hypnotic susceptibility was unrelated to significant change in the hypnosis and TM groups on the major scales, while showing some relationship to the degree of improvement on the subscales. However, in the Western Meditation group, high susceptibility subjects showed a greater number of significant increases in self-actualization than low susceptibility subjects across all scales. This confounding of overall results when assessing the relevance of hypnotic susceptibility as a subject variable suggests important differences between current methods of assessing hypnotizability (task hypnosis) and the clinical use of hypnosis to facilitate anxiety reduction and self-actualizing values and behaviour (relaxation hypnosis). The findings suggest a relationship between hypnosis and meditation in terms of common subject variables and consequent effects. The nature of this relationship bears further investigation. A clarification of the role of hypnotic susceptibility in the practice of hypnosis and meditation may be fruitfully explored by examining the relationship between task hypnosis as measured by standardized scales and relaxation hypnosis with suggestions for self improvement as used in a variety of clinical settings. In addition, the various modes of accessing information presented in hypnosis and meditation (e.g. visual, auditory, kinesthetic) bears further exploration. Finally, the results of this study underscore the importance of using a placebo condition in further research into hypnosis and meditation and suggest the need to investigate the similarities and differences between hypnosis and meditation compared with varying placebo techniques.
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    Sound Vision: patterns of vibration in sound, symbols and the body : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the Master of Design, Institute of Communication Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2008) Linton, Rachael
    Historical and contemporary views such as those held within Buddhist and Hindu religion support the idea that sound, colour and form in motion have the ability to alter physiological and psychological aspects of human function. Within these, religions, distinctive singing and meditation techniques can be used to aid concentration, calm and balance the mind, and soothe the body. A meditative technique adopted by Hindu and Buddhist practitioners is to draw the mind into a centred point of focus, blocking out external distractions that inhibit concentration. The sound based meditation Om, for example, is a most powerful mantra, capable of healing and elevating consciousness (Beck, 1995). Vocal sounding and chant as well as gazing at or visualising images are techniques that have been utilised in ancient religious practice to aid people to develop their natural capabilities to shift energy within body and mind. Contemporary neuroscientists are interested in the states of mind that Buddhist monks claim to enter into while sounding. Equipped with technology for analysing brainwave activity, experiments have revealed that electromagnetic stimuli such as sound, light and colour can have physical affect upon the practitioner’s brain. Researchers have developed new therapeutic tools and techniques to benefit the health and well-being of individuals from these findings. This thesis traces the therapeutic use of sound, light, colour and form in motion from ancient Hindu and Buddhist religion into its use in complementary therapy. Sound Vision is the name of the film which fulfils the practical component of this research. Inspired by the visual form and motion of sound, this thesis contemplates: if we could see sound, what would it look like and could those images function as a healing art form? Sound Vision translates ancient and contemporary techniques of therapy into a digital audio/visual medium to function as visual therapy and aid for meditation. The themes of this research are foremost to visualise sound and secondly to deduce aspects of sound and vision that have therapeutic qualities. Chapter Three of this thesis thematically outlines qualities of sound that have been found to be capable of exciting or calming its listener. The same process has been applied for vision, specifically how light and colour affect the viewer as well as for form in motion. An interim presentation of the preliminary film, Dance of Light, was exhibited in November 2008 and here formative feedback was gained through unobtrusive observation and discussions with viewers toward the development of Sound Vision. Aspects of the film were found to provoke feelings of unease and tension while other aspects incited focus and calm. Sound Vision, serves as a prototype apply healing using light therapy to create positive physical and psychological outcomes. From the research presented within this thesis, Sound Vision employs various digital methods and techniques which are recognised with ability towards healing. Explorations to further this thesis’ research may include Neurological brainwave analysis and patient testing to determine which kinds of video footage produce particular desirable results.