MindPapers: 8.6c. Meditation and Consciousness

Aftanas, L. I. & Golosheikin, S. A. (2003). Changes in cortical activity in altered states of consciousness: The study of meditation by high-resolution EEG. Human Physiology 29 (2):143-151. (Cited by 4 | Google | More links | Edit)

Atkinson, R. P. & Earl, H. (1996). Enhanced vigilance in guided meditation: Implications of altered consciousness. In Stuart R. Hameroff, Alfred W. Kaszniak & A. C. Scott (eds.), Toward a Science of Consciousness. MIT Press. (Google | Edit)

Barušs, Imants (2003). Transcendence. In Imants Baruss (ed.), Alterations of Consciousness: An Empirical Analysis for Social Scientists. American Psychological Association. (Google | Edit)

Fontana, David (2007). Meditation. In Max Velmans & Susan Schneider (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. Blackwell. (Google | Edit)

Forman, R. (1998). What does mysticism have to teach us about consciousness? In Stuart R. Hameroff, Alfred W. Kaszniak & A. C. Scott (eds.), Toward a Science of Consciousness. MIT Press. (Cited by 22 | Google | Edit)

Goleman, Daniel (1976). Meditation and consciousness: An asian approach to mental health. American Journal of Psychotherapy 30:41-54. (Cited by 12 | Google | More links | Edit)

Griffiths, Paul J. (1986). On Being Mindless: Buddhist Meditation And The Mind-Body Problem. La Salle: Open Court. (Cited by 12 | Google | More links | Edit)

Hanna, Fred J. (2000). Dissoving the center: Streamlining the mind and dismantling the self. In Tobin Hart, Peter L. Nelson & Kaisa Puhakka (eds.), Transpersonal Knowing: Exploring the Horizon of Consciousness. State University of New York Press. (Google | Edit)

Irwin, Ronald R. (2000). Meditation and the evolution of consciousness: Theoretical and practical solutions to midlife angst. In Melvin E. Miller & Alan N. West (eds.), Spirituality, Ethics, and Relationship in Adulthood: Clinical and Theoretical Explorations. Psychosocial Press. (Google | Edit)

Josipovic, Zoran, Neural correlates of nondual awareness. (Google | Edit)

Korman, Robert K. C. (1986). Pure consciousness events and mysticism. Sophia 25 (April):49-58. (Google | Edit)

Lutz, Antoine; Dunne, John D. & Davidson, Richard J. (2007). Meditation and the neuroscience of consciousness. In P.D. Zelazo, Morris Moscovitch & Evan Thompson (eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness. Cambridge. (Cited by 1 | Google | More links | Edit)

Lutz, Antoine; Dunne, John D. & Davidson, Richard J. (2007). Meditation and the neuroscience of consciousness: An introduction. In Philip David Zelazo, Morris Moscovitch & Evan Thompson (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness. Cambridge. (Cited by 1 | Google | More links | Edit)

Abstract: in Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness edited by Zelazo P., Moscovitch M. and Thompson E. (2007)

MacKenna, Christopher (2004). Conscious change and changing consciousness: Some thoughts on the psychology of meditation. British Journal of Psychotherapy 21 (1):103-118. (Google | Edit)

Novak, P. (1996). Buddhist meditation and consciousness of time. Journal of Consciousness Studies 3 (3):267-77. (Cited by 4 | Google | Edit)

Pascual-Leone, Juan (2000). Mental attention, conscious, and the progressive emergence of wisdom. Journal of Adult Development. Special Issue 1949 (4):241-254. (Google | Edit)

Pendleton, Gene (1996). Of pure consciousness experiences: A reply to Forman. Sophia 35 (2):63-66. (Google | Edit)

Shapiro, D. H. (1982). Meditation as an altered state of consciousness: Contributions of western behavioral science. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 15:61-81. (Cited by 2 | Google | Edit)

Shear, Jonathan & Jevning, Ron (1999). Pure consciousness: Scientific exploration of meditation techniques. Journal of Consciousness Studies 6 (2-3):189-209. (Cited by 18 | Google | More links | Edit)

Shear, Jonathan (1983). The experience of pure consciousness: A new perspective for theories of self. Metaphilosophy 14 (January):53-62. (Google | Edit)

Srinivasan, N. & Baijal, S. (2007). Concentrative meditation enhances pre-attentive processing: A MMN study. Neuroreport 18 (16):1709-1712. (Google | More links | Edit)

Travis, Frederick T. & Wallace, R. K. (1999). Autonomic and EEG patterns during eyes-closed rest and transcendental meditation (TM) practice: The basis for a neural model of TM practice. Consciousness and Cognition 8 (3):302-318. (Google | Edit)

Abstract: In this single-blind within-subject study, autonomic and EEG variables were compared during 10-min, order-balanced eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation (TM) sessions. TM sessions were distinguished by (1) lower breath rates, (2) lower skin conductance levels, (3) higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia levels, and (4) higher alpha anterior-posterior and frontal EEG coherence. Alpha power was not significantly different between conditions. These results were seen in the first minute and were maintained throughout the 10-min sessions. TM practice appears to (1) lead to a state fundamentally different than eyes-closed rest; (2) result in a cascade of events in the central and autonomic nervous systems, leading to a rapid change in state (within a minute) that was maintained throughout the TM session; and (3) be best distinguished from other conditions through autonomic and EEG alpha coherence patterns rather than alpha power. Two neural networks that may mediate these effects are suggested. The rapid shift in physiological functioning within the first minute might be mediated by a ''neural switch'' in prefrontal areas inhibiting activity in specific and nonspecific thalamocortical circuits. The resulting ''restfully alert'' state might be sustained by a basal ganglia-corticothalamic threshold regulation mechanism automatically maintaining lower levels of cortical excitability

Travis, Frederick T. & Pearson, C. (2000). Pure consciousness: Distinct phenomenological and physiological correlates of "consciousness itself". International Journal of Neuroscience 100 (1):77-89. (Cited by 27 | Google | More links | Edit)

Venkatesh, S.; Raju, T. R.; Shivani, Y.; Tompkins, G. & Meti, B. L. (1997). A study of structure of phenomenology of consciousness in meditative and non-meditative states. Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 41:149-53. (Cited by 2 | Google | Edit)

West, M. (1983). Meditation and self-awareness: Physiological and phenomenological approaches. In G. Underwood (ed.), Aspects of Consciousness, Volume 3: Awareness and Self-Awareness. Academic Press. (Google | Edit)

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