6. Attention and meditation

Question 1

Why there is increase in scientific interest in consciousness now?

Answer 1

Related to discovery that adult brain is quite plastic -> it can change and adapt throughout lifespan

Question 2

neuroplasticity

Answer 2

capacity of nervous system to modify its organization changes in the structure and function of the brain as a result of experience and learning

Question 3

What are relevant findings from London taxi driver study?

Answer 3

London taxi drivers have larger hippocampus probably due to their spatial map of London (it shows that adult brain can change structurally as result of learning).
Importantly, input variability may play crucial role in this findings.
London taxi drivers are used to variable input (they continously enhance spacial memory.
Bus drivers didn’t show increase in hippocampus area, probably due to fixed routes they were following

Question 4

What are other studies relating to neuroplasticity of adult brain?

Answer 4

Participants were required to move their fingers in specific sequence (2h/day, for 5 days) or think about moving their fingers (2h/day, for 5 days). In both groups increase in brain part responsible for moving fingers was observed -> it shows that mental training can change the brain!

In another study, participants were required to perform working memory test on a computer (90 trials, for 25 days) which also lead to changes in brain activity in working memory areas.

Limitations: both studies were restricted to task-training

Question 5

meditation

Answer 5

systematic mental training of specific, well-defined cognitive and emotional skills

Question 6

How does meditation and neuroplasticity intersect?

Answer 6

There is a growing notion that adult brain is more plastic than expected. As the studies showed the mind can change the brain -> then one could assume that systematic mental training may lead to enduring changes in brain and mental function

Question 7

What are 3 claims of meditation?

Answer 7

1. each practice induces a predictable and distinctive state (or set of states) → reproductible
2. ability to induce the intended state improves over time → training
3. cultivation of this state results in the development of traits → expertise

Question 8

What is the main argument that meditation can lead to more general learning?

Answer 8

There is variability in stimuli

Question 9

What are other strengths of meditation relating to general learning?

Answer 9

• stimulus + task variability: naturally includes many stimuli of various type and domain - auditory, somatosensory, cognitive, emotional, internal, external - that occur in different mental contexts (may induce learning which is not tied to specific task or stimuli)
• types of processes trained: many meditation styles specifically aimed at enhancing higher-order cognitive functions (inhibition of distractors) that play a role in performance on many tasks
• complexity of training context → multiple processes are trained in parallel
• optimal level of arousal = meditation focuses on optimal level of arousal (neither dull, nor to excited)
• motivation→ inherent feature of many meditation practices;
  formal meditation session will often begin and end with
  deliberately invocating some forms of soteriological or
  altruistic motivations
• duration of training

Question 10

What is the value of meditation research?

Answer 10

1) clinical potential for treatment (many disorders characterised by cognitive dysfunction)
2) advancing cognitive-neuroscience models by highlightning associations between specific-training related performance improvements and changes in the brain
3) increase understanding of neural counterparts of subjective experience (practitioners have better introspection)

Question 11

What are 4 main styles in meditation framework?

Answer 11

focused attention meditation, open monitoring meditation, loving kindness meditation, non-dual meditation

Question 12

What are characteristics of focused attention meditation?

Answer 12

• focus on object of meditation (direct and sustain attention)
• if your mind wanders (due to distractors), come back to the object of meditation
• disengage attention from distractors and shift attention back to selected object
• with practice, more and more effortless, stable attention

Question 13

What are characteristics of open monitoring meditation?

Answer 13

• start with focused attention meditation to calm the mind and reduce distractors
• then you drop object of meditation, and just passively observe what pops out in mind
• no judgement, non-reactive awareness
• practice of non-grasping state

Question 14

What are characteristics of loving kindness meditation?

Answer 14

cultivating sense of love and compassion to all living things

Question 15

What are characteristics of non-dual awareness meditation?

Answer 15

relies on accessing the level of awareness which is free from subject observing either object or its own mind = pure awareness or primordial awareness

Question 16

How did William James define a difference between sciousness and consciousness?

Answer 16

con - object orientation = self
sciousness - pure and simple consciousness without self-brand

Question 17

attentional blink

Answer 17

attentional blink - second target accuracy is low when it follows 250-350 miliseconds after target one (attention is still busy processing target one so target two is missed)

Question 18

What are two main theories of attentional blink?

Answer 18

1) limited capacity within the system - attention gets stuck on T1
2) selection-based theories
-> problem in selecting T2 for conscious access

Question 19

What are main methodological considerations relating to meditation studies?

Answer 19

It is impossible to blind participants in meditation studies -> there may be confounds of placebo or Hawthorne effect

Question 20

placebo

Answer 20

patients belief in treatment causes them to get better (if you believe sth may help you, it may turn out that it actually helps you, even if it is a lollipop)

Question 21

Hawthorne effect

Answer 21

alteration of behaviour by the subjects of study due to their awareness of being observed (motivation to perform well on the task due to expectations)

Question 22

How can you attempt to limit impact of non-blind condition on result of the study?

Answer 22

Use meditators as their own controls by studying two types of meditation. Then, a person should be equally motivated to do well on experiment

Question 23

What did Slagter discover in her study on performance on AB task relating to different meditation styles?

Answer 23

Smaller AB blink during open monitoring meditaiton as compared to focused attention meditation was found in experienced practitioners.

Question 24

What is the function of EEG recordings?

Answer 24

Source reconstruction → mapping the signal to the brain areas (generally saying what cortex is activated, but too low spatial resolution to identify EXACT brain locations).

Question 25

How does EEG work?

Answer 25

It measures positive and negative difference in the brain (dipole). When activation in one part of the brain turns out to be positive, other parts of the brain become negative.

Question 26

Why do you need reference EEG electrode? Where is it placed?

Answer 26

This reference electrode is usually placed on the earlobes or bony part behind the ear. It is crucial to control for the noise from surroundings without brain signal.

Question 27

What is characteristic of EEG signal?

Answer 27

You measure it on a level of single electrodes -> you get single trials -> it enables you to collect evidence but it is unclear what you get from it

Question 28

What is characteristic of ERP signal?

Answer 28

It is signal averaged across the trials. The more trials you average, the more stable it becomes. You use it to interpret the results.