Neuroimaging reveals distinct patterns of brain activation

Previous research suggests that meditation and exposure to art or nature can have a positive impact on people’s well-being and brain health, in some cases even reducing stress and promoting emotional processing. Yet most previous studies have focused on each of these experiences individually, rather than comparing their effects on brain activity.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles set out to examine brain activation patterns associated with cosmic soul connection visualization-based transcendental meditation and compare them to those of people watching videos of digital art or evocative nature.

Their findings, published in Frontiers of human neurosciencesuggest that these different types of transcendent experiences elicit different patterns of brain activation.

“We recruited nine healthy adults with low levels of stress and anxiety and exposed them in the fMRI scanner to Rafik Anandol’s digital art videos, nature videos from national parks and compared these conditions for rest and meditation”, Dr Helen Lavretsky. , lead author of the paper, told Medical Xpress.

“We trained participants to perform transcendental meditation on the cosmic soul while watching videos about the stellar nebula. Watching videos was the common element between conditions to control visual stimulation that activated the visual cortex.”

After teaching nine participants a transcendental meditation practice, the researchers asked them to perform the practice with their heads inside an fMRI scanner so they could record their brain activity. The team also recorded participants’ brain activity in the scanner while they watched nature videos and while they viewed digital artwork created by Turkish-born visual artist Refik Anadol, faculty member at UCLA.

“We found that compared to rest, meditation led to a blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) increase in bilateral lateral occipital and fusiform gyrus, as well as the right postcentral gyrus and hippocampus,” explained Dr. Lavretsky.

“Compared to viewing AI-generated digital art, increased BOLD responses during meditation were observed in the left parietal and central operculum, as well as the right pre- and postcentral gyri, and compared to nature, they were observed in the left parietal operculum, postcentral and bilateral gyri and bilateral lateral occipital cortices.

Using their new experimental paradigm, the researchers were able to explore the unique neural signatures of three distinct “transcendent” human experiences that could potentially reduce stress.

Their results suggest that the brain regions activated by these three types of experiences differ significantly, which could help to better understand the neural processes by which they might bring pleasure and increase well-being.

“Compared to rest, meditation showed brain activation in regions associated with processing objects, senses and memory,” Dr. Lavretsky said.

“Compared to watching nature videos, meditation led to activity in bilateral sensory and object processing areas, as well as a left sensory integration region (error monitoring), while compared to Viewing art videos, meditation showed activity in the left sensory integration and right sensorimotor regions.”

Although the sample of participants in the recent project is relatively small, the results collected by these researchers could inspire more studies evaluating the neural signatures and therapeutic effects of transcendental meditation, nature observation, and exposure to digital art.

In the meantime, Dr. Lavretsky and his colleagues plan to conduct their own additional studies to further explore the potential of contemplative experiences to reduce stress and improve well-being.

“Further studies are needed to delineate the distinct neural signature and therapeutic effects of inner contemplation using the human connection to art, nature, or transcendent meditative practices, in the brain and its potential in clinical applications,” added Dr. Lavretsky.

“In our future work, we will continue to address the role of spiritual neuroscience and neuroaesthetics in documenting the neural mechanisms of the human experience of transcendence and in finding therapeutic solutions for stress-related disorders.”

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