Meditation and Gamma Waves

Meditation and Gamma Waves (Lutz et al., 2004)

• Aim: Investigate effects of meditation (cognition) on the brain (physiology)
• Method: Compare buddhist monks who meditated long-term with 10 control participants who had just learned to meditate
  
  • The control participants were asked to practice meditation for 1 hour a day for 1 week
  • Used EEG recordings to compare brain activity of long-term (monks) and short-term (controls) meditators
• Results: Monks and 2 control participants had higher gamma wave activity
  
  • When the control participants stopped meditating their gamma wave activity returned to normal whereas the monks' gamma wave activity remained high
• Conclusion: Meditation (cognition) can have a permanent change on physiology (the gamma waves) if practiced enough
  
  • Gamma waves are supposedly related to higher reasoning ability, better memory, self-control, happiness and compassion