exceptional experiences and altered states of consciousness

Neuronal correlates of mindfulness

Since the turn of the millennium, meditation research using imaging techniques has increased significantly. The working group at BION was among the first in the world to carry out studies with functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging with meditators (Hölzel et al., 2007, 2008).

As part of a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Union, Britta Hölzel successfully continued her studies together with Sarah Lazar at the renowned Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) at Harvard University in the USA.

In Giessen, Tim Gard conducted a study on the modulation of pain perception through mindfulness, which showed striking differences in the anticipation and processing of pain stimuli in experienced mindfulness meditators (Gard et al., 2012).

Other focal points of the working group at BION were:

  • Effects of mindfulness practice on the ageing of brain structures (Laneri et al., 2015) and implications for dementia prevention (Rumpf, 2016) and
  • supporting mindfulness training with the help of EEG biofeedback (Prestel et al., 2018, 2019).

The linked lecture by Ulrich Ott at the University of Jena provides an overview of the current state of research into the neuronal correlates of various meditation techniques.

Mindfulness practice: motivation, technique, effectiveness and risks
Lecture by Ulrich Ott, Jena Mindfulness Lectures 2024
Promotion
  • Britta Hölzel: Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Program
  • Davide Laneri: Project funding from the Von Behring-Röntgen Foundation, Marburg
Cooperations
  • Sarah Lazar, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard University, U.S.A.
  • University of Marburg, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Multimodal Neuroimaging Group

Project team

Publications

Gard, T., Hölzel, B. K., Sack, A. T., Hempel, H., Lazar, S. W., Vaitl, D., & Ott, U. (2012). Pain attenuation through mindfulness is associated with decreased cognitive control and increased sensory processing in the brain. Cerebral Cortex, 22(11), 2692-2702. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhr352

Hölzel, B. K., Lazar, S. W., Gard, T., Schuman-Olivier, Z., Vago, D. R., & Ott, U. (2011). How does mindfulness meditation work? Proposing mechanisms of action from a conceptual and neural perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(6), 537-559. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691611419671

Hölzel, B. K., Ott, U., Gard, T., Hempel, H., Weygandt, M., Morgen, K., & Vaitl, D. (2008). Investigation of mindfulness meditation practitioners with voxel-based morphometry. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 3(1), 55-61. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsm038

Hölzel, B. K., Ott, U., Hempel, H., Hackl, A., Wolf, K., Stark, R., & Vaitl, D. (2007). Differential engagement of anterior cingulate and adjacent medial frontal cortex in adept meditators and non-meditators. Neuroscience Letters, 421(1), 16-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2007.04.074

Irrmischer, M., Houtman, S. J., Mansvelder, H. D., Tremmel, M., Ott, U., & Linkenkaer-Hansen, K. (2018). Controlling the temporal structure of brain oscillations by focused attention meditation. Human Brain Mapping, 39(4), 1825-1838. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23971

Laneri, D., Schuster, V., Dietsche, B., Jansen, A., Ott, U., & Sommer, J. (2015). Effects of long-term mindfulness meditation on brain’s white matter microstructure and its aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 7, 254. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2015.00254

Ott, U., Hölzel, B. K., & Vaitl, D. (2011). Brain structure and meditation: How spiritual practice shapes the brain. In H. Walach, S. Schmidt, & W. B. Jonas (Eds.), Neuroscience, consciousness and spirituality (pp. 119-128). Springer.

Prestel, M., Riedl, R., Stark, R., & Ott, U. (2019). Enhancing mindfulness by combining neurofeedback with meditation. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 26(7-8), 268-293.

Prestel, M., Steinfath, T. P., Tremmel, M., Stark, R., & Ott, U. (2018). fMRI BOLD correlates of EEG independent components: Spatial correspondence with the default mode network. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 478. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00478

Rumpf, K. P. (2016). Meditation and brain ageing: implications for dementia prevention. (Dissertation). University of Giessen. http://dx.doi.org/10.22029/jlupub-14446