Neuroscience Conference 2005 Reports on Meditation

November 12-16, 2005, the Society of Neuroscience is holding its annual conference in Washington, DC. Within an estimated 31,000 of its 37,000 members in attendance, this is the place for presentation of cutting edge research findings for neuroscience (http://web.sfn.org/am2005/ )

A part of the conference presentations revolved around studies related to the effects of meditation on the physical and operation of our brain. The Dalai Lama was the keynote speaker for the conference on Saturday, November 12. His Holiness’ keynote was reportedly a standing-room only sell-out.

Prior to the Conference, the Mind and Life Institute had held its own conference in Washington, DC. Entitled Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation” (see http://www.mindandlife.org/ for information on this and other activities sponsored by this organization). I point this out for anyone who might want to uncover even more research on meditation than what was reported at the Neuroscience Conference.

I wanted to share the highlights reported from the Neuroscience Conference because of its importance to substantiating the benefits of meditation on the brain and ultimately the quality of one’s life. (Read the press releases from the conference at http://web.sfn.org/content/AboutSfN1/NewsReleases/index.html )

First, The presentation of the H.H. Dalai Lama. His Holiness discussed why this research is so important. He states that rather than “supporting” meditation, he emphasized ways to improve the quality of life and “to gain insight into the human psyche.” If in fact, contemplative traditions as the Dalai Lama refers to them, can be shown to improve the quality of life, he is very interested in learning how and why.

Second, he drew a comparison between science and Buddhism in it methods of verification. The Dalai Lama states that in Buddhism, there are three primary sources of knowledge – experience, reason, and testimony – with that of experience clearly being on the top of the Buddhist list. He then points out that empirical evidence should always be put above scriptural authority. Similarly science is always seeking empirical evidence to test theories and obtain new findings.

He completed his remarks by reminding them that in today’s world scientist are held in greater respect. He appealed to them to maintain high levels of ethical principles in their research.

I think that part of this was a call to keep doing the research as scientist despite political and society pressure.

The presentations reported by the Society of Neuroscience on meditation are summarized in one of the releases on their web site. I am just going to give a brief recap of the four presentations reported.

Alteration of the Brain Structure: Sara Lazar, PhD, Harvard Medical School, reported on research on western-style meditators. Based on research with 20 meditators and 15 non-meditators, they found increases in the size and thickness of the brain cortex. This portion of the brain is commonly associated with attention and sensory processing functions of the brain. Normally this portion of the brain reduces in size with age, however, meditation seems to not only stop this shrinkage but actually increases the cortex.

Comparison of Meditation and Sleep: Bruce F. O’Hara, PhD, reported on research being done at the University of Kentucky. The primary findings reported in the release shows that while both sleep and meditation have restorative effect on the brain’s functioning, meditation seem to immediately improve performance on a test called the Psychomotor Vigilance Task. They further reported that significant improvement was noted even with subjects that had no previous meditation experience. The improvements applied to everyone.

Effect of Meditation to Aid Complex Mental Processes: Richard Davidson, PhD reported on the findings of his research at the University of Wisconsin on long-term meditation practices. Dr. Davidson’s research is based on long-term meditators, mostly Tibetan monks, with over 10,000 hours of meditation. The researchers measured “gamma band rhythms” which are apparently brain patterns associated with higher mental activity.

The research shows increased abilities to focus and attention after a period of meditation. More importantly, the base line of an individual were higher in the long-term mediators. The research seems to show the changes in the ability of the brain function as the result of long-term meditation.

Meditation and the Ability to Stabilize the Thinking/Mind: Olivia Carter, PhD, of Harvard University reported on their study of 76 Tibetan Buddhist monks with 5-54 years of meditation experience. She presented their research on meditation effects measured through the perceptual rivalry test used to test consciousness and attention. The findings showed that the monks had a significantly greater ability to focus attention (4.1 seconds vs. 2.6 seconds with no suggestions made by the researchers). Second and probably more important, the research showed even greater significance in ability of monks over non-meditators to focus their attention when instructed to do so. While the results to date, do not prove an ability to alleviate depression or stress, they are reportedly consistent with monks’ claims that they can in fact direct their thinking towards “a positive and calm state.” More research will need to be completed before they can make any scientific claims about alleviating depression and stress.

In summary, it is really wonderful what is being reported here. The studies addressed both immediate benefits of meditation as well as long-term benefits of adopting meditation practices. The studies showed benefits for both western “part-time meditation as well increasing benefits of committed monks. The research showed measurable increases in our brain’s performance, long-term changes in the baseline abilities of our brains, and significant changes in the actual size of important brain regions.

There is lot to study here. For us meditation practicitioners, we welcome the research if only to confirm what we already believe to be true – from testimony and personal experience.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff