[Buddha-l] buddhism and brain studies

[S.A. Feite]

On Nov 5, 2008, at 9:00 PM, Gary Gach wrote:

> am finishing my revision of section in my book on cognitive science
>
> anyone remember the experiment (mid1970s?) (ekg?):
>
> Hindu (TM) and Zen practitioners went into a meditative state, then  
> were
> surprised by the sound of a bell.  The Hindu meditators' brain waves
> remained constant (Alpha? )))).  The brain-wave chart for
> the Zen meditators, showed their Alpha suddenly going into beta (?),
> registering the fact of the bell, and then dipping right back down  
> into
> alpha.
>
>
> or was it that they kept ringing the bell and the TM'ers eventually  
> became
> used to it while the zennies heard it as fresh each time ??
>
> OR ... am i conflating two similar experiments ???


Gary, I'd be extremely careful in attributing any honest and  
scientific validity to any Transcendental Meditation Org research  
without independent replication or detailed analysis of the actual  
data. These people are and have been selling a product (meditation)  
for many years and simultaneously touting their own inside research at  
the same time. If you find that acceptable, I'd love to show you some  
R.J. Reynolds research on how cigarettes are actually good for you!

I've been following meditational research since the 70's. The state of  
the art research in the recent _Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness_,  
which includes a detailed current synopsis of meditational research in  
general should give you a good idea of a c. 2004 "gold standard". Most  
old research was investigational or pilot in nature. Some was done  
under shady auspices or utilized poor statistical methodology like no  
falsifiability or "token" null hypotheses. *Caveat emptor*.

Probably the most mind-blowing research was the recent replication of  
some old research, from the 50's (!) which showed a (at that time)  
bizarre phenomenon in Patanjali-tradition yogis who were in "samadhi".  
The EEG showed a heretofore (in healthy subjects) pattern of high- 
amplitude gamma coherence. It was so wildly unusual, the researchers  
thought it must be an anomaly or some sort of artifact. They checked  
their equipment, it seemed fine. So they published. Of course all  
their colleagues all cried "artifact". It was never replicated.  
Decades went by.

Fade to the present day. A middle aged French Tibetan Buddhist monk  
undergoes the same experiment while in samadhi, which he apparently  
can go into not only at will, but for long swaths of time. Guess what:  
same pattern, high amp. gamma coherence across the scalp. Again, the  
researchers begin looking for an artifact, a reason other than the  
meditator. Nothing is found. Eventually they realize, they've just  
replicated the 1950's experiment on Hindu yogis also in samadhi.

It's now been replicated at least 3 or 4 times (last I heard) by  
independent labs. It's also been replicated in different yogis. Within  
a couple of months, we'll see if it was replicated in the Shamatha  
Project in novices and also if it affects the actual aging process  
itself. I hope you're including this recent material.

Best,

Steve Feite