Meditation and Neuroplasticity: Happiness and How To Re-wire Your Brain

In 2002 in the Shechen Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal, Antoine Lutz and colleagues designated two groups, one experimental, one control. The control group were naive meditators, beginners. The experimental group of eight long-term meditators had meditated for years.

Before using the groups, Lutz positioned 128 electrodes on the head of monk Mattieu Ricard, PhD in Genetics. (To read about him here, see "On Happiness: Jean François Revel, His Son, & Their Exchange About Buddhism: 10 days in an Inn above Kathmandu.") Ricard had over 10,000 hours of meditation. As he did with the others, Lutz instructed Ricard to generate feelings of compassion not directed at any particular object. This objectless meditation is regarded as "unconditional loving-kindness and compassion."

As Ricard fell into deep meditation, something phenomenal happened. Lutz noticed Ricard's neural structures were firing in synchrony with other structures. This is known as Gamma-Band oscillation. In some cases, the Gamma rhythms in the monks' brain signals were the largest the scientists had seen, except in pathological states such as epileptic seizures, or deep anesthesia. The Gamma waves oscillate at roughly 40 cycles per second. They indicate intensely focused thought, but are usually weak and difficult to see. "Those emanating from Ricard were easily visible, even in the raw EEG output." Ricard's left prefrontal cortex was active. It is the area responsible for positive emotions.

After the phenomenal readings with Ricard, Lutz and colleagues set up an experimental group as they were worried that something might be wrong with their equipment or methods. Their control group was composed of college students inexperienced in meditation.

The experimental group yielded similar results.

In contrast, the control group of naive meditators did not generate Gamma.

"In the course of meditating for tens of thousands of hours, the monks had actually altered the structure and function of their brains." Lutz Associate Richard Davidson thought the Dalai Lama would make an interesting guest speaker at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting. The prospect of the Dalai Lama as guest speaker was not without controversy among members. More at Wired. Here is a Wall Street Journal Article.