Concentrative (Sahaj Samadhi) meditation training and visual awareness: An fMRI study on color afterimages

Abstract

All of us consciously experience the world around us through our sensory modalities. Empirical studies on the relationship between attention and awareness have shown that attention does influence perceptual experience or appearance in addition to better performance in perceptual tasks. The practice of meditation also changes perceptual experience in addition to better perceptual performance. For example, a study with Sahaj Samadhi meditators utilizing negative color afterimages had shown that concentrative meditation influences visual experience. However the brain regions that are modified by meditation practice leading to such changes in visual experience or awareness are still not known. Here using negative color afterimages in a functional MRI study, we investigated the brain mechanisms underlying the changes in visual awareness as a function of attentional enhancement achieved through long-term concentrative meditation practice. We found increased activity in right lateralized inferior occipital and inferior frontal cortex, which suggests the importance of attentional control in modulating visual awareness. The results of this study indicate that the link between attention and conscious experience is possibly changed by meditation practices.

Keywords: Afterimages; Concentrative meditation; Inferior frontal cortex; Inferior occipital cortex; Meditation; Visual awareness; fMRI.