Researchers from the University of Montreal and Italy’s National Research Council recruited 12 monks from the Thai forest tradition at Santachitarama, a Buddhist monastery outside Rome. In a laboratory in Chieti-Pescara, scientists analyzed the brain activity of these meditation practitioners using magnetoencephalography (MEG), a technique capable of recording the brain’s electrical signals with great precision.
The study focuses on two classical forms of meditation: Samatha, a technique that involves sustained focus on a specific objective, often using steady breathing, with the aim of stilling the mind and reaching a deep state of calm and concentration, and Vipassana, which is based on sympathetic observation of sensations, thoughts and emotions as they arise to develop mental clarity and a deeper understanding of the experience.
“With Samatha, you narrow the field of your attention, somewhat like narrowing the beam of a flashlight; with Vipassana, in contrast, you widen the beam,” explains Karim Jerbi, a psychology professor at the University of Montreal and one of the study’s co-authors. “Both practices actively engage the meditative mechanisms. While Vipassana is more challenging for beginners, both techniques are often practiced alternatively in mindfulness programs.”
The researchers recorded multiple indicators of brain dynamics, including neural oscillations, measures of signal complexity, and parameters related to so-called “significance,” a concept borrowed from statistical physics that has been applied to neuroscience for over 20 years. Criticality describes systems that operate efficiently on the boundary between order and chaos, and in neuroscience, it is considered the optimal condition for information processing in a healthy brain.
“A brain that lacks flexibility adapts poorly, while too much chaos can lead to malfunctions like epilepsy,” Jerby explained in a press release. “At the critical point, neural networks are stable enough to reliably transmit information, yet flexible enough to adapt quickly to new circumstances. This balance optimizes the brain’s processing, learning, and response capacity.”
During the experiment, the monks’ brain activity was recorded by a high-resolution MEG system as they switched from one type of meditation to another with brief periods of rest in between. The data were processed with advanced signal analysis and machine learning tools to extract various indicators of neural complexity and dynamics.
striking a balance
The results, published in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness, show that both forms of meditation increase the complexity of brain signals compared to the resting brain. This finding shows that in meditation the brain not only becomes calm, but also enters a dynamic state rich in information. At the same time, the researchers observed widespread reductions in some parameters associated with the global organization of neural activity.
One of the most important findings in the analysis of criticality deviation coefficient showed a clear difference between Samatha and Vipassana. This indicates that, although both exercises increase brain complexity, they do so through different dynamic configurations, consistent with their subjective experiences. In other words, Vipassana brings the practitioner closer to the balance of stability and flexibility, while Samatha produces a somewhat more stable and centered state. According to researchers, the closer the brain gets to this critical state of balance, the more responsive and efficiently it functions. This is reflected, for example, in a greater ability to change actions or store information.
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