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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 7, 2026

Using Wavelet Entropy to Demonstrate how Mindfulness Practice Increases Coordination between Irregular Cerebral and Cardiac Activities

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Mindfulness-induced selflessness: a MEG neurophenomenological study.

Yair Dor-Ziderman¹, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Joseph Glicksohn

¹The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel.

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

|September 27, 2013

Summary

Mindfulness meditation alters brain activity, differentiating narrative and minimal self-awareness. Long-term practice correlates with specific brainwave changes, revealing distinct neural networks for self-processing.

Keywords:

MEG beta frequency band mindfulness meditation minimal self narrative self neurophenomenology right inferior parietal lobule self-awareness

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Buddhist Studies

Background:

Self-awareness is conceptualized as narrative self-awareness (NS) and minimal self-awareness (MS).
Long-term Buddhist meditation aims for a selfless (SL) state, replacing self-identification with awareness of experience.
Neural correlates of NS are known, but MS and SL are less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying minimal self-awareness (MS) and selfless (SL) states.
To explore how mindfulness meditation practice affects different modes of self-awareness.
To characterize the electrophysiological correlates of distinct self-awareness states.

Main Methods:

Neurophenomenological study design combining magnetoencephalogram (MEG) and first-person phenomenological reports.
Involved 12 long-term mindfulness meditators.
Analysis of brain activity in gamma (60-80 Hz) and beta (13-25 Hz) frequency bands.

Main Results:

NS attenuation linked to decreased gamma-band power in frontal and medial prefrontal regions.
MS attenuation associated with decreased beta-band power in ventral medial prefrontal, medial posterior, and lateral parietal regions.
Selflessness experience correlated with beta-band power decrease in the right inferior parietal lobule.

Conclusions:

Distinct frequency-dependent neural networks support different modes of self-processing.
Mindfulness meditation practice modulates these networks, facilitating transitions between self-awareness states.
Combining phenomenology with electrophysiological neuroimaging offers valuable insights into self-awareness.