Neural dynamics of mindfulness meditation and hypnosis explored with intracranial EEG: A feasibility study

Intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) offers a unique window on brain dynamics with excellent temporal and spatial resolution and is less prone to recording artefacts than surface EEG. This study used a within-subject design to explore the feasibility to compare iEEG data during mind wandering, mindfulness meditation and hypnosis.

Three patients who had iEEG for clinical monitoring and who were new to mindfulness meditation and hypnosis were able to enter these states. We found non-specific and wide-spread amplitude modulations. Data-driven connectivity analysis revealed widespread connectivity patterns that were common across the three conditions. These were predominant in the low frequencies (delta, theta and alpha) and characterised by positively correlated activity. Connectivity patterns that were unique to the three conditions predominated in the gamma band, one third of the correlations in these patterns were negative.

This study is the first to support the feasibility of a direct comparison of the neural correlates of mindfulness meditation and hypnosis using iEEG. These modulations may reflect the complex interplay between different known brain networks, and warrant further functional investigations in particular in the gamma band.