Mindfulness meditation associated with alterations in bottom-up processing....

Mental training by meditation has been related to changes in high-level cognitive functions that involve top-down processing. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the practice of meditation is also related to alterations in low-level, bottom-up processing. Therefore, intersensory facilitation (IF) effects in a group of mindfulness meditators (MM) were compared to IF effects in an age- and gender-matched control group. Smaller and even absent IF effects were found in the MM group, which suggests that changes in bottom-up processing are associated with MM. Furthermore, reduced interference of a visual warning stimulus with the IF effects was found, which suggests an improved allocation of attentional resources in mindfulness meditators, even across modalities.

van den Hurk PA, Janssen BH, Giommi F, Barendregt HP, Gielen SC. Int J Psychophysiol. 2010 Jul 13. Radboud University Nijmegen, Faculty of Science, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.