EEG Neurofeedback During Focused Attention Meditation: Effects on State Mindfulness and Meditation Experiences
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ORIGINAL PAPER
EEG Neurofeedback During Focused Attention Meditation: Effects on State Mindfulness and Meditation Experiences Hugh Hunkin 1,2
&
Daniel L. King 2,3
&
Ian T. Zajac 1,2
Accepted: 27 October 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Objectives EEG neurofeedback has potential to increase the effectiveness of mobile meditation applications by providing synchronous performance feedback to meditators. This crossover trial aimed to evaluate the effects of auditory EEG neurofeedback on state mindfulness during focused attention meditation—a putative mediator of mental health benefits— relative to no feedback. Methods Adult participants (N = 68, Mage = 22.66, SDage = 7.35) completed a task-based measure of state mindfulness while meditating with and without auditory feedback from a consumer-grade EEG headband. Participants rated subjective meditation experiences in each condition. A subgroup (n = 29) completed 14 days of home practice with the device and responded to openended questions about their experience. Results Auditory feedback was associated with greater state mindfulness (RR = 1.15, 95% CI [1.00, 1.29]). Device-measured mind wandering was lower when feedback was present (d = − 0.22 [− 0.07, − 0.37]), but there was a negligible effect on devicemeasured recoveries from mind wandering episodes (d = − 0.11 [− 0.30, 0.08]). Feedback was associated with quantitative differences in subjective experiences consistent with heightened arousal. Thematic analysis revealed helpful (active, guiding) and unhelpful (stressful, distracting, incongruent with subjective experience) aspects of feedback. Conclusions EEG neurofeedback appears to increase state mindfulness in adults during a brief meditation. These results support feedback as an effective adjunct to meditation. Psychoeducation regarding feedback and the meditative experience may help to maximise the beneficial effects. Replication of these findings in clinical populations is warranted. Keywords EEG . Neurofeedback . Meditation . Mindfulness . Wearable electronic devices
Meditative practices are an umbrella of methods for cultivating mindfulness and are central to contemporary evidencebased therapies like mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT;
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-02001541-0. * Hugh Hunkin [email protected] 1
Nutrition and Health Research Program, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Gate 13 Kintore Avenue, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
2
School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
3
College of Education, Psychology, & Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
Dimidjian and Linehan 2008). Growing public interest in meditation has led to the emergence of numerous standalone mobile applications (“apps”) that offer guided instruction for meditation practice (Flett et al. 2019). Research and cl
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