PSYCH 2NF3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Hype Cycle, Executive Functions, Neuroplasticity
13 Jan 2020
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Lecture 10: Neuroscience of Contemplative Practises
Mindfulness
hype cycle — new technology is exciting at first but then it dies down because we
lose interest (repetitive circle)
meditation is not hyped, it has become very popular in recent years
common denominator in all mindfulness meditations — cognitive control which is
following the instructions
no matter what meditation you do, you have to follow instructions for example
“close your eyes,” etc
neuroscience has the same concept — ability to flexibly guide behaviour or
overcoming otherwise compelling response tendencies
think of the mind like a torch — it shines on different things such as gold or
garbage but wherever you shine it on its what the focus is on so it’s not that
the mind is bad, we just need to be in control of the light
with cognitive control, it means you can still preform the task even though
distractions may be present
often times when people start meditating, your mind will start to wander but
you bring it back — happens over and over again, so you need to practise
meditation
contemplative neuroscience
research field to study the effects of meditation practices using behavioural
tools, neuroimaging and genetics
neuroplasticity — organ that is built to change with experience
meditation is changing your brain to make it more optimal
study — interested in how the anticipation of pain stimulus and
habituation to a pain stimulus is different in people who are long term
meditators
first given a warm stimulus and then participants may or may not
receive the second hotter stimulus
looking at brain signals — those who did not meditate, reacted to the
warm stimulus but those who are meditators, they did not react
unless they actually got the hot stimulus
participants who did not meditate, still had reactive brain signals even
way after the pain stimulus was gone
brain-body interaction
meditation — focused more on the brain not the body but it’s important to
link the two
psychological stress has effects on all parts of the body including the
micro-biome
study — looked at whether short interventions of meditation still have
effects such as 8 weeks of meditation
participants meditated for 8 weeks and then received a flu shot and
looked at which group had more anti-bodies (control group only
