Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40605262›Full record

ArticleAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences2025

Experienced meditators show greater forward traveling cortical alpha wave strengths.

Neil W Bailey, Aron T Hill, Kate Godfrey, M Prabhavi N Perera, Jakob Hohwy, Andrew W Corcoran, Nigel C Rogasch, Bernadette M Fitzgibbon, Paul B Fitzgerald

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Article in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Cortical travelling waves relate to variation in personality traits.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Neil W BaileySchool of Medicine and Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Aron T HillCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Kate GodfreyDepartment of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.
M Prabhavi N PereraSchool of Medicine and Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Jakob HohwyMonash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Andrew W CorcoranMonash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Nigel C RogaschDiscipline of Psychiatry, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Bernadette M FitzgibbonSchool of Medicine and Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Paul B FitzgeraldSchool of Medicine and Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation involves training attention, commonly toward sensory experiences, with nonjudgmental awareness. Theoretical perspectives propose that meditation increases the precision of sensory processing and reduces the generation/elaboration of top-down expectations. Research suggests forward traveling cortical alpha waves may reflect bottom-up inhibition to enhance signal-to-noise ratios of sensory processing, while backward traveling alpha waves may reflect top-down inhibition based on expectations. We used electroencephalography to test whether the strength of forward and backward traveling cortical alpha waves differed between meditators and a matched sample of nonmeditators during eyes-closed resting (N = 97) and during a visual cognitive (Go/No-go) task (N = 126). Our results showed meditators produced stronger forward traveling waves compared to nonmeditators while resting with their eyes closed and during task performance. Meditators also exhibited weaker backward traveling waves while resting with their eyes closed. These results may indicate a neural mechanism underpinning enhanced attention associated with meditation, as well as a potential neural marker of reductions in mind-wandering, suggested to be associated with meditation. The results also support models of brain function that suggest attention modification is achievable through mental training to increase sensory awareness, which might be indexed by the greater strength of forward traveling cortical waves.

Indexed as

Alpha RhythmCerebral CortexMeditationAdultAttentionElectroencephalographyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMindfulnessattentioncortical traveling waveselectroencephalographymeditationmindfulnesspredictive processing

Identifiers

PMID40605262
PMCPMC12412722

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.