ArticleBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2025
Neural Pattern of Chanting-Driven Intuitive Inquiry Meditation in Expert Chan Practitioners.
Article in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Neuroscience of Religious and Spiritual Practices: A Systematic Review of Neurotheological Evidence.Brain and behavior · 2026Pooled it
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundIntuitive inquiry meditation (Can-Hua-Tou) is a unique mental practice which differs from relaxation-based practices by continuously demanding intuitive inquiry. It emphasizes the doubt-driven self-interrogation, also referred to as Chan/Zen meditation. Nonetheless, its electrophysiological signature remains poorly characterized.
methodsWe recorded 128-channel EEG from 20 male Buddhist monks (5-28 years Can-Hua-Tou experience) and 18 male novice lay practitioners (<0.5 year) during three counter-balanced eyes-closed blocks: Zen inquiry meditation (ZEN), a phonological control task silently murmuring "A-B-C-D" (ABCD), and passive resting state (REST). Power spectral density was computed for alpha (8-12 Hz), beta (12-30 Hz) and gamma (30-45 Hz) bands and mapped across the scalp. Mixed-design ANOVAs and electrode-wise tests were corrected with false discovery rate (
resultsAlpha power increased globally with eyes closed, but condition- or group-specific effects did not survive FDR correction, indicating comparable relaxation in both cohorts. In contrast, monks displayed a robust beta augmentation, showing significantly higher beta over parietal-occipital leads than novices across all conditions. The most pronounced difference lay in the gamma band: monks exhibited trait-like fronto-parietal gamma elevations in all three conditions, with additional, though sub-threshold, increases during ZEN. Novices showed negligible beta or gamma modulation across tasks. No significant group × condition interaction emerged after correction, yet only experts expressed concurrent beta/gamma amplification during meditative inquiry.
conclusionsLong-term Can-Hua-Tou practice is associated with frequency-specific neural adaptations-stable high-frequency synchrony and state-dependent beta enhancement-consistent with Buddhist constructs of
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