Case Study of Ecstatic Meditation

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Hindawi Publishing CorporationNeural PlasticityVolume , Article ID ,pageshttp://dx.doi.org/.//

Research ArticleCase Study of Ecstatic Meditation: fMRI and EEG Evidence ofSelf-Stimulating a Reward System

Michael R. Hagerty,1 Julian Isaacs,2 Leigh Brasington,3 Larry Shupe,4

Eberhard E. Fetz,5 and Steven C. Cramer6

University of California, Davis and Wellspring Institute, Davis, CA , USA Wellspring Institute, San Rafael, CA , USA

Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Barre, MA , USA University of Washington, Seattle, WA , USA Physiology & Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA , USADepartment of Neurology and Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, CA , USA

Correspondence should be addressed to Michael R. Hagerty; [email protected]

Received February ; Accepted April

Academic Editor: Alessandro Sale

Copyright Michael R. Hagerty et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.

We report the rst neural recording during ecstatic meditations called jhanas and test whether a brain reward system plays a rolein the joy reported. Jhanas are Altered States o Consciousness (ASC) that imply major brain changes based on subjective reports:() external awareness dims, () internal verbalizations ade, () the sense o personal boundaries is altered, () attention is highlyocused on the object o meditation, and () joy increases to high levels. Te MRI and EEG results rom an experienced meditatorshow changes in brain activity in regions shown to be associated with the subjective reports, and these changes occur promptlyaferjhana is entered.In particular, the extreme joy is associated notonly with activation o cortical processesbut also with activationo the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the dopamine/opioid reward system. We test three mechanisms by which the subject mightstimulate his own reward system by external means and reject all three. aken together, these results demonstrate an apparentlynovel method o sel-stimulating a brain reward system using only internal mental processes in a highly trained subject.

1. Introduction

Ecstatic experiences have been reported in every major

religion, and psychologists have long advocated research inthese areas[,]. Neuroscience can contribute to these issuesby documenting the brain activity o expert meditators, someo whom have trained to enter these states with volitionalcontrol. Te type o meditation studied here is a Buddhistconcentration technique called jhana that induces an AlteredState o Consciousness (ASC) in the ramework o Vaitl et al.[] and whose short-term goal is joy or happiness. Becausehappiness is a undamental goal o many people and is theobject o the new discipline o positive psychology [, ],imaging the brain o an individual who claims to generate

joy without any external rewards or cues could point the waytoward improved training in joy and greater resilience in the

ace o external difficulties. O particular interest is the neuralmechanisms by which happiness is generated.

Jhana meditations consist o a set o sequential practices

that were rst codied by Buddhists over years ago [].All are reported to be ecstatic, in that they generate great

joy while in an ASC that is dissociated rom external cuesor stimuli. Te rst three practices are, to our knowledge,the only meditations to specically target short-term joyor happiness (see [,] or other meditations that generateASCs). Figure shows a schematic o the reported jhanaexperiences on dimensions o interest. Joy or happinessis shown on the -axis, and vigilance or external stimuliis plotted on the -axis. Meditators progress in sequencerom normal resting consciousness (rest) to AC, a prepara-tory meditation concentrating on the breath. When internalconcentration is strong enough, J is entered, accompanied
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/653572http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/653572


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Rest

Access

concentration(AC)

J3: contentmentand happiness

J2: joy and bliss

J1: physicalpleasure

J5: innitespace

J4: equanimity

and peace

J8: neither perceptionnor nonperception

J7: nothingness

J6: inniteconsciousness

Vigilanceor

externalstimuli

Joy or happiness

F : Schematic o the reported experiences in jhanas relative to resting consciousness and access concentration (AC) on dimensionso interest. Joy or happiness is shown on the -axis, and vigilance or external stimuli is plotted on the-axis. Te typical meditation sequenceis rest to AC to J, J, and J (the three jhanas highest in joy or happiness), then to JJ, all o which are said to be higher in happiness thanrest or AC. Each jhana is reported to be deeper and more remote rom external stimuli than the last.

by strong physical pleasurebetter than sexual orgasm([] p.)and greatly reduced vigilance with smaller startleresponses. In J joy permeates every part o the body,but with less physical pleasure. In J, the character o joychanges to deep contentment and serenity. J is describedby equanimitya proound peace and stillness. Te higher-numbered jhanas JJ are characterized by more subtleand proound perceptions. J is called innite space, Jis innite consciousness, J is nothingness, and J isnamed neither perception nor non-perception. Each jhanais reported to be deeper and more remote rom externalstimuli than the last, yielding the ranking shown on the -axisin Figure . JJ are the highest on joy or happiness, with JJ intermediate, yielding the ranking on the -axis. All areclassied by Lutz et al. [,] as concentration rather thanopen awareness meditations.

Previous studies have shown that long-term meditatorshave higher volume o grey matter compared to matchedcontrols [, ], and randomized experiments show thatsubjects benet rom as little as weeks o training in theareas o attention regulation [,] and emotion regulation

[,]. Heretoore, all o the emotion studies have testedsubjects ability to learn to downregulate negative emotions,particularly their response to stress. In contrast, the presentstudy examines the ability to up-regulate positive emotion,which involves different neural pathways [,]).

Perhaps the most thoroughly studied system related topositive emotion is the dopamine system, which gives rise topleasure and mediates positive reinorcement[,]. Bothanimal andhumanstudies show that when a delivered rewardis greater than expected, dopaminergic neurons in the Ventralegmental Area (VA) in the brain stem are activated. TeVA in turn innervates the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the

ventral striatum, which leads to higher centers in the orbitalrontal cortex(OFC). Humanstudies have shown that activityin the medial OFC at the time o a reward correlates withsubjective reports o pleasure or olactory [], gustatory[], and musical stimuli[]. Studies have shown that thissystem is activated or a diverse array o stimuli, includingood[],sex[], music [],humor[], monetary rewards[], and maternal love []. But it has never been shownthat this dopamine system can be activated without external


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cues or rewards by volitional mental activity. Te mechanismby which such a mental activity can sel-stimulate positiveemotions would be o great interest. One hypothesis is thatthe ull dopamine pathway is stimulated beginning withthe VA and progressing upward. An alternate hypothesisis that the subjective report o pleasure is caused only by

expectancy effects (such as a belie that a high-priced winemust taste better; see [] or[]) and that the lower partso the dopamine system do not participate. Yet a thirdalternative mechanism is that the subjective pleasure is due tosubtle rhythmic body movements which are known to inducepleasurable altered states [].

Te dopamine reward system has also been shown to bestimulated by most drugs o abuse andplaysan important rolein addiction []. An important question is whether jhanameditators are subject to addiction and tolerance effects thatcan result rom stimulation o the dopamine reward system.

Besidesthe dopamine system, Pecinaetal.[] documentthat the opioid system mediates pleasure in animal studies.Unortunately, it shares a pathway very close to that o thedopamine system in the NAc. Discrimination between thetwo systems would require microinjection studies and isbeyond the spatial discrimination o typical MRI studies.Hence, the current paper limits itsel to detecting activationin the region shared by these two reward pathways.

Experientially, all jhanas inFigure are reported to sharethe ollowing characteristics that may have specic braincorrelates: () external awareness dims and startle responsesdiminish, () internal verbalizations ade completely orbecome wispy, () ones sense o body boundaries andorientation in space are altered, () attention is highly ocusedon the object o meditation, and () happiness increases to

very high levels and can be maintained or long periods otime. Jhana is distinguished rom some other ASCs becauseit does not include visual or auditory hallucinations (as insome organic disorders and drug experiences) nor does itinclude cross-sense synesthesia (such as seeing the bell ringor eeling a bird sing). Te correspondences expected romknown unctions o brain regions can be articulated in theorm o the ollowinga priorihypotheses.

H: Jhanas should show decreased activation compared tothe rest state in the visual (BA ) and auditory (BA -) processing areas. Since all jhanas share the experientialcharacteristic that external awareness dims, then the brainregions associated with vision and hearing should becomeless active.

H: Jhanas should show decreased activation compared tothe rest state in Brocas area (BA ,) and in Wernickes area(BA ,).Because internal verbalization ades in jhana, thebrain regions associated with speech should become idle orless active.

H: Jhanas should show decreased activation compared tothe rest state in the orientation area (BA). Since the normalsense o personal boundaries is altered, the orientation areao the brain should show changes rom normal rest. Newberg

and Iversen [] showed that monks and nuns experiencingunion with God exhibit decreased activation in this area.

H: Jhanas should show increased activation compared tothe rest state in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) (BA,). Because attention is highly ocused on the object o

meditation in the jhanas, we would expect high activity in theACC, which regulates and monitors attention.

H: Jhanas should show increased activation compared tothe rest state in the dopamine reward system of the brain (NAcin the ventral striatum and medial OFC). A broad range oexternal rewards stimulate this system (ood, sex, beautiulmusic, and monetary awards), so extreme joy in jhana maybe triggered by the same system (the VA is also part othis system, but is too small to image with standard MRImethods, but see [] or successul imaging methods).

H: Jhanas should show no increased activation compared

to the rest state in the areas responsible for rhythmic movement,including motor cortex (BA), primary somatosensory cortex(BA ,,), and cerebellum. Increased activity in these areaswould support an alternative hypothesis that the rewardsystem is being stimulated notby internal means but by subtlerhythmic movements that are known to induce ecstatic states[].

Te activation o brain regions during these six subjectivejhana experiences can now be examined via MRI and EEG.

2. Methods

Te subject is a long-term Buddhist practitioner (-year-oldmale, lef-handed). At the time o recording, he had yearso training consisting o about , hours o practice andwas trained in the Sri Lankan tradition o jhanas by Khema[] (the length o training was estimated based on his dailypractice and the time spent on meditative retreats, countingone day o retreat as hours o sitting meditation). At thetime o testing, this subject was to our knowledge the onlyperson in the US who had the requisite training in jhana whowas willing to submit to the experimental protocol. Te MRIscanning was done several months afer the EEG recording.

Te subject signed inormed consent, and a neurologicalexam was perormed, conrming the absence o neurological

disease. He had no medical conditions and was on nomedications. Te subject meditated in his standard sequence,starting with access concentration (AC), progressing throughJ, J,. . .J, then returning through J, J, and so orth, backdown to J. For each jhana state, the subject signaled with adouble nger tap using an MR-compatible orce transducer[] when he was beginning the transition to the next higher-number jhana state, then clicked the mouse once when hehad reached the state. He clicked three times to indicate hewas transitioning downward to the next lower-number jhanastate. Resting periods were recorded beore or afer jhanas.

Te protocol did not use a random assignment o statesbecause each jhana builds on the previous one, and the time


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required to transition rom one state to another was variable.Hence, the standard sequence was used. Tis sequence hadbeen very well practiced, making state identication easy orour subject. Te duration o each jhana state averaged about sec, with about sec transition between states.

.. fMRI Recording and Analysis. We acquired gradientecho -weighted echo-planar images (EPIs) with blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) contrasts on a GE .-eslascanner (repetition time R o . s and E o ms). Atotal o volumes were collected, with axial slices per

volume and slice thickness o mm, going rom vertex toinerior cerebellum with no skip between slices. wo -weighted structural images were also acquired, the rst ahigh-resolution volumetric series and the second a lowerresolution scan in-plane with the unctional data. Treeperiods o rest were interspersed with periods o tapping theorce transducer or control purposes, then subject enteredAC ollowed by J, J, J, and J. Te MRI recording

then ended due to scanner memory limitations ( volumemaximum). J was not practiced because the associated headmovements would induce excessive artiact.

Statistical parametric mapping[] served to preprocessand analyze the data. Te rst our volumes were discardeddue to tissue nonsaturation, and each remaining volumewas motion corrected to the th volume. All images werenormalized to a standard MNI template and smoothedusing an isometric Gaussian kernel with a ull width at halmaximum o mm. High-pass ltering was increased to seconds because the experimental design consisted o a verylow requency o s (rom rest to J). Te time signatureo the epochs was modeled as a series o boxcar unctions

convolved with a canonical hemodynamic response unction(HRF). Te general linear model estimated the percent signalchange o each event (jhana versus rest versus AC) as aunction o the convolved time signature. Te two contrastso interest in testing the planned hypotheses were jhana-restand jhana-AC. In addition, J was contrasted with each othe other states in order to investigate specic differencesbetween jhana levels o meditation. For each a priori ROIspecied in the hypotheses, an anatomical mask waspreparedrom the WFU PickAtlas sofware[] and the mean percentsignal change was calculated or each contrast using MarsBar[]. Te masks used in this study were Brodmanns area (BA) OR , BA OR , BA OR , BA OR , BA

OR , BA OR , BA OR OR , and BA (where ORreers to the logical addition o two masks), cerebellum, andMed OFC. Finally, the NAc was approximated with sphericalmasks o radius mm centered at (, , ) using thelocation identied by Kirk et al.[] and Knutson et al.[].

.. EEG Recording andAnalysis. TeEEGsystemuseda-channel Geodesic Sensor Net (System v.. rom ElectricalGeodesics, OR), sampled at Hz and reerenced to the

vertex (Cz). Sections o the recording that showed eyemovements or muscular artiacts were manually excludedrom the study. Te data was bandpassed with a digital high-pass lter at . Hz and a hardware low-pass lter at Hz.

A Hz notch lter was employed to remove Hz lineartiacts. Six epochs o seconds each were extracted romeach o the states ( resting states and jhana states).

For each electrode and or each s epoch, the powerspectral distribution was computed by using Welchs method,which averages power values across sliding and overlapping

ms time windows. Spectral bands were dened to beconsistent with previous research: theta band was rom to Hz, alpha band rom to Hz, alpha band rom to Hz, alpha rom to . Hz, beta rom . to Hz, andgamma rom to Hz. Te last is consistent with Lutzet al. [] who analyzed only the gamma range. Te rst bands are congruent with Afanas et al. [] who analyzedonly those bands. However, we did not perorm the analysiso alpha dominant requency to establish requency bandboundaries individually or our subject, as Afanas et. al.[]did, although our band requencies are close to theirs.All power estimates are reported as a ratio o the power ina selected band to total power rom to Hz.

Electrode positions were matched with underlyinganatomical ROIs using the probabilistic maps developed byOkamoto et al. [] who correlated the anatomical MRIs o healthy adults with the overlying electrodes placed in thestandard position.

3. Results

.. fMRI. able reports a ormal assessment o the apriorihypotheses. Te rst row oable tests H, where therst column shows the subjective experience during jhana(that external awareness dims), the second column showsthe ROI associated with that experience (the primary andassociative visual cortex BA ,), and the third columnshows predicted change in activity during jhana comparedto rest (activity will be less during jhana). Column showsthat the actual contrast is., a difference that is signicant( = 4.3, < .001) and in the predicted direction.Te last column oable uses an alternative comparisonstandard, calculating the BOLD signal contrast or Jhanarelative to access concentration (Jhana-AC). Tat columnconrms that the contrast is also negative, supporting thereports in Figure . Te next row shows that the contrastin primary auditory and association cortex (BA , ) wasalso negative and signicant, again supporting H. Similarly,H (that internal verbalization ades) is strongly supportedby signicant negative contrasts in Brocas area (BA , )

and in Wernickes area (BA , ). H (an altered sense opersonal boundaries) is strongly supported with large andsignicant negative signal contrasts in the orientation area(BA , ). H (that attention is highly ocused) is more weaklyconrmed, with both BOLD signal contrasts in the ACCpositive compared to rest, though column shows that thecontrast Jhana-AC ailed to reach signicance. H is stronglyconrmed, with both the NAc and Med OFC recordingsignicantly higher BOLD signal during jhana than duringboth rest and AC meditation. Te last rows oable showthe test o an alternative hypothesis (H) that the ecstatic

joy in jhanas may be caused by subtle rhythmic movements,resulting in higher BOLD signal during jhana in the primary


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: Mean percent BOLD signal change in a prioridened ROIs related to hypotheses on jhana activity contrasted with rest and ACmeditation, ollowed by its two-sided test (corrected or multiple comparisons). Contrasts labeled simply jhana reer to the pooled activityover all recorded jhanas . All planned contrasts are in the predicted direction.

Subjective report duringjhanas

A prioriROI (MNI coordinateso centroid o ROI)

Predicted sign ocontrast (jhana-rest)

BOLD contrast(jhana-rest)

BOLD contrast(jhana-AC)

() External awareness dims

Visual: BA ,

( ) () . = 4.3

. = 4.0

Auditory: BA , ( )

() . = 2.5 . = 1.0

() Internal verbalizationades

Broca: BA , ( )

() . = 4.6 . = 4.8

Wernicke: BA , ( )

() . = 3.7 . = 3.5

() Altered sense o personalboundaries

Orientation: BA , ( )

() . = 6.9 . = 5.6

() Attention is highlyocused

ACC: BA , ( )

(+) . = 2.86 . = .44

() Ecstatic joy experiencedN Ac

( ) (+) . = 3.5 . = 3.8

Med OFC( )

(+) . = 7.2 . = 2.6

() Less rhythmic movement

Somatosens: BA , , ( )

() . = 7.3 . = 6.9

Prim Motor: BA ( ) () . = 5.8 . = 5.6

Cerebellum () () . = 4.3 . = 3.6

< .001.

< .05.

BA: Brodmanns area, NAc: nucleus accumbens, Med OFC: medial orbitorontal cortex, and ACC: anterior cingulate cortex.

somatosensory cortex, the primary motor cortex, and thecerebellum. Tis alternative hypothesis was strongly rejected

in all areas.In addition to testing the six a priori hypotheses, standard

SPM statistical tests using post hoc analysis were computedor all brain tissue.Figure displays all cortical suraces withpost hoc values greater than + (in red and yellow) or (in blue and green) in the contrast (jhana-rest). It shows

very extensive but patchy areas o activation, with clus-ters signicantly positive, and clusters were signicantlynegative, suggesting an overall pattern o diffuse activationduring jhana. Perhaps the most evident results in Figure are that transition to jhana is associated with selectivedecreases in BOLD signal in the parietal andposterior rontallobes (conrmed bya priori tests above) and with selective

increases in the right temporal region.Given that the data support the six hypotheses, we then

disaggregated the results to explore whether the differentjhana meditation states produced different brain activationpatterns. Figure (a) plots the BOLD signal o each statecontrasted with J, with a separate line or each o the ROIsrom H to H. For example, the line labeled orientationplots the BOLD signal (relative to J) on the -axis as aunction o meditation state on the -axis, progressing romrest to AC to J and on through J. It shows a steep declinerom rest and AC to J, and another steep decline to J, thenreaches a global maximum at J, ollowed by a return tothe low levels o J. Interestingly, the remaining our lines

Posterior AnteriorL R

PosteriorAnterior

F : Cortical suraces with post hoc values greater than +(in red and yellow) or (in blue and green) as calculated by SPMusingthe BOLD contrast(jhana-rest).Note thattransitionto jhanaisassociated with selective increases in BOLD signal in right temporalregion and with decreases in parietal lobe and posterior rontal lobe.

in Figure (a) are highly correlated with the orientationline, showing similar patterns o decline, steep increases atJ, and return to low values at J. Te correlation suggests


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Rest AC J2 J3 J4 J5

BOLDsignalcomparedtoJ2

Orient

Visual

Aud

Broca

Wernicke

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

(a)

Rest AC J2 J3 J4 J5

BOLDsignal

comparedtoJ2

N Ac

Med OFC

ACC

0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

(b)

F : Average BOLD signal o each meditation state contrasted with J is shown on the -axis, with a separate line or each ROI. Te-axis denotes each state rom rest to AC to JJ. Te mean SE o the signal contrasts averaged over the ROIs and states was.. Note thehigh correlation between the lines in (a) and the steep increase in NAc at J in (b) (J was not recorded due to head movement artiacts).

an association between the ROIs, the most likely being thatreduced activation o vision and audition will deafferent theorientation area rom its normal inputs, causing an alteredsense o orientation.

Figure (a)also gives a more nuanced view o individualjhanas than the pooled results in able .While the averagejhana shows lower activation than rest and AC (as predictedby HH), the individual jhanas show great variability, with

lower activation in J, J, and J, (as predicted by traditionalreports in Figure ), but J shows activation equal to or higherthan rest. We caution that this gure plots single meditationstates o an individual, so that a single distractor event couldgreatly alter theactivation pattern during a meditation. In thiscase, a distractor event may have occurred during J, causingincreased activity in visual, auditory, and orientation area(however, the subject did not report any distractions duringdebrieng). A nal deviation rom predictions is that nodecline in activation occurs afer J, whereasFigure wouldpredict that activity will decline with each successive jhana inareas associated with sensing external stimuli.

Figure (b) plots the BOLD contrast (relative to J) o the

remaining ROIs as a unction o meditation state on the -axis, progressing rom rest through J. Te line denoted asNAc, shows a very steep increase in activation rom rest andAC to J, consistent withFigure . But activity in the NAcdeclines during J to near that o rest and AC and declineseven urther in J, consistent with a dopamine depletionhypothesis in later jhanas. Te line or Med OFC showsmoderate decline during J and reaches its maximum at J.Tis pattern contrasts with the predictions oFigure whereJ is reported as less joyul than J and J. Finally, the linelabeled ACC shows increased monitoring rom rest to J,declining to lower monitoring at J and J, but spiking at J.SinceFigure (b)shows that J was the only jhana to activate

the complete dopamine pathway, tests o the alternativehypothesis were conducted on J alone. Consistent with thepooled results inable ,the alternative hypothesis (H) thatsubtle rhythmic movements triggered joy in J was rejected,with signicantly lower activity in areas associated withmovement during J compared to rest in BA ,, ( = 4.7, < .001), BA ( = 4.5, < .001), and in the cerebellum( = 1.75 n.s.). All signs were in the opposite direction rom

that predicted by the alternative hypothesis.Figure shows more detailed dynamics o the state

transitions, with the time course o the BOLD signal averagedover all voxels in threea priorispecied ROIs during the MRI scans.Figure (a)shows average BOLD signal or theorientation area BA and , with the blue line representingthe right side and the red line representing the lef. Te blackspikes extending rom the-axis represent events where themeditator signaled a transition to a higher state with a mouseclick. Note the steep drop during the transitions rom AC toJ and J to J. Tese drops are not caused by the clickingaction because they do not appear during transition rom restto AC. Te drops occurred promptly afer the subjectsignaled

that he was starting to transition, beginning within scans( sec) and reaching minimum within scans (sec) duringthe AC to J transition, with similarly prompt transitionsrom J to J. Figure (b) shows the BOLD signal in theright and lef ACC regions, with similar steep and promptdrops during the transitions rom AC to J, J to J, andJ to J. Finally, Figure (c)shows the BOLD signal in theright and lef medial OFC, with even steeper drops duringthe transitions rom AC to J, J to J, J to J, and J to J.

.. EEG Results. Te EEG data were rst examined oroutliers and missing data. Tere were no bad channels, sospatial interpolation was not required. Tough no missing


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128

133

138

143

148

153

1 51 101 151 201 251 301 351 401

Time (scans)

BOLDsign

alinBA5,7

Rest A.C J2 J3 J4 J5

Right

Lef

Event

(a)

Right

Lef

Event

147

149

151

153

155

157

159

161

1 51 101 151 201 251 301 351 401

Time (scans)

BOLDsign

alinACC


(b)

Right

Lef

Event

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

511 101 151 201 251 301 351 401

Time (scans)

BOLDsignalinmedialOFC


(c)

F : ime course (in MRI scans) o BOLD signal or threea prioridened ROIs (blue line shows right side o ROI, and red line showsright side) graphing transitions between rest, access concentration, and jhanas.Figure (a)shows BOLD signal averaged or all voxels in BA and (orientation area),Figure (b)shows average BOLD in ACC, andFigure (c)shows average BOLD in medial OFC. Note the promptdrop in signal during transition events, including the decline in BA , activity during jhanas and the increase in OFC signal during jhanas(J was not recorded due to head movement artiacts).

data was ound, all o the data or J are outliers, with putativegamma power at least times the gamma power o other

jhanas and rest. It is likely that much o the gamma was dueto muscle tension because o head movements. Hence J isexcluded rom analysis because it was more than standarddeviations away rom any other state. All data or remainingstates were approximately normally distributed.

Statistical tests or the planned comparisons that test HH are presented in able . Similar to able , column shows the subjective experience, column shows the ROIsand the scalp electrode locations (rom[]) associated withthat experience, and column shows the predicted directiono contrasts between jhana and rest. Column shows theactual gamma power ( Hz) measured at that scalplocation. In the case o the rst row, the gamma power at

O (overlying the primary and associative visual cortex BA,) showed no signicant difference between jhana and rest.Examining all rows o column shows that gamma powerincreased signicantly only in the electrode locations overly-ing the ACC and the Med OFC, consistent with H and H.However, in locations overlying regions expected to decreaseactivation (H, H, H, and H), all showed nonsignicantcontrasts in the gamma range (with the exception o C,which was in the predicted direction). We also examinedcontrasts in the alpha range (not shown), which Laus etal. [] demonstrated are negatively correlated with MRIactivation. welve o the contrasts testing H, H, H,and H showed signicant increases in the alpha range,consistent with the hypotheses. We integrated the powerinormation rom many bands in column , which calculates


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: Contrastsin thespectral powero theEEG signalin selected bands at a prioridenedscalplocations related to hypotheses on jhanaactivity compared with rest, ollowed by its-test on the null hypothesis that jhana activity is equal to rest activity. All statistics are withdegrees o reedom o (,). Contrasts labeled simply jhana reer to the pooled activity over all recorded jhanas . In the last (summary)column, all signicant differences are in the direction predicted by the hypotheses.

Subjective report duringjhanas

A prioriROI (scalpelectrode locations)

Predicted sign ocontrast (jhana-rest)

Contrast o power ingamma range

(jhana-rest)

Contrast in power o(gamma + beta)

(alpha + theta)

() External awarenessdims

Visual: BA ,

(O) () Ns . = 5.6

(O) Ns . = 8.3

Auditory: BA ,

() () Ns Ns

() Ns . = 15

() Internal verbalizationades

Broca: BA ,

(FC) () Ns . = 9.3

Wernicke: BA ,

(p) () Ns Ns

() Altered sense opersonal boundaries

Orientation: BA ,

(P) () Ns . = 6.6

(P) Ns . = 13

(P) Ns . = 5.0

(P) Ns . = 16

() Attention is highlyocused

ACC: BA ,

(AFz) (+) +. = 21 +. = 27

(Fz) +. = 8.0 +. = 7.8

(FCz) . = 5.1 Ns

() Ecstatic joyexperienced

N Ac (+) (unobservable) (unobservable)

Med OFC(Fp) (+) +. = 57 +. = 149

(Fp) +. = 38 +. = 75

() Less rhythmicmovement

Somatosens: BA , ,

(C) () Ns . = 8.7

(C) . = 4.6 . = 15

Prim motor: BA

(FC) () Ns Ns

(FC) Ns Ns

Cerebellum () (unobservable) (unobservable)

< .05.

< .001.BA: Brodmanns area, NAc: nucleus accumbens, Med OFC: medial orbitorontal cortex, and ACC: Anterior cingulate cortex.

thedifference in power between the high requencies (gamma+ beta) minus the power in the lower requencies (alpha +theta) or jhana compared to rest. Consistent with column ,the largest increases in activation during jhana are observednear the Med OFC (H), accompanied by smaller but verysignicant increases in ACC (H). Signicant declines inactivity during jhana are observed near BA ,, BA ,, BA,, BA ,, and BA ,,, consistent with those hypotheses(H, H, H, and H).

4. Discussion

Te MRI and EEG recordings provide mutually consistentevidence on the neural correlates o ecstatic meditationscalled jhanas. In the cortical regions associated with externalawareness, verbalization, and orientation (H, H, and H),able shows a lower MRI BOLD signal during jhanacontrasted with rest. In addition, able shows that theEEG signal shifed to the lower-power bands o theta and


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alpha, although it is acknowledged that spatial localization ocortical unction with scalp EEG has some limitations. In theregion associated with executive control (H) and the regionassociated with subjective happiness (H), theMRI in able showed higher BOLD signal during jhana contrasted withrest, while the EEG inable showed a shif to higher power

in the beta and gamma bands. In addition, the subcorticalimaging rom the MRI was able to distinguish whether thesubjective happiness (H) was associated with activation othe dopamine/opioid reward system or due to purely corticalexpectation effects. able (in the row H) shows very strongactivation o the NAc in the ventral striatum indicatingthat the ull pathway was activated in at least one o the

jhanas.Examining individual jhanas revealed several deviations

rom the predictions derived rom subjective reports inFigure . First, activity in orientation and visual areas doesdecline below rest and AC but does not decline urtherafer J, contrary to reports that each succeeding jhana goesdeeper. Second, activity in the NAc peaks during J and thendrops quickly, contrary to reports that J is equally joyul. Weconclude that ull activation o the dopamine reward systemoccurred only in J, while J activated only the Med OFCportion o the reward system.

Previous imaging o the dopamine/opioid reward systemhasalways used external stimuli to activate it (e.g., actual oodor drink was consumed or photos o loved ones cued a shortperiod o attachment). In contrast, jhana meditators claimthat they can voluntarily generate increased happiness purelyby volitional mental processes and or extended periods. Wetested this claim in several ways. First, we examined ROIsassociated with somatosensory and motor coordination,which wouldbe active i the subject was making subtle rhyth-mic movements known to trigger ecstatic ASCs []. Teseareas were not ound to show increases but instead showedsignicant decreases in activity during J, consistent with theclaim that the reward system is triggered without physicalcues or imagined movements. Another alternative hypothesisis that the subject was using indirect mental processes tostimulate the reward system such as evoking a visual orauditory memory o a happy time, which in turn wouldtrigger the reward system. However, our evidence in ablesand (row H) showed that the cortical ROIs associatedwith vision and hearing declined signicantly in activityduring jhana (andFigure (a) conrms this specically orJ), contrary to this alternate hypothesis. Finally, evidence on

lateralized brain activation such as those related to H andWernickes area must be interpreted with some caution, as thesubject examined in the current study was lef handed. Lefhandedness can be associated with structural and unctionalchanges in brain symmetry, as compared to the majority ohuman subjects, who are strongly right handed [,], andthis act might have inuenced some results in Figuresand.

.. Mechanisms of Action. Our data would reject our possi-ble cortical mechanisms (expectations, rhythmic movement,

visual memories, and auditory memories) by which thesubject might have sel-stimulated his own reward system

during J. Several other pathways are possible that ourexperiment did not test. First, it is known that reciprocalconnections exist between the NAc and the medial OFC, sothat it might be possible to activate a eedback loop betweenthe two. Under normal conditions, the eedback loop wouldbe quickly interrupted by shifing attention to everchanging

input rom visual, auditory, or somatic senses, but thesecortical areas have been downregulated, and attention maybe tightly ocused on reinorcing the eedback loop. Te loopmight be realized by creating a series o very short tasks thatcan each be completed successully, allowing a new goal tobe achieved and reward attained with each new moment. Teclassic meditation instructions or breathing would constitutesuch a task, wherein the student is instructed: When thatin-breath nishes, you know that moment. You see in yourmind that last moment o the in-breath. You then see the nextmoment as a pause between breaths, and then many moremoments o pause until the out-breath begins. . . We are awareonly o the beautiul breath, without effort and or a very longtime. ([] p.).

Other possible mechanismso actioncould comprise sub-cortical activations that might have reward characteristics.For example, shifing control o breathing rom the voluntarymotor cortex to the involuntary medullary rhythmicity areain the brain stem might be perceived as relaxing, as wellas giving rise to a common altered experience o eelinglike I am being breathed, not in control. Also, rhythmicmovements might be maintained below the level o corticalcontrol, since spinal reexes are now known to mediaterhythmic movements as complex as coordinating leg move-ments related to walking.

Our results also shed light on the magnitude o theactivation o the dopamine reward system. Subjective reportsrom the subject indicated extremely high magnitude oreward, comparing J (which was not recorded due to headmovement) to continuous multiple orgasms, J to openinga birthday gif and getting exactly what you most wishedor, and J to postcoital bliss. Yet the objective activationo the reward system in J was not extreme. Te apparentmismatch between extreme subjective reports and moderateobjective activation can be explained by the signal-to-noiseratio o the circuits. When most other cortical activity isreduced, as in this subject, a much smaller reward signalcan be detected and will be perceived as more intense thanwhen cortical noise rom other sources is high, as innormal awareness. Indeed, during normal awareness it takes

drug-induced hyperstimulation o the dopamine pathways togenerate such extreme subjective reports. I this signal-to-noise view is correct, then jhanas reduced sense awarenessis not incidental to achieving extreme pleasure but is acontributing condition.

Despite the moderate level o activation, caution is advis-able with any voluntary stimulation o the reward systems.Drugs o abuse can generate short-term bliss but can quicklyincrease tolerance, requiring ever greater doses o the drugto create the same level o pleasure. Tey can also createwithdrawal symptoms during abstinence []. In contrastto the drugs, jhana meditators report negative tolerancebecause they can achieve the same state more quickly with


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less effort over time, and no withdrawal symptoms havebeen reported when meditation is stopped. Nevertheless,Figure shows that NAc activity dropped below normalresting consciousness in J, which may be a sign o short-termtolerance and neurotransmitter depletion.

.. Implications. Our experiment is to our knowledge therst that compares brain states in ve different meditations(AC and JJ), nding strong differences between AC med-itation and jhana, and smaller but still signicant differencesbetween jhana states. Tese in turn differ rom the ibetanBuddhist compassion meditation reported by Lutz et al. []where EEG gamma requencies were dominant and rom thealpha dominance o ranscendental Meditation []. akentogether, the multiplicity o brain states suggests that theremay be a vast array o ASCs available through meditation,depending on which brain regions are given awareness andwhich are inhibited rom awareness []. I there are a largenumber o possible ASCs, it is likely that only some would

have survival value. For example, the state o mystical unionwith all beings might be helpul in encouraging cooperationwith all people in the tribe, so that evolution may haveselected certain o these ASCs to be more easily learned andretained.

However, the same reasoning would suggest that theability to sel-stimulate the brains reward system would bedysunctional in the struggle or survival and procreationbecause it could short-circuit the system that motivatessurvival actions. Organisms that are adept at sel-stimulationwould quickly die out i they ail to respond to environmentaldemands or to pass on their genes. Tis reasoning sug-gests caution in making autonomous sel-stimulation moreavailable, but we point out that the modern environmentalready allows unprecedented stimulation o the dopaminereward system with plentiul ood and drugs o abuse. Ameditation that stimulates the reward system without theharmul effects o obesity and environmental damage couldbe benecial in the modern environment. On the other hand,a meditation that short-circuits the desire to get an educationand work or long-term goals could become dysunctional.Rather than simplystimulatingthe reward system in responseto traditional goals o ood and sex, it would be benecial toregulate the system and ocus it on long-term goals that aremore adaptive.

Tis case study provides guidelines or larger studies onjhana meditation in several areas. First, it demonstrates that

jhana is not so ragile that it can be destroyed by the presenceo curious experimenters or by intrusive sounds o MRIscanners. Hence, it can be scientically investigated. Second,the transition time to move rom one jhana to another in apracticed subject is much shorter (between and seconds)than we expected, in line with other meditations that do notproduce such extreme ASCs []. With shorttransition times,it might be easible to use better randomized designs thatalternate control states with meditations (however, the shorttransition times here may be due to the subjects internalknowledge o readiness to transition, and he may not beable to transit on demand). Tird, the experiment could beshortened i interest is ocused only on the reward system

because only J shows strong sel-activation o the NAc.Fourth, the simple resting condition used here could bereplaced with better controls that have been demonstrated toincrease happiness, such as remembering a happy event inyour lie or visualizing a loved one.

More potential subjects will become available as more

English-speaking students are being trained in jhana medita-tion [, ]. How these meditators achieve periods o extremejoy without common negative side effects could contributeto the scientic pursuit o happiness and could pave theway or novel paradigms or rehabilitation and recovery romnervous system injury.

Conflict of Interests

Te authors declared that they have no conict o interests.

Acknowledgments

Tis research is dedicated to the memory o Dr. DouglasFinlayson o Seattle, WA, who initiated this study. Tanks arealso due to Rick Mendius and Rick Hanson or comments onearlier drafs. Earlier versions were presented at the Mind andLie Summer Research Institute, June -, , in Garrison,NY, and at Cognitive Neuroscience Society, March , ,in San Francisco, CA.

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Case Study of Ecstatic Meditation

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