--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Apr 5, 2008, at 3:13 AM, sparaig wrote: > > >> But also keep in mind, the idling idea is just a theory. Not to > >> mention how you interpret what idling means in relation to > >> meditation. > >> > > > > Well, alpha is generally associated with being restful but alert, > > or so virtually all the > > literature says. And, in respect to TM at least, there's a definite > > correlation between long- > > term practice, and higher alpha outside meditation. > > But it is statistically insignificant. This is typical of TM research > exaggeration. As the neuroscientists who penned the Cambridge > Handbook of Consciousness point out in regards to TM: > > "Within a bandwidth of perhaps 2Hz near this spectral peak, alpha > frequencies frequently produce spontaneously moderate to large > coherence (0.3-0.8 over large inter-electrode distance (Nunez et al., > 1997)). The alpha coherence values reported in TM studies, as a trait > in the baseline or during meditation, belong to this same range. Thus > a global increase of alpha power and alpha coherence might not > reflect a more �ordered� or �integrated� experience, as frequently > claimed in TM literature" > > So therefore, since the level of coherence during or after TM are > merely normal variants. Coherence itself is not really even a good > measurement to begin with, really the datum should be passed thru > some sort of spectral analysis so they could measure the > instantaneous phase relationships between the signals and whatever > frequency they're looking at. Coherence cannot separate out the > effects of amplitude and phase like LDS. LDS is a measure of > instantaneous phase relationship. > > Attempting to connect normal order alpha coherence to a "higher" and > more integrated state of consciousness is like trying to compare a > telegraph network to a high speed fiber optic network. Alpha does not > represent any sort of higher consciousness. >
Well, I'd trust them to have something more cogent to say about TM alpha levels in recent TM studies and how TM alpha levels are measured in recent TM studies and what TM researchers say it all means in recent TM studies if they cited a TM study from later than 1986 concerning documented alpha levels in/after TM practice... ...or cited any other physiological research on TM after 1986, for that matter. The 2004 study they mention (and complain has no concrete physiological data) is a study consisting of psychological testing and interviews, itself a followup on a physiological study the Cambridge Handbook people never bother to cite for some reason (perhaps the fact that it wouldn't allow them to criticize the 2004 study for not being physiological). And, the study that I've posted here several times on global alpha coherence hardly falls into the "normal range" of alpha coherence. You can't draw vertical lines across multiple peaks of alpha waves in a typical EEG chart. See the graph on the right and the original article linked below the graph (curious people can follow the link below the left chart to Vaj's favorite meditation study): http://web.mac.com/lawsonenglish/Site/Meditation_EEG.html Lawson
