On Feb 21, 2011, at 8:31 PM, shanti2218411 wrote:
No doubt they are good studies in that these individuals are demonstrating changes in their eeg during or following their meditation practice.The problems is in interpreting what these changes mean i.e people who become "advanced meditators" may be different genetically or developmentally(from those who are not advanced) and it these factors which primarily explain the changes seen in their eeg.
Interpretation can be a problem, however what's interesting is that this same trait (High Amplitude Gamma synchrony) is seen in yogis from very different traditions (Patanjali yogis and Dzogchen yogis) and what parts of the brain are being synchronized.
For example adolescents who have used marijuana are more likely to develop schizophrenia.Of course marijuana use does NOT BY ITSELF cause schizophrenia.It is just that apparently using marijuana or something related to using marijuana serves to increase the chances of developing schizophrenia in individuals who are otherwise already susceptible to developing schizophrenia.The best way to see whether meditation is the primary reason for significant changes in eeg readings is to conduct a longitudinal study with two randomly selected groups one of which meditates and one of does something else and use eeg as the dependent variable.Just as an aside I have always been impressed the wide range of differences there is in how individuals respond to meditation practice.Non meditation factors almost certainly are involved in how meditation affects people.
Such a longitudinal study was done at a remote retreat in the Rocky Mountains several years ago. The amazing things they discovered and published so far have more to do with genetics than it does EEG. Since EEG only records the cortical surface, it's really of limited value. fMRI is much more helpful as you can see cerebral perfusion in 3D.
