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Meditation and the Brain: What Research Shows
Meditation is one of the most studied contemplative practices in neuroscience. This page is about the science, what is measured, what holds up and what is still hype, not about how to practise.
- Meditation reliably changes activity in attention and self-related brain networks during practice.
- Claims about lasting structural brain change are weaker than often reported.
- Clinical benefits are real but generally modest, comparable to other active treatments.
The default mode network and mind-wandering
Established-leaning The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions more active when the mind wanders, daydreams or thinks about the self. Several imaging studies, including Brewer et al. (2011), reported reduced DMN activity in experienced meditators during meditation, consistent with their reports of less mind-wandering.
Gamma activity in long-term practitioners
Debated In 2004 Antoine Lutz, Richard Davidson and colleagues reported unusually high-amplitude gamma-band synchrony in Tibetan Buddhist practitioners with tens of thousands of hours of practice. The finding is striking and widely cited, but it comes from small, highly selected samples, and how gamma activity relates to experience is itself debated.
Attention and emotion
Debated Training studies suggest improvements in sustained attention and in emotional regulation, with changes in prefrontal and amygdala responses. Effect sizes vary widely and depend on the kind of practice, the comparison group and the measures used.
Clinical evidence
Established-leaning A 2014 meta-analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine (Goyal et al.) found moderate evidence that mindfulness meditation programmes improve anxiety, depression and pain, with effects similar to other active interventions rather than superior to them. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has evidence for reducing relapse in recurrent depression. Meditation is not a substitute for medical or psychological care.
The caveats
In 2018 a group of researchers published “Mind the Hype”, warning about inconsistent definitions of mindfulness, small samples, poor control conditions and under-reporting of adverse effects. Some practitioners do report unpleasant experiences during intensive meditation, a topic now studied in its own right.
Want to practise?
We cover the science, not the practice. For practical, beginner-friendly guidance, our sister publication The Quiet Garden is a good place to start.
Sources
- Brewer, J. et al. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. PNAS, 108(50).
- Lutz, A. et al. (2004). Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice. PNAS, 101(46).
- Goyal, M. et al. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(3).
- Van Dam, N. et al. (2018). Mind the hype. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(1).