ANXIETY DISORDERS

The Effects of Transcendental Meditation on Anxiety Disorders in Acquired Brain Injury Patients

Table of Content

INTRODUCTION2

Purpose3

The purpose of the proposal3

Background4

Significance of the study5

METHODS6

Subjects6

Procedures7

Test apparatus and data acquisition7

RESULTS AND FINDING8

Interpretation of results: implications for enhanced cortical integration13

Explanation of zero-lag events13

Traveling and standing waves15

Zero-lag anti-phase alpha may represent the two limbs of a comparator19

Zero-lag alpha standing waves may promote gamma binding through “phase-coupling”20

CONCLUSION:22

Recommendation23



Introduction

Signal processing methods generated by physicists, mathematicians and electrical engineers are accelerating and transforming the field of neuroscience. With the EEG findings arising from “borrowed” signal analysis methods, phase synchronization is emerging as the dominant paradigm used for modeling neuronal coordination in the brain . With such investigative tools important issues such as learning, multi-modal functional integration or “binding”, discontinuous perceptual frames and the neural “comparator” necessary for perception are being tied together experimentally to structure a complete theory of consciousness. These aspects have been discussed in a comprehensive theory described as the “neurophysics of consciousness” . Much of the content in the discussion section of the present article follows the structure of this theory. Zero-lag phase synchronization events in the brain are of central importance in the theory.

Some neuroscience theorists who were originally trained in the physical sciences have described the difficulty “for researchers with different backgrounds to communicate subtle ideas or even to form well-posed questions about brain information processing”. Even with this, researchers from different perspectives are gradually integrating disparate methods and discoveries to comprehend the machinery of the mind. Neuroscientists are using concepts borrowed from physics in an attempt to describe neural behavior and “to engage the interest and active participation of physicists and mathematicians in the study of brain dynamics.” . In the present article, some ancient understandings and technologies of consciousness associated with meditation practices are added to the diverse mix of conceptual formulations .

Purpose

The purpose of the present research is to investigate the effects of the TM technique on EEG alpha phase synchrony.

The purpose of the proposal

Several methods have been developed to measure phase synchrony. The method chosen for the present study calculates the millisecond time delay between two signals by counting the number of digitized steps between oscillatory peaks based on a “best fit” sliding comparison. Also included in the category of time-domain analysis is the Hilbert transform that measures the amount of time two signals are in phase. Frequency-domain methods based on the Fourier transform are also used . Other methods include Morlet wavelet analysis and and various methods of phase-locking to stimulus . The advantages and limitations of phase synchrony methods have been discussed recently and a highly readable summary of the relationship of phase synchrony and coherence has been published .

Background

Synchronization in the brain is ubiquitous. The mean zero phase coherence at all frequencies in the brain is between 40% and 65% . The duration, growth rate, frequency and strength of neural coupling are important aspects in the study of performance and brain pathology and . Neuroimaging methods show 'hotspots' of localized brain activity whereas EEG connectivity measures such ...