Study of the Longitudinal Changes in Perception and Cognition Occurring During a Meditation Retreat
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Sponsor
- Hospices Civils de Lyon
- Enrollment
- 58
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- changes in matched forces (Newtons) during a force-matching task.
Study Overview
Brief Summary
This study aims at assessing neuro-behavioral changes occuring during an intensive ten days meditation retreat. The investigator will study changes in tactile, auditory and pain perceptions as well as changes in cognitive and affective mental contents and their neural markers, as measured by self-reports, EEG event-related potentials, and functional connectivity of resting state fMRI. He will recruit healthy participants with a prior meditation experience. They will be randomly assigned to two groups, one active group who will undergo measurements just before, during and 3 weeks after the retreat. The other group will serve of control for task habituation, control participants will undergo the same measurements, equally spaced in time, but before the retreat. The main hypothesis is that meditation training strengthens meta-awareness, attention capacities resulting in enhanced bodily- and self-awareness during sensory perception and emotion regulation during pain.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Basic Science
- Masking
- Single (Participant)
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to 67 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- •Age between 18 and 67
- •Regular meditation practice (at least 20 minutes 3 times a week) arising from a formal teaching (buddhist tradition, MBSR, mindfulness) for at least one year.
- •Having taken part to at least one intensive retreat (more than six hours of sitting meditation a day, during at least two days) in the past.
- •Affiliated to french social security
- •Motivated to take part in the study
- •Having signed an informed consent
- •Normal or corrected vision
- •Sufficient mastering of French to be able to understand correctly written and auditory instructions
Exclusion Criteria
- •neurological or psychiatric antecedents
- •chronical pain or any other medical condition giving rise to acute pain or sensitivity to pain.
- •Motor or sensory deficit in the hands
- •severe auditory loss
- •regularly taking medical drugs acting on the central nervous system
- •regularly taking opioids or antidepressant drugs
- •alcohol consumption above the safety threshold recognized by the French healthy agency (10 drinks a week, 2 drinks a day, 5 drinks for special occasions)
- •drugs consumption (except tabacco) qualified as addictive according to medical criteria (https://www.drogues.gouv.fr/comprendre/l-essentiel-sur-les-addictions/qu-est-ce-qu-une-addiction)
- •alcohol or drug consumption the day before or the day of experiment and during the full duration of the retreat
- •being pregnant, breastfeading or having given birth less than 6 months ago
- •Will be excluded from the fMRI task only, participants presenting contraindication to a MRI scan : being claustrophobic, body mass index over 30, people, having a pacemaker or an insuline pump, metallic prothesis, intracranial clip, neurosensory stimulator, in-body defibrillator, cochlear implants, ocular or brain feromagnetic bodies close to nervous structures, neurosurgery stunts, dental brace.
Arms & Interventions
Active group
10 days intensive meditation retreat
Intervention: 10 days intensive meditation retreat (Behavioral)
Control group
Waiting for a 10 days intensive meditation retreat
Intervention: Waiting for a 10 days intensive meditation retreat (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
changes in matched forces (Newtons) during a force-matching task.
Time Frame: at least 3 weeks after the end of the retreat
Bodily awareness following meditation training could impact the attenuation of real tactile sensations during self-generated touch. Measurement of pressure force will be done through a force-matching paradigm.
changes in EEG an auditory evoked response called the mismatch negativity (microVolt)
Time Frame: at least 3 weeks after the end of the retreat
Moment-to-moment monitoring following meditation training could downregulate the automatic formation of perceptual habits. Measurement of auditory evoked potentials will be done through Biosemi 64 electrodes EEG net during an auditory oddball task.
changes in EEG pain-related evoked responses (microVolt)
Time Frame: at least 3 weeks after the end of the retreat
Moment-to-moment monitoring and emotion regulation following meditation training could downregulate pain catastrophizing. Measurement pain-related evoked potentials will be done through Biosemi 64 electrodes EEG net during a pain characterization task.
changes in matched forces (Newtons) during a force-matching task.
Time Frame: 1 or 2 days before the start of the retreat
Bodily awareness following meditation training could impact the attenuation of real tactile sensations during self-generated touch. Measurement of pressure force will be done through a force-matching paradigm.
changes in matched forces (Newtons) during a force-matching task.
Time Frame: 7 days later
Bodily awareness following meditation training could impact the attenuation of real tactile sensations during self-generated touch. Measurement of pressure force will be done through a force-matching paradigm.
changes in EEG an auditory evoked response called the mismatch negativity (microVolt)
Time Frame: 1 or 2 days before the start of the retreat
Moment-to-moment monitoring following meditation training could downregulate the automatic formation of perceptual habits. Measurement of auditory evoked potentials will be done through Biosemi 64 electrodes EEG net during an auditory oddball task.
changes in EEG an auditory evoked response called the mismatch negativity (microVolt)
Time Frame: 7 days later
Moment-to-moment monitoring following meditation training could downregulate the automatic formation of perceptual habits. Measurement of auditory evoked potentials will be done through Biosemi 64 electrodes EEG net during an auditory oddball task.
changes in EEG pain-related evoked responses (microVolt)
Time Frame: 1 or 2 days before the start of the retreat
Moment-to-moment monitoring and emotion regulation following meditation training could downregulate pain catastrophizing. Measurement pain-related evoked potentials will be done through Biosemi 64 electrodes EEG net during a pain characterization task.
changes in EEG pain-related evoked responses (microVolt)
Time Frame: 7 days later
Moment-to-moment monitoring and emotion regulation following meditation training could downregulate pain catastrophizing. Measurement pain-related evoked potentials will be done through Biosemi 64 electrodes EEG net during a pain characterization task.
Secondary Outcomes
- Changes in perceived pain intensity during a pain paradigm(at least 3 weeks after the end of the retreat)
- Changes in perceived pain unpleasantness during a pain paradigm.(7 days later)
- Changes in BOLD functional connectivities at rest and during mindfulness meditation within and between the salience, default mode and executive brain networks(at least 3 weeks after the end of the retreat)
- Changes in macroscale functional organization of brain BOLD activity at rest or in meditation(at least 3 weeks after the end of the retreat)
- Changes in macroscale functional organization of brain BOLD activity in meditation(at least 3 weeks after the end of the retreat)
- Changes in experiential thought sampling thoughout the meditation retreat.(every day from day 1 to day 10 of the retreat)
- Changes in perceived pain intensity during a pain paradigm(1 or 2 days before the start of the retreat)
- Changes in perceived pain intensity during a pain paradigm(7 days later)
- Changes in perceived pain unpleasantness during a pain paradigm.(at least 3 weeks after the end of the retreat)
- Changes in perceived pain unpleasantness during a pain paradigm.(1 or 2 days before the start of the retreat)
- Changes in BOLD functional connectivities at rest and during mindfulness meditation within and between the salience, default mode and executive brain networks(1 to 7 days before the start of the retreat)
- Changes in BOLD functional connectivities at rest and during mindfulness meditation within and between the salience, default mode and executive brain networks(1 to 7 days after the end of the retreat)
- Changes in macroscale functional organization of brain BOLD activity at rest or in meditation(1 to 7 days before the start of the retreat)
- Changes in macroscale functional organization of brain BOLD activity in meditation(1 to 7 days before the start of the retreat)
- Changes in macroscale functional organization of brain BOLD activity at rest or in meditation(1 to 7 days after the end of the retreat)
- Changes in macroscale functional organization of brain BOLD activity in meditation(1 to 7 days after the end of the retreat)