Long Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials during Meditation

The auditory sensory pathway has been studied in meditators, using midlatency and short latency auditory evoked potentials. The present study evaluated long latency auditory evoked potentials (LLAEPs) during meditation. Sixty male participants, aged between 18 and 31 years (group mean +/- SD, 20.5 +/- 3.8 years), were assessed in 4 mental states based on descriptions in the traditional texts. They were (a) random thinking, (b) nonmeditative focusing, (c) meditative focusing, and (d) meditation. The order of the sessions was randomly assigned. The LLAEP components studied were P1 (40-60 ms), N1 (75-115 ms), P2 (120-180 ms), and N2 (180-280 ms). For each component, the peak amplitude and peak latency were measured from the prestimulus baseline. There was significant decrease in the peak latency of the P2 component during and after meditation (P < .001; analysis of variance and post hoc analysis with Bonferroni adjustment). The P1, P2, and N2 components showed a significant decrease in peak amplitudes during random thinking (P < .01; P < .001; P < .01, respectively) and nonmeditative focused thinking (P < .01; P < .01; P < .05, respectively). The results suggest that meditation facilitates the processing of information in the auditory association cortex, whereas the number of neurons recruited was smaller in random thinking and non-meditative focused thinking, at the level of the secondary auditory cortex, auditory association cortex and anterior cingulate cortex.