Mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia for older adults with sleep difficulties: a randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: Poor sleep is a modifiable risk factor for multiple disorders. Frontline treatments (e.g. cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia) have limitations, prompting a search for alternative approaches. Here, we compare manualized Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Insomnia (MBTI) with a Sleep Hygiene, Education, and Exercise Program (SHEEP) in improving subjective and objective sleep outcomes in older adults. METHODS: We conducted a single-site, parallel-arm trial, with blinded assessments collected at baseline, post-intervention and 6-months follow-up. We randomized 127 participants aged 50-80, with a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score ⩾5, to either MBTI (n = 65) or SHEEP (n = 62), both 2 hr weekly group sessions lasting 8 weeks. Primary outcomes included PSQI and Insomnia Severity Index, and actigraphy- and polysomnography-measured sleep onset latency (SOL) and wake after sleep onset (WASO). RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analysis showed reductions in insomnia severity in both groups [MBTI: Cohen's effect size d = -1.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.61 to -0.89; SHEEP: d = -0.69, 95% CI -0.96 to -0.43], with significantly greater improvement in MBTI. Sleep quality improved equivalently in both groups (MBTI: d = -1.19; SHEEP: d = -1.02). No significant interaction effects were observed in objective sleep measures. However, only MBTI had reduced WASOactigraphy (MBTI: d = -0.30; SHEEP: d = 0.02), SOLactigraphy (MBTI: d = -0.25; SHEEP: d = -0.09), and WASOPSG (MBTI: d = -0.26; SHEEP (d = -0.18). There was no change in SOLPSG. No participants withdrew because of adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS: MBTI is effective at improving subjective and objective sleep quality in older adults, and could be a valid alternative for persons who have failed or do not have access to standard frontline therapies.

The societal cost of modifiable risk factors in Singapore.

BACKGROUND: Singapore is one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the world. Nearly half of all disease burdens in Singapore are attributable to modifiable risk factors. This indicates that many illnesses are preventable by modifying behaviours such as increasing physical activity levels or maintaining a healthy diet. Prior cost-of-illness studies have estimated the cost of selected modifiable risk factors. However, no local study has compared costs between groups of modifiable risks. This study aims to estimate the societal cost attributable to a comprehensive list of modifiable risks in Singapore. METHODS: Our study builds on the comparative risk assessment framework from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study. A top-down prevalence-based cost-of-illness approach was undertaken to estimate the societal cost of modifiable risks in 2019. These include healthcare costs from inpatient hospitalisation and productivity losses from absenteeism and premature mortality. RESULTS: Metabolic risks had the highest total cost of US$1.62 billion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] US$1.51-1.84 billion), followed by lifestyle risks of US$1.40 billion (95% UI US$1.36-1.66 billion) and substance risks of US$1.15 billion (95% UI US$1.10-1.24 billion). Across the risk factors, the costs were driven by productivity losses, heavily skewed towards the older working-age group and among males. Most of the costs were driven by cardiovascular diseases. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence of the high societal cost of modifiable risks and highlights the importance of developing holistic public health promotion programmes. As modifiable risks often do not occur in isolation, implementing effective population-based programmes targeting multiple modifiable risks has a strong potential to manage the cost of the rising disease burden in Singapore.

Effects of mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia and a sleep hygiene/exercise programme on subjective-objective sleep discrepancy in older adults with sleep disturbances: Exploratory secondary analysis of a randomised clinical trial.

Older adults with poor sleep tend to show a discrepancy between objective and self-reported sleep parameters, which can trigger a vicious cycle that worsens their sleep complaints. Cognitive-behavioural therapy can reduce this discrepancy, but alternative behavioural therapies remain untested. The present exploratory study aimed to investigate the effects of mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia (MBTI) on reducing sleep discrepancies in comparison with a sleep hygiene, education, and exercise programme (SHEEP). Older adults were randomly allocated into the mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia group (n = 55) or the sleep hygiene, education, and exercise programme group (n = 58). Subjective and objective sleep parameters were measured using sleep diaries, polysomnography (PSG), and actigraphy. Sleep discrepancies were calculated using the Bland-Altman method for sleep onset latency (SOL) and wake after sleep onset (WASO). Additionally, correlations between the change in sleep discrepancies and the change in subjective sleep quality and trait mindfulness were measured within each group. Sleep onset latency discrepancy measured by polysomnography and actigraphy decreased significantly after the MBTI and SHEEP interventions. In contrast, there was no significant change in wake after sleep onset discrepancy in either group. The change in sleep onset latency discrepancy was correlated with the change in insomnia symptoms and objectively measured trait mindfulness. Mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia was effective in reducing sleep onset latency discrepancies and improving sleep perception in older adults with sleep disturbances, which in turn drove an improvement in sleep quality and insomnia symptoms. Increases in trait mindfulness may have been an important mechanism in improving sleep perception in the mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia group.

Support for redistribution is shaped by compassion, envy, and self-interest, but not a taste for fairness.

Why do people support economic redistribution? Hypotheses include inequity aversion, a moral sense that inequality is intrinsically unfair, and cultural explanations such as exposure to and assimilation of culturally transmitted ideologies. However, humans have been interacting with worse-off and better-off individuals over evolutionary time, and our motivational systems may have been naturally selected to navigate the opportunities and challenges posed by such recurrent interactions. We hypothesize that modern redistribution is perceived as an ancestral scene involving three notional players: the needy other, the better-off other, and the actor herself. We explore how three motivational systems-compassion, self-interest, and envy-guide responses to the needy other and the better-off other, and how they pattern responses to redistribution. Data from the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and Israel support this model. Endorsement of redistribution is independently predicted by dispositional compassion, dispositional envy, and the expectation of personal gain from redistribution. By contrast, a taste for fairness, in the sense of (i) universality in the application of laws and standards, or (ii) low variance in group-level payoffs, fails to predict attitudes about redistribution.

Vigilance declines following sleep deprivation are associated with two previously identified dynamic connectivity states.

Robustly linking dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) states to behaviour is important for establishing the utility of the method as a functional measurement. We previously used a sliding window approach to identify two dynamic connectivity states (DCS) related to vigilance. A new sample of 32 healthy participants underwent two sets of task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, once in a well-rested state and once after a single night of total sleep deprivation. Using a temporal difference method, DFC and clustering analysis on the task-free fMRI data revealed five centroids that were highly correlated with those found in previous work. In particular, two of these states were associated with high and low arousal respectively. Individual differences in vulnerability to sleep deprivation were measured by assessing state-related changes in Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) performance. Changes in the duration spent in each of the arousal states from the well-rested to the sleep-deprived condition correlated with declines in PVT performance. The reproducibility of DFC measures and their association with vigilance highlight their utility in serving as a neuroimaging method with behavioural relevance. (178 words).

Reward motivation normalises temporal attention after sleep deprivation.

Preparation of attention facilitates speeded responding at time points with a high probability of target occurrence. Conversely, time points with low target probability are disadvantaged due to lower readiness. When targets are uniformly distributed in time, this effect results in higher readiness after longer preparation times (foreperiods). During sleep deprivation, this temporal bias is amplified, resulting in greater performance decrement when stimuli occur at unfavourable times. In this study, we examined whether reward motivation could modulate this increased temporal bias in response speed. Participants (n = 24) performed the psychomotor vigilance task under four reward conditions (0, 1, 5 or 15c per fast response), both after normal sleep (rested wakefulness) and sleep deprivation. To assess temporal preparation (foreperiod-effect), trials were binned based on the lead time prior to target presentation (short foreperiod: 1-6 s; long foreperiod: 6-10 s). As previously observed, the foreperiod-effect (slower reaction time for short foreperiod trials) increased after sleep deprivation. However, this state effect was attenuated with reward, reaching a response speed comparable to that observed in the unrewarded, well-rested condition. The current findings, therefore, suggest that reward improves overall response performance and normalises temporal attention in sleep-deprived individuals.

Pace yourself: Neural activation and connectivity changes over time vary by task type and pacing.

Performance deterioration over time, or time-on-task (TOT) effects, can be observed across a variety of tasks, but little attention has been paid to how TOT-related brain activity may differ based on task pacing and cognitive demands. Here, we employ a set of three closely related tasks to investigate the effect of these variables on fMRI activation and connectivity. When participants dictated the pace of their own responses, activation and network connectivity within the dorsal attention network (DAN) increased over short time scales (~2-3 min), a phenomenon that was not observed when participants had no control over their pace of work. Reaction time slowing was also the most pronounced in this self-paced task. In contrast, TOT-related changes in default-mode network (DMN) activity and connectivity, DAN-DMN anti-correlations, and pupil diameter did not differ based on pacing or task instructions. Over a longer (~10 min) time scale, task-positive activation and connectivity decreased in all paradigms, in agreement with older findings. These results highlight dynamic patterns of resource allocation that have not previously been observed in fMRI experiments, and speak to the idea that the brain may strategically allocate resources depending on the task at hand and the time scale of work.

Dynamic functional connectivity markers of objective trait mindfulness.

While mindfulness is commonly viewed as a skill to be cultivated through practice, untrained individuals can also vary widely in dispositional mindfulness. Prior research has identified static neural connectivity correlates of this trait. Here, we use dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) analysis of resting-state fMRI to study time-varying connectivity patterns associated with naturally varying and objectively measured trait mindfulness. Participants were selected from the top and bottom tertiles of performers on a breath-counting task to form high trait mindfulness (HTM; N = 21) and low trait mindfulness (LTM; N = 18) groups. DFC analysis of resting state fMRI data revealed that the HTM group spent significantly more time in a brain state associated with task-readiness - a state characterized by high within-network connectivity and greater anti-correlations between task-positive networks and the default-mode network (DMN). The HTM group transitioned between brain states more frequently, but the dwell time in each episode of the task-ready state was equivalent between groups. These results persisted even after controlling for vigilance. Across individuals, certain connectivity metrics were weakly correlated with self-reported mindfulness as measured by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, though these did not survive multiple comparisons correction. In the static connectivity maps, HTM individuals had greater within-network connectivity in the DMN and the salience network, and greater anti-correlations between the DMN and task-positive networks. In sum, DFC features robustly distinguish HTM and LTM individuals, and may be useful biological markers for the measurement of dispositional mindfulness.

Fronto-Parietal Subnetworks Flexibility Compensates For Cognitive Decline Due To Mental Fatigue.

Fronto-parietal subnetworks were revealed to compensate for cognitive decline due to mental fatigue by community structure analysis. Here, we investigate changes in topology of subnetworks of resting-state fMRI networks due to mental fatigue induced by prolonged performance of a cognitively demanding task, and their associations with cognitive decline. As it is well established that brain networks have modular organization, community structure analyses can provide valuable information about mesoscale network organization and serve as a bridge between standard fMRI approaches and brain connectomics that quantify the topology of whole brain networks. We developed inter- and intramodule network metrics to quantify topological characteristics of subnetworks, based on our hypothesis that mental fatigue would impact on functional relationships of subnetworks. Functional networks were constructed with wavelet correlation and a data-driven thresholding scheme based on orthogonal minimum spanning trees, which allowed detection of communities with weak connections. A change from pre- to posttask runs was found for the intermodule density between the frontal and the temporal subnetworks. Seven inter- or intramodule network metrics, mostly at the frontal or the parietal subnetworks, showed significant predictive power of individual cognitive decline, while the network metrics for the whole network were less effective in the predictions. Our results suggest that the control-type fronto-parietal networks have a flexible topological architecture to compensate for declining cognitive ability due to mental fatigue. This community structure analysis provides valuable insight into connectivity dynamics under different cognitive states including mental fatigue.

The effects of a mid-task break on the brain connectome in healthy participants: A resting-state functional MRI study.

Although rest breaks are commonly administered as a countermeasure to reduce mental fatigue and boost cognitive performance, the effects of taking a break on behavior are not consistent. Moreover, our understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms of rest breaks and how they modulate mental fatigue is still rudimentary. In this study, we investigated the effects of receiving a rest break on the topological properties of brain connectivity networks via a two-session experimental paradigm, in which one session comprised four successive blocks of a mentally demanding visual selective attention task (No-rest session), whereas the other contained a rest break between the second and third task blocks (Rest session). Functional brain networks were constructed using resting-state functional MRI data recorded from 20 healthy adults before and after the performance of the task blocks. Behaviorally, subjects displayed robust time-on-task (TOT) declines, as reflected by increasingly slower reaction time as the test progressed and lower post-task self-reported ratings of engagement. However, we did not find a significant effect on task performance due to administering a mid-task break. Compared to pre-task measurements, post-task functional brain networks demonstrated an overall decrease of optimal small-world properties together with lower global efficiency. Specifically, we found TOT-related reduced nodal efficiency in brain regions that mainly resided in the subcortical areas. More interestingly, a significant block-by-session interaction was revealed in local efficiency, attributing to a significant post-task decline in No-rest session and a preserved local efficiency when a mid-task break opportunity was introduced in the Rest session. Taken together, these findings augment our understanding of how the resting brain reorganizes following the accumulation of prolonged task, suggest dissociable processes between the neural mechanisms of fatigue and recovery, and provide some of the first quantitative insights into the cognitive neuroscience of work and rest.

Assessing the benefits of napping and short rest breaks on processing speed in sleep-restricted adolescents.

Achievement-oriented adolescents often study long hours under conditions of chronic sleep restriction, adversely affecting cognitive function. Here, we studied how napping and rest breaks (interleaved off-task periods) might ameliorate the negative effects of sleep restriction on processing speed. Fifty-seven healthy adolescents (26 female, age = 15-19 years) participated in a 15-day live-in protocol. All participants underwent sleep restriction (5 h time-in-bed), but were then randomized into two groups: one of these groups received a daily 1-h nap opportunity. Data from seven of the study days (sleep restriction days 1-5, and recovery days 1-2) are reported here. The Blocked Symbol Decoding Test, administered once a day, was used to assess time-on-task effects and the effects of rest breaks on processing speed. Controlling for baseline differences, participants who took a nap demonstrated faster speed of processing and greater benefit across testing sessions from practice. These participants were also affected significantly less by time-on-task effects. In contrast, participants who did not receive a nap benefited more from the rest breaks that were permitted between blocks of the test. Our results indicate that napping partially reverses the detrimental effects of sleep restriction on processing speed. However, rest breaks have a greater effect as a countermeasure against poor performance when sleep pressure is higher. These data add to the growing body of evidence showing the importance of sleep for good cognitive functioning in adolescents, and suggest that more frequent rest breaks might be important in situations where sleep loss is unavoidable.

Modulating rest-break length induces differential recruitment of automatic and controlled attentional processes upon task reengagement.

Rest breaks are commonly administered as a countermeasure to reduce on-the-job fatigue, both physical and mental. However, this practice makes the assumption that recovery from fatigue, as measured by the reversal of performance declines, is the sole effect of taking a break on behavior. Here, through administering rest breaks of differing lengths in between blocks of a mentally demanding symbol decoding task, we show that this assumption may not be strictly true. First, we replicate previous work by showing that taking a longer break leads to two correlated effects: greater immediate rebound in performance, and greater subsequent time-on-task decline. Using fMRI, we reveal that time-on-task in this paradigm is associated with increasing recruitment of fronto-parietal areas associated with top-down control, and decreasing deactivation in the default-mode network. Finally, by analyzing individual differences, we reveal a potential neural basis for our behavioral observation: greater recovery following long breaks is associated with greater activity in the putamen, an area associated with the automatic generation of motor responses, followed by greater activity in left middle frontal gyrus by the end of those task periods. Taken together, this suggests a shift in the implicit engagement of automatic and controlled attentional processing following longer breaks. This shift may be undesirable or detrimental in real-world situations where maintaining a stable level of attention over time is necessary.

Could Adherence to Quality of Care Indicators for Hospitalized Patients With Cirrhosis-Related Ascites Improve Clinical Outcomes?

OBJECTIVES: The diagnosis of cirrhotic ascites is associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and reduced health-related quality of life. Adherence by health professionals to quality indicators (QIs) of care for ascites is low. We evaluated the effect of adherence to ascites QIs on clinical outcomes for patients hospitalized with new onset cirrhotic ascites. METHODS: The medical records of 302 patients admitted with new onset cirrhotic ascites were interrogated for demographic and clinical data and adherence to eight Delphi panel-derived QIs for ascites management. Associations between adherence to each QI and 30-day emergent readmission and 90-day mortality were analyzed. RESULTS: The majority of patients were males (68.9%) over 50 years of age (mean 57±12.83 years) with alcohol-related cirrhosis (59%). Twenty-nine percent were readmitted within 30 days. Patients who received an abdominal paracentesis within 30 days of ascites diagnosis (QI 1, relative risk (RR) 0.41, P=0.004) or during index hospitalization (QI 2, RR 0.57, P=0.006) were significantly less likely to experience a 30-day emergent readmission. Baseline serum bilirubin >2.5 mg/dl was associated with increased 30-day cirrhosis-related readmission (RR 1.51, P=0.03). A total of 18.5% of patients died within 90 days of index admission; median interval to death was 139 days (37-562 days). Pneumonia was the most frequent cause of death. Independent predictors of 90-day mortality included older age (odds ratio (OR) 1.03, P=0.03), increased Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD)-Na score (OR 1.06, P=0.05), primary SBP prophylaxis (QI 7, OR 2.30, P=0.04), and readmission within 30 days (OR 30.26, P<0.001). Discharge prescription of diuretics (QI 8, OR 0.28, P=0.01) was associated with reduced 90-day mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Early paracentesis in patients with new onset cirrhotic ascites lowers 30-day readmission rates, and early initiation of diuretic therapy lowers 90-day mortality.

Peer-assisted learning: filling the gaps in basic science education for preclinical medical students.

In contrast to peer-assisted learning (PAL) in clinical training, there is scant literature on the efficacy of PAL during basic medical sciences teaching for preclinical students. A group of senior medical students aimed to design and deliver clinically oriented small-group tutorials after every module in the preclinical curriculum at a United Kingdom medical school. Twenty tutorials were delivered by senior students throughout the year to first- and second-year students. A baseline questionnaire was delivered to inform the development of the program followed by an end-point questionnaire the next year (n = 122). Quizzes were administered before and after five separate tutorials to assess changes in mean student scores. Additionally, each tutorial was evaluated via a questionnaire for participants (n = 949). All five posttutorial quizzes showed a significant improvement in mean student score (P < 0.05). Questionnaires showed students found the program to be relevant and useful for revision purposes and appreciated how tutorials contextualized basic science to clinical medicine. Students appreciated the interactive nature of the sessions and found receiving personalized feedback about their learning and consolidating information with someone familiar with the material to be useful. With the inclusion of the program, students felt there were now an adequate number of tutorials during the year. In conclusion, this study shows that senior medical students can design and deliver a program that adds value to the mostly lecture-based formal preclinical curriculum. We hope that our study can prompt further work to explore the effect of PAL on the teaching of basic sciences during preclinical studies.

The Effects of Varying Break Length on Attention and Time on Task.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to discover how varying the length of task breaks would affect the time-on-task effect in subsequent testing periods. BACKGROUND: An important means of preventing errors and accidents caused by mental fatigue and time on task is to intersperse rest intervals within long work periods. Most studies of rest pauses to date have examined their effects in real-world tasks and settings, and their subtler effects on behavior, as measurable by laboratory paradigms, are not well understood. METHOD: We studied a group of 71 participants as they completed a 1-hr auditory oddball task with two rest opportunities. Rest intervals were 1, 5, or 10 min long. RESULTS: Improvements in reaction time were significantly positively associated with length of the rest break. However, longer breaks were also associated with steeper decrements in performance in the subsequent task block. Across individuals, the amount of immediate improvement correlated with the extent of later decline. CONCLUSION: Our results support a resource/effort-allocation model of fatigue, whereby longer breaks bias participants toward greater effort expenditure on resumption of the task when cognitive resources may not have been fully replenished. APPLICATION: These findings may have implications for the refinement of work-rest schedules in industries where time-on-task degradation in performance is an important concern.

The Effects of Eccentric Conditioning Stimuli on Subsequent Counter-Movement Jump Performance.

The eccentric phase in a stretch-shortening cycle is an important determinant of subsequent concentric performance, but there is little information on high-intensity eccentric preconditioning. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of varying degrees of eccentric conditioning stimuli on subsequent counter-movement jump (CMJ) performance. Fourteen participants (age, 28.5 ± 5.0 years; height, 172.7 ± 6.7 cm; body mass, 74.3 ± 11.9 kg) performed CMJ trials on 3 separate test sessions at least 96 hours apart in a crossover randomized counterbalanced study. Peak power (Ppeak) and vertical displacement (Dmax) were measured before and at 3, 6, 9, and 12 minutes (T3-12) postcontrol (0RM), 105% (105RM), and 125% (125RM) 1RM eccentric hip sled. The differences in vertical jump performance parameters between 0RM and eccentric preloading conditions (105RM and 125RM) and the differences within condition between control time point and posteccentric load time course T3, T6, T9, and T12 were analyzed for statistical significance via unequal variance t statistic. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Significantly higher Ppeak, compared with 0RM (4143 ± 754 W) was seen at T3 and T6 in both 105RM (4305 ± 876 and 4237 ± 842 W) and 125RM (4314 ± 848 and 4264 ± 768 W). Compared with 0RM (42.2 ± 7.8 cm), corresponding Dmax, was also significantly improved at T3 in both 105RM (44.5 ± 7.3 cm) and 125RM (44.3 ± 8.3 cm) and at T6 in 105RM (44.7 ± 7.7 cm). Compared with baseline (43.2 ± 7.2 cm), there was significantly higher Dmax at T3 and T6 in 105RM. In conclusion, high-intensity preconditioning eccentric contraction at 105 and 125% 1RM was effective in improving CMJ power and height at 3 and 6 minutes after loading. Thus, power athletes and coaches can consider the application of eccentric preconditioning in warm-up routines.

Functional cortical connectivity analysis of mental fatigue unmasks hemispheric asymmetry and changes in small-world networks.

Changes in functional connectivity across mental states can provide richer information about human cognition than simpler univariate approaches. Here, we applied a graph theoretical approach to analyze such changes in the lower alpha (8-10 Hz) band of EEG data from 26 subjects undergoing a mentally-demanding test of sustained attention: the Psychomotor Vigilance Test. Behavior and connectivity maps were compared between the first and last 5 min of the task. Reaction times were significantly slower in the final minutes of the task, showing a clear time-on-task effect. A significant increase was observed in weighted characteristic path length, a measure of the efficiency of information transfer within the cortical network. This increase was correlated with reaction time change. Functional connectivity patterns were also estimated on the cortical surface via source localization of cortical activities in 26 predefined regions of interest. Increased characteristic path length was revealed, providing further support for the presence of a reshaped global topology in cortical connectivity networks under fatigue state. Additional analysis showed an asymmetrical pattern of connectivity (right>left) in fronto-parietal regions associated with sustained attention, supporting the right-lateralization of this function. Interestingly, in the fatigue state, significance decreases were observed in left, but not right fronto-parietal connectivity. Our results indicate that functional network organization can change over relatively short time scales with mental fatigue, and that decreased connectivity has a meaningful relationship with individual difference in behavior and performance.

Assessing the effects of an 8-week mindfulness training program on neural oscillations and self-reports during meditation practice.

Previous literature suggests that mindfulness meditation can have positive effects on mental health, however, its mechanisms of action are still unclear. In this pre-registered study, we investigate the effects of mindfulness training on lapses of attention (and their associated neural correlates) during meditation practice. For this purpose, we recorded Electroencephalogram (EEG) during meditation practice before and after 8 weeks of mindfulness training (or waitlist) in 41 participants (21 treatment and 20 controls). In order to detect lapses of attention and characterize their EEG correlates, we interrupted participants during meditation to report their level of focus and drowsiness. First, we show that self-reported lapses of attention during meditation practice were associated to an increased occurrence of theta oscillations (3-6 Hz), which were slower in frequency and more spatially widespread than theta oscillations occurring during focused attention states. Then, we show that mindfulness training did not reduce the occurrence of lapses of attention nor their associated EEG correlate (i.e. theta oscillations) during meditation. Instead, we find that mindfulness training was associated with a significant slowing of alpha oscillations in frontal electrodes during meditation. Crucially, frontal alpha slowing during meditation practice has been reported in experienced meditators and is thought to reflect relative decreases in arousal levels. Together, our findings provide insights into the EEG correlates of mindfulness meditation, which could have important implications for the identification of its mechanisms of action and/or the development of neuromodulation protocols aimed at facilitating meditation practice.

EEG alpha activity is associated with individual differences in post-break improvement.

Continuous EEG activity has been used increasingly as a marker of mental and cognitive states, with previous work linking particular neural patterns to conditions of arousal or fatigue. This approach is more commonly used to assess task-related, as opposed to resting-state activity. In this study, we recorded the EEG of 31 healthy individuals as they performed two sessions of a 65-minute auditory oddball task, one with, and one without a 5-minute break opportunity. Over the course of the task, reaction times, as well as EEG power in theta and lower alpha bands increased in both conditions, but did not differ significantly between conditions. Over the period of the break, delta and theta EEG activity decreased significantly in comparison with activity in the equivalent period in the no-break condition. Individual differences in response to the break were observed, with approximately half the subjects showing an improvement, and half showing a decline. These individual differences were correlated both with decreases in theta activity, as well as resting upper alpha power during the period of the break. Our results suggest that tonic EEG activity during resting periods is meaningfully related to behavioral change between individuals based on physiological or psychological factors that remain to be explored.