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Spontaneous eye movements during focused-attention mindfulness meditation

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  • Alessio Matiz
  • Cristiano Crescentini
  • Anastasia Fabbro
  • Riccardo Budai
  • Massimo Bergamasco
  • Franco Fabbro

Abstract

Oculometric measures have been proven to be useful markers of mind-wandering during visual tasks such as reading. However, little is known about ocular activity during mindfulness meditation, a mental practice naturally involving mind-wandering episodes. In order to explore this issue, we extracted closed-eyes ocular movement measurements via a covert technique (EEG recordings) from expert meditators during two repetitions of a 7-minute mindfulness meditation session, focusing on the breath, and two repetitions of a 7-minute instructed mind-wandering task. Power spectral density was estimated on both the vertical and horizontal components of eye movements. The results show a significantly smaller average amplitude of eye movements in the delta band (1–4 Hz) during mindfulness meditation than instructed mind-wandering. Moreover, participants’ meditation expertise correlated significantly with this average amplitude during both tasks, with more experienced meditators generally moving their eyes less than less experienced meditators. These findings suggest the potential use of this measure to detect mind-wandering episodes during mindfulness meditation and to assess meditation performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessio Matiz & Cristiano Crescentini & Anastasia Fabbro & Riccardo Budai & Massimo Bergamasco & Franco Fabbro, 2019. "Spontaneous eye movements during focused-attention mindfulness meditation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0210862
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210862
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Jonathan Smallwood & Kevin S Brown & Christine Tipper & Barry Giesbrecht & Michael S Franklin & Michael D Mrazek & Jean M Carlson & Jonathan W Schooler, 2011. "Pupillometric Evidence for the Decoupling of Attention from Perceptual Input during Offline Thought," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(3), pages 1-8, March.
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