What is the mechanism by which meditation enhances brain function? At the Investigating the Mind conference held in Washington DC in November 2005, sponsored by the Mind and Life Institute, Dr. Wolf Singer (picture), Director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, presented an intriguing hypothesis.

Dr. Singer’s research focus is the so-called binding problem: how are processes integrated within the distributed cortical architecture? His theory is that precisely calibrated neural clocks serve to coordinate the massive number of parallel, distributed subprocesses in the brain. Stated differently, various parts of the brain work together—talk to each other—by operating at the same frequency, sort of like neural walkie-talkies.

The frequencies Singer has identified as serving the integrative function are in the beta- and gamma frequency range. That’s interesting because gamma frequencies have also been identified as those enhanced by meditative practice (previous post).

This leads to a radical new hypothesis for how meditation enhances brain function: it improves synchronization, boosting the efficiency with which the parts and processes of the brain can work together.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 at 10:02 am and is filed under neurotheology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.