Scientific Reports
January 1, 2020
Juliana Yordanova, Vasil Kolev, Federica Mauro et al.
42 citations
Different meditation practices—focused attention, open monitoring, and loving kindness—share a common brain connectivity pattern while also showing distinct neural signatures. Using a refined measure of neural coupling (imaginary part of EEG coherence) in highly experienced meditators, the study found that all three types increased connectivity in broadly distributed delta networks, left-hemispheric theta networks with a posterior focus, and right-hemispheric alpha networks with a parieto-occipital focus. Each meditation state also recruited left- or right-lateralized beta networks in unique ways. These findings suggest that frequency-specific inter-hemispheric asymmetry is a key feature of meditation, with lateralized fast-frequency networks supporting the distinct mental processes of each practice.
Brain sciences
September 30, 2024
Luca Simione, Alessandro Frolli, Francesca Sciattella et al.
22 citations
A systematic review of 37 studies suggests that mindfulness-based interventions may help reduce psychological distress, behavioral problems, and improve cognitive and social skills in people with autism spectrum disorder and their caregivers. The review grouped studies by intervention targets: adults (12 studies), children and adolescents (9 studies), caregivers and medical staff (13 studies), and combined child/adolescent and parent interventions (5 studies). Although results appear promising, the overall low quality of the existing studies means recommendations must be made with caution. The review also notes a scarcity of research on young patients and calls for tailored interventions for different ASD subgroups and expanded support for teachers.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2019
Luca Simione, Enrico Di Pace, Salvatore G Chiarella et al.
13 citations
A distinction between phenomenal and access consciousness has been influential in consciousness studies. Phenomenal consciousness is linked to iconic memory and a fragile short-term memory store with larger capacity than working memory, while access consciousness is linked to limited-capacity working memory. Visual attention was thought to affect only access consciousness, but some evidence suggests earlier attentional effects. An experiment using a change-detection task with delayed cueing and high- and low-priority colored objects found an attentional bias toward high-priority objects at longer cueing delays (600 and 1,200 ms) associated with fragile visual short-term memory, but not at shorter delays (16.
Consciousness and cognition
January 1, 2023
Salvatore G Chiarella, Luca Simione, Monia D'Angiò et al.
9 citations
Selective attention produces both costs and benefits in iconic memory and fragile visual short-term memory, which are linked to phenomenal consciousness. In three experiments using a retro-cue paradigm, attentional costs disrupted visual maintenance at longer delays. Reducing the memory array exposure from 250 ms to 100 ms prevented participants from selecting objects based on their priorities, indicating a bottom-up factor. A pattern mask presented before transfer to visual working memory reduced overall performance but preserved the priority effect. These findings suggest that fragile-VSTM and iconic memory play distinct roles in feature-based attentional selection, with implications for phenomenal consciousness before conscious access.
Scientific reports
March 27, 2025
Juliana Yordanova, Valentina Nicolardi, Peter Malinowski et al.
4 citations
Long-term meditation practice is associated with a proactive top-down inhibition of brain regions that process the sensory aspects of pain, even when the meditator is not actively meditating. Experienced meditators, compared to novices, showed substantially suppressed temporal and spatial synchronization of pain-related brain oscillations (from theta-alpha to gamma frequencies) at somatosensory areas within 200 milliseconds after a painful stimulus. This suppression was predicted by increased pre-stimulus alpha activity in the same regions, indicating a preparatory, inhibitory state. The emotional and cognitive reappraisal of pain, reflected by the P3b brainwave component, was reduced but not eliminated, suggesting that experienced meditators can dissociate proactive inhibition of sensory processing from reactive emotional evaluation during pain control.
Eur Burn J
May 15, 2025
Luca Simione
1 citation
This systematic review examines how dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions influence the psychosocial outcomes of burn injuries. The review synthesizes existing evidence on whether mindfulness can help mitigate psychological distress, such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress, as well as improve social functioning and quality of life in burn survivors. The findings suggest that higher levels of dispositional mindfulness are associated with better psychological adjustment, and that mindfulness-based interventions may offer benefits for reducing psychosocial consequences, though the evidence is limited and further research is needed to establish definitive conclusions.
Mindfulness
April 1, 2026
Vasil Kolev, Peter Malinowski, Antonino Raffone et al.
Different types of meditation alter cognitive and affective pain mechanisms in distinct ways depending on a person's meditation experience. In novice meditators, loving-kindness meditation (LKM) reduced the connectivity of a frontal brain network and decreased a specific electrical brain response (P3b), suggesting that a positive emotional state can suppress the distribution and appraisal of pain signals. In long-term meditators, focused attention and open monitoring meditations increased pre-stimulus alpha brain waves in sensory areas and modulated frontal brain synchronizations. Bottom-up sensory pain processing was not influenced by any meditation state. The findings indicate that meditation experience guides how attention and cognitive control networks engage during pain.
bioRxiv Preprint Server
May 20, 2025
Vasil Kolev, Peter Malinowski, Antonino Raffone et al.
preprint
Different types of meditation alter how the brain processes pain, but the effects depend on the specific meditation technique. Focused attention meditation reduced pain intensity and unpleasantness by modulating activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and insula, while open monitoring meditation reduced pain unpleasantness without affecting intensity, engaging different neural pathways. Loving-kindness meditation increased pain unpleasantness and activated regions associated with emotion and reward. The findings suggest that meditation-induced pain relief is not a uniform phenomenon but varies by practice.
Front Psychol
May 7, 2025
Monia D'Angiò, Luca Simione, Xerxes D. Arsiwalla et al.
This collection of articles presents diverse perspectives on consciousness research, including new theories and methodological frameworks. Fink proposes direct neurophenomenal structuralism linking neural structures to experience without intermediate explanations. Josipovic argues conscious awareness does not require mental representations, highlighting non-dual awareness with an implicit-explicit gradient. Oblak et al. demonstrate personalized network models can incorporate qualitative phenomenology in clinical psychiatry. Tsuchiya et al. propose the Quantum-like Qualia hypothesis, treating qualia as observables affected by measurement. Andersen's Maps of Meaning theory defines consciousness as a byproduct of goal prioritization.
Scientific Reports
March 1, 2021
Juliana Yordanova, Vasil Kolev, Valentina Nicolardi et al.
Meditation practice engages cognitive control systems in the brain. Highly experienced meditators, compared to novices, showed strong theta synchronization of fronto-parietal and medial-frontal networks in left parietal regions across all meditation styles. Only lateralized beta connectivity in medial-frontal networks differed between meditation styles. Theta fronto-parietal connectivity depended non-linearly on expertise, with opposite patterns in left and right hemispheres. Inter-hemispheric fronto-parietal connectivity in faster frequency bands increased linearly with expertise. These results indicate that executive control systems maintain meditation states, and lateralized involvement of these networks may support both generic and style-specific states, with functional plasticity in executive control networks underpinning unique states in expert meditators.