P300 and Heart Rate Variability Recorded Simultaneously in Meditation

Sympathetic activation is required for attention. Separate studies have shown that meditation ( a) improves attention and ( b) reduces sympathetic activity. The present study assessed attention with the P300 and sympathetic activity with heart rate variability (HRV). Forty-seven male subjects (group mean age ± SD, 21.6 ± 3.4 years) were assessed in 4 mental states: ( a) random thinking, ( b) nonmeditative focusing, ( c) meditative focusing, and ( d) defocused meditation. These were recorded on 4 consecutive days. HRV, respiration, and P300 event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded before and after the sessions. Data were analyzed with repeated-measures analysis of variance followed by post hoc analysis. HRV showed a significant increase in low-frequency (LF) power, decrease in high-frequency (HF) power and an increase in average heart rate based on the average R-R interval after meditative focusing, compared with before. In contrast, the average heart rate decreased after defocused meditation compared with before. There was a significant increase in the P300 peak amplitude after meditative focusing and defocused meditation, with a reduction in peak latency after defocused meditation. These results suggest that after meditation with focusing, there was sympathetic arousal whereas after defocused meditation, there was a decrease in the average heart rate while participants carried out the P300 auditory oddball task sooner.