Mindfulness & The Default Mode Network by Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.

To find our courses offer and more resources related to the learning sciences (education; psychology; neuroeducation; science of the mind, brain and education, etc.), visit our website www.thelearningsciences.com

[@ajmarr5671]

A Note on Resting States, Resting Brains, and Meditative States
A resting state, or ‘somatic rest’, would seem to correspond with a brain at rest or ‘neurologic’ rest, but by definition, somatic and neurologic rest are entirely different things. A resting ‘state’ or somatic rest represents the inactivity of the covert striatal musculature due to the application of resting protocols (continual avoidance of perseverative thought represented by rumination, worry, and distraction). Resting states also are affective states, as they elicit opioid activity in the brain. Resting states in turn may occur in tandem with all levels of non-perseverative thought that are passive or active, from just passively ‘being in the moment’ or being mindful, to actively engaging in complex and meaningful cognitive behavior. The latter cognitive behavior is also additionally affective in nature due to its elicitation of dopaminergic activity, and resulting opioid-dopamine interaction results in a perceived state of ‘bliss’ or ‘flow’. On the other hand, a resting ‘brain’, neurologic rest, or the so-called ‘default mode network’ is a specific type of neural processing that occurs when the mind is in a ‘passive’ state, or in other words, is presented with no or very limited cognitive demands. This results in ‘mind wandering’ that can segue into non-perseverative (creative thought) or perseverative thought (rumination, worry). A resting brain is due to a level of demand, not a kind of demand, as in somatic rest, and the latter may encompass different levels of demand or cognitive states with the same affective outcomes. In other words, affect is not dependent upon neurologic resting states, or the default mode network, as the affective outcomes of meditation are commonly replicated in cognitively active behaviors that are concomitant with somatic rest.
It is remarkable that in the literature of meditation, the neurophysiology of rest is not defined, with a similar neglect to how neuro-muscular activity is actively shaped by experience or learning, and how it in turn modulates affect. The importance of meditation is very real, and the meditative community is understandably averse to equating it with rest since it makes meditation less ‘special’ or less marketable. But that is my argument nonetheless, which in the end provides a better advocacy of meditation by denying that meditation elicits a unique physiological process or state, which like the concept of ‘phlogiston’, or the imaginary element that enabled fire, impedes rather than furthers scientific inquiry.
From ‘the book of rest, the odd psychology of doing nothing’ by ajmarr on scribd

[@secretagentstoic]

Thank you

[@beckyholmes7896]

Talking too fast, but really interesting video, thank you.

[@dirk-piehl28]

try and keep up.

[@pritamshil5765]

Ma'am, I have a question _
Whenever a sexual thought arises in my mind, do I always have a conscious choice?
Wheather to go for it or not?
Wheather to act on it or not?

[@grahaminglis4242]

Finding the Default Mode Network in neuroscience invites researchers to translate what it means for understanding the brain. Here is where the explanations vary widely and are reflected in terms of whatever positivity means to the particular research area that they are engaged in. If the researcher is interested in improving task-related skills and activities then that’s going to lead to denigrating the DMN because it doesn’t promote the goals of progress re task optimisation.
On the other hand, someone interested in understanding the holistic approach to the DMN would have an entirely different perspective on its importance to non-conditional consciousness as a singularity in lieu of the dualistic psychological conditioning that prevails in traditional psychology.
Open mindedness doesn’t appear to be a virtue that receives accolades in brain science, unfortunately.