Focused attention, open monitoring and automatic self-transcending: Categories to organize meditations from Vedic, Buddhist and Chinese traditions

Abstract
This paper proposes a third meditation-category—automatic self-transcending— to extend the dichotomy of focused attention and open monitoring proposed by Lutz. Automatic self-transcending includes techniques designed to transcend their own activity. This contrasts with focused attention, which keeps attention focused on an object; and open monitoring, which keeps attention involved in the monitoring process. Each category was assigned EEG bands, based on reported brain patterns during mental tasks, and meditations were categorized based on their reported EEG. Focused attention, characterized by beta/gamma activity, included meditations from Tibetan Buddhist, Buddhist, and Chinese traditions. Open monitoring, characterized by theta activity, included meditations from Buddhist, Chinese, and Vedic traditions. Automatic self-transcending, characterized by alpha1 activity, included meditations from Vedic and Chinese traditions. Between categories, the included meditations differed in focus, subject/object relation, and procedures. These findings shed light on the common mistake of averaging meditations together to determine mechanisms or clinical effects.

Article Outline

1. Introduction
2. Cognitive processing and EEG frequency bands
2.1. Gamma bands (30–50 Hz) and Beta 2 (20–30 Hz)
2.2. Beta1 band (13–20 Hz)
2.3. Alpha band (8–12 Hz)
2.4. Theta band (4–8 Hz)
2.5. Delta band (1–4 Hz)
3. EEG patterns during different meditation practices
3.1. Category: focused attention
3.2. Category: open monitoring
3.3. Category: automatic self-transcending
4. Discussion
4.1. What is the relation of Transcendental Meditation to focused attention?
4.2. Investigation of automatic transcending
5. Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References