Classifying EEG signals of Mind-wandering across different

styles of Meditation

Classifier:

● KNearest Neighbors (KNN)

● Support Vector Machine (SVC)
● Decision Tree Classifier
● Random Forest Classifier
● Multi Layered Perceptron (MLP)
● Ada Boost Classifier
● Gaussian Naive Bayes
● Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA)

Participants :

EEG recording from experts in Shamatha, Zazen , Dzogchen, and visualisation

meditation .

Type Of Exercise :

● Shamatha meditation : calming the mind through mindfulness of breath

Developing single minded concentration

● Zazen meditation : Zen Buddhist meditation

Focused awareness on breath or koan

● Dzogchen meditation : Tibetan Buddhist Practice

Resting in natural state of mind

● Visualisation meditation : involves creating vivid mental images

Concentration on visualised scenes or objects

EEG recording sessions conducted during meditation sessions

Recorded brain activity during both meditation and mind wandering states

Trained machine learning models on three meditation styles

Tested on the fourth style using leave one out technique

Feature Extraction :

Yasa sliding window : created 5 second windows for meditation and mind wandering
states

Multitaper bandpower : extracted delta , theta, alpha ,beta and gamma frequency
bands

Study Results in Points:

Mind-Wandering vs. Meditation:

Characterization: Mind-wandering involves attention shifting towards internal,

self-generated thoughts.
Effects: Frequent mind-wandering linked to disruptions in cognitive functions
and various detrimental effects (depression, anxiety, insomnia).
Global Impact: Study explores differences in neural signals during
mind-wandering and meditation across various global meditation styles.
Methodology:

Signal Analysis: Windowed recordings and extracted EEG signals' band-wise

multi-taper power spectral density (PSD).
Machine Learning Models:
Best Classifiers:
KNN for Shamatha and Dzogchen.
QDA for Zazen.
Random Forest for Visualization.
Neural Network: Achieved highest average classification accuracy using [80,
140, 100] architecture.
Visualization Techniques:

t-SNE, PCA, LLE:

Demonstrated almost linear separation between mind-wandering and
meditation sample points.
Research Significance:

Technology Impact: Computing power doubling every 18 months, leading to

devices with higher computational power.
Advancements: Constant technological advancements necessitate attention
control to avoid overuse and resource drain.
Role of Meditation: Emphasizes the importance of meditation in training the
mind, enhancing attention, metacognitive awareness, and fostering
compassion.