Enhanced tactile acuity through mental states

Philipp, Sebastian T.; Kalisch, Tobias; Wachtler, Thomas and Dinse, Hubert R. (2015): Enhanced tactile acuity through mental states. In: Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, 13549

Abstract

Bodily training typically evokes behavioral and perceptual gains, enforcing neuroplastic processes and affecting neural representations. We investigated the effect on somatosensory perception of a three-day Zen meditation exercise, a purely mental intervention. Tactile spatial discrimination of the right index finger was persistently improved by only 6 hours of mental-sensory focusing on this finger, suggesting that intrinsic brain activity created by mental states can alter perception and behavior similarly to external stimulation.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Biology > Department Biology II > Neurobiology
• Subjects: 500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• Language: English