COGSCI180: Lecture 10: Epistemological Differences: Science vs. Contemplation

The approach to discover the truth (here with regard to questions concerning the nature of the self) is different in Eastern contemplative traditions and Western science: how?

• Science: uses sensory perception and logical reasoning (ie the scientific method)

• Contemplation: uses techniques to cultivate a clear and stable mind so one can directly perceive the truth

Science vs. Contemplative approaches: Similarities

• both are empirically-based (ie not based on blind adherence to belief or what authorities say)

• conclusions must be verified through consensual agreement of investigators who are highly trained to be considered valid

Science vs. Contemplative approaches: Differences

• Science: operates from a 3rd person perspective

• Contemplation: operates from a 1st person perspective

Common criticism of contemplative approach by science: the introspection objection

• one criticism of the contemplative approach is that it sounds a lot like introspection, which is highly subjective and unreliable

  • introspection = observing and reporting one’s mental and emotional processes as objectively as possible

• was used in early psychological experiments but has been discredited as a valid method of investigation

Common criticism of contemplative approach by science: the introspection objection: the contemplative response

• important distinction btwn contemplation & introspections

  • contemplation 1st requires extensive training of the mind to become stable and clear using specific techniques

• Ricard points out that introspection was discredited bc the participants who were asked to engage in it had distracted minds most of the time

• it feels different when the mind is distracted vs. stable and clear

  • a clear and stable mind is associated w/ inner peace and brings deeper insights into the nature of reality and the mind itself

• these various mental states and assoc. effects are delineated precisely within contemplative traditions

Reproducibility figures as a criterion in both contemplative and scientific approaches.

• there is interindiviudal consensus among trained contemplatives with regard to conclusions arrived at, which is no the case for untrained subjects

• also, the results can be reproduced by a particular investigator at different points in time, as well as by other investigators

  • that is, the insights into the nature of reality and the mind that are directly percieved when one stabilizes and clarifies the mind can be experienced again and again in meditation

W/ contemplation - how do you know that you are progressing in your training?

• training involved applying specific techniques to stabilize and clarify the mind, and progress is indicated by the extent to which you can apply the instructions

• also there are structured dialogues btw the student and an expert/teacher to monitor the student’s progress during training

  • teacher leads dialogue and allows the subject to describe his or her experience in detail

  • this is the function of kaons in the Zen tradition

Koans: in the Rinzai school, koans are used to test a student’s progress in Zen practice, what are they? What are two examples?

• they are “riddles” that a student has to solve

• examples:

  • What is the sound of one hand clapping?

  • What was the appearance of your face before your ancestors were born?

Koans: the obscure riddle, bewildering dialogues, and flagrant contradictions that form the koans help the student what?

ground their thinking in reality and break free of the conceptual mind (the categorizing, analyzing, ordinary thinking mind)

• related to the idea raised about the potential limitations of the “left-brain” logical self that suppresses more expansive right-brain consciousness

Koans: all koans must be what?

• all koans must be answered from within the realm of one’s own personal experience

  • koans are meant to be pondered in meditation practice and throughout the day till the answer opens the true heart of the question

  • traditionally answers could not be found in books nor are the koans discussed with other meditation practioners

  • even if you find a “correct” answer somehow, cheating is not really possible bc each koan has many answers both in terms of the actual verbal response and the effects it produces on one’s mind and emotions

    • the answer is in how you are responding

    • the answer will not be an answer that your conceptual mind can deduce

    • the answer is often a life-changing experience that comes with a force that is self-validating and doesn’t need conformation from other people

Can conclusions drawn by contemplatives be verified by a third party?

• only if the person has had training

• a similar process exists in science

  • you trust professors/experts bc they agree among themselves

  • you also know that if you trained in that discipline you could check it yourself

• also, people w/in contemplative trads typically agree who the meditation masters of the highest levels are

The contemplative approach supposedly works bc it results in a clear and stable mind, what would appear to support this claim?

finding that long-term “super-meditators” are neurologically, as well as psychologically, off-the-chars, on measures of traits like attention, empathy, and optimism

Neuropsychological research on long-term meditators: EEF studies by Richard Davidson found that meditation practice is associated with what?

• associated w/ increased left prefrontal activity

  • left prefrontal activity is known to be associated w/ optimism and feelings of happiness and well-being

  • eg: Matthieu Ricard, showed increased left pre-forntal cortical activity that was 4.5 SD outside the standard bell curve

Neuropsychological research on long-term meditators: Paul Ekman found enhanced ability to identify what in meditators?

• enhanced ability to identify microexpressions

  • the ability to recognize such fleeting facial expressions (shown for 1/30th of a second) has been associated w/ a capacity for empathy and insight, as well as openness to new experiences, intellectual curiosity, and general relaibility & efficiency

    • “they do better than the police men, lawyers, psychiatrists, customs officials, judges — even secret service agents”

Attentional blink study where participants were tested before and after the completed a 3-month mindfulness retreat at Insight Meditation Society: the study

• nonjudgemental awarness was measured using attentional blink paradigm

  • based on the idea that if one stimulus hijacks our attention, we won’t notice other stimuli that occur just a fraction of a second later

• a stream of letters are flashed onto a screen, one after another, 10 per second

  • every so often a number appears

• if the 2nd # follows the 1st w/in about half a second or less, most people notice the first number but literally do not see the 2nd

  • reason bc when a # shows up, the excitement they feel causes their attention to blink

  • the extent to which people are able to minimize this “blinking” reflects a quality of emotional balance and equniminity

Attentional blink study where participants were tested before and after the completed a 3-month mindfulness retreat at Insight Meditation Society: the results

• retreatants showed a decrease in attentional blink and a 33% greater detection of second targets

• follow-up study showed that these results were maintained 3 months after the end of formal meditation practice

  • mental training can result in durable neuropsychological changes

Attentional blink study where participants were tested before and after the completed a 3-month mindfulness retreat at Insight Meditation Society: important Davina Chan conclusion - related to the self

this ability to focus attention in a calm, abiding manner, without too much arousal or excitement (developed through meditation practice) is supposedly what allows practitioners to “see” subtle aspects of the self

Study on compassion meditation in long-term Tibetan mediation practitioners who had logged 10,000 - 50,000 hours of practice: results

• long-term practitioners showed high levels of activity in gamma-band frequencies - “of a sort never before reported in the literature” - and increased neural synchrony

  • this involves large regions of the brain pulsing in synchrony 30-80 times a second

  • as they went deeper into meditation (jhana states), they appeared to be both a spreading and a strengthening of gamma wave actvities

    • even in novices, but the increase was slight

What are gamma waves?

type of very high-frequency brain wave

Gamma Waves: Research has linked neural synchrony of high-frequency brain waves to what?

• to enhanced attention, working memory, learning, and conscious perception

  • size of the gamma wave is related to the number of neurons firing in sync

  • greater synchrony between various sections of the brain indicates greater integration of cognitive and affective functions and less dissociation

    • this may be associated w/ the increase in neural connenctions, which as discussed, seems to be required for development of a sense of identity

    • compartmentalization of brain functions = associated w/ aging and cognitive decline

Gamma Waves: What the meditation practitioners themselves reported experiencing during this state

• a change in the quality of moment-to-moment awareness, bringing with it a vast panorama of perceptual clarity

  • “It is as if a mental fog lifts, one that you did not realize had been impeding your perception” (Davidson)

Gamma Waves: What had the highest levels of gamma waves and when

• the monks who had spent the most years meditating

• increased gamma activity and neural synchrony were evident in the long-term practitioners even when they were not meditating

MIT study quote to give us an ideas of how powerful gamma waves can be in promoting neurocognitive health and cognitive functioning

MIT neuroscientists found that exposing mice to strobe lights and clicking sounds at

frequencies that stimulate gamma waves reduced levels of beta-amyloid associated with

Alzheimer’s and improved cognitive function

• 3 studies done on mice

3 studies done on mice to prove that increased gamma waves helps reduce risk of Alzhiemer’s: reults

• increased gamma brain waves int he visual cortex, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex

• reduced neuronal and synaptic loss in these brain regions

• reduced inflammation

• improved performance on memory tasks

  • findings point to an overall neuroprotective effect, even in the later stages of neurodegenerations

• new clinical trains starting using human participants

Another big difference between scientific and contemplative investigations into the nature of the self: the purpose/aim of the research

• Science: purpose of research on the self is mostly knowledge for its own sake

• Contemplation: the aim is to alleviate human suffering and finding enduring happiness

Limitations of Sensory Perception and Ordinary Thinking: The Contemplative View

• Western science is primarily based on sensory perception and logical reasoning

• however, in the contemplative view, both ordinary perception and reasoning reveal only relative truths