Biophysical aspects of neurocognitive modeling with long-term sustained temperature variations

TL;DR

This study investigates long-term temperature effects associated with neurocognitive meditative visualization, demonstrating persistent biophysical thermal variations and proposing a new neuroscience model involving spin phenomena.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental evidence of sustained thermal effects during meditation, confirming their biophysical origin and introducing a novel spin-based neuroscience model.

Findings

Body temperature can increase up to 38.5°C during meditation.

Persistent temperature changes last over 60 minutes.

External thermal fluctuations of 10^-3°C were induced in water samples.

Abstract

Long-term focused attention with visualization and breathing exercises is at the core of various Eastern traditions. Neurocognitive and psychosomatic phenomena demonstrated during such exercises were instrumentally explored with EEG and other sensors. Neurocognitive modeling in the form of meditative visualization produced persistent temperature effects in the body long after the exercise finished; this raises the question about their psychosomatic or biophysical origin. The work explores this question by comparing experiments with focusing attention inside and outside the body. EEG, temperature, heart and breathing sensors monitor internal body conditions, high resolution differential calorimetric sensors are used to detect thermal effects outside the body. Experiments with 159 attempts (2427 operator-sensor sessions) were carried over five months, control measurements run in the same conditions in parallel to experimental series. Increase of body temperature up to moderate fever zone 38.5 C and intentional control of up and down trend of core temperature by 1.6 C are demonstrated. Persistent temperature variations last >60 min. Experiments also demonstrated induced thermal fluctuations at 10^-3 C level in external calorimetric systems with 15 ml of water for 60-90 min. Repeatability of these attempts is over 90%, statistical Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests reject the null hypotheses about random character of outcomes. Thus, the obtained data confirm the persistent thermal effects reported in previous publications and indicate their biophysical dimension. To explain these results we refer to a new model in neuroscience that involves spin phenomena in biochemical and physical systems. These experiments demonstrate complex biophysical mechanisms of altered states of consciousness; their function in the body's neurohumoral regulation and non-classical brain functions is discussed.