How The Mind Sharpens The Senses
Studying Zen-Meditation scholars shows that "mental focussing can induce learning mechanisms, similar to physical training", according to sciencedaily.
A research team at the Ruhr-University Bochum and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University München studied a scientifically monitored meditation retreat and has published its findings in the journal Scientific Reports, examining its findings on the plasticity of the brain.
The study included Zen-scholars with years of meditation, "scientifically" in a four-day Zen-retreat in the spiritual center "Benediktushof", Germany. They maintained total silence, with at least eight hours of meditation per day.
Their routine meditation included "non-specific monitoring of thoughts and surroundings". A few of them were asked to practice a special finger-meditation for two hours per day, during which they would "specifically focus on their right index finger and become aware of spontaneously arising sensory percepts in this finger".
Later, the participants showed improvement in the "tactile acuity of the right index and middle finger", while another control group showed no changes in tactile acuity.
The scientists also found that meditation can improve the sense of touch, as well as neuroplasticity, or the ability of the brain to adapt and restructure itself, enhancing perception and behavior.
Hence, merely mental states without physical stimulation can improve perception, which has been shown for the first time.
"The results of our study challenge what we know about learning mechanisms in the brain. Our concept of neuroplasticity must be extended, because mental activity seems to induce learning effects similar to active stimulation and physical training," Dinse suggests.
