Visual signals suppress Alpha Power Increases & Frequency Decreases before and after a Mindfulness Meditation Intervention for Problem Gambling

Abstract

The use of mindfulness meditation (MM) in the treatment of problem gambling (PG), has been used effectively for over five years. However, the neural mechanisms responsible for the improvements are unknown. The literature describes healthy individuals with an increase in alpha power and a decrease in alpha frequency after eight weeks of mindfulness meditation, but it is unknown if changes are similar amongst individuals with PG. Using resting-state electroencephalography (rsEEG), we measured the changes in alpha oscillations before and after an eight-week mindfulness meditation intervention (MMi) and a pre/ post-five-minute mindfulness meditation body scan (MMb). For people with PG, we observed an increase in alpha power and decreased alpha peak frequency after the MMi, while the inverse was true for the MMb. The most considerable alpha rhythm changes occurred in the frontal and temporal lobes, areas sensitive to reward and sensory processing in PG. Our observed changes may reflect theories that MMi for PG may improve attentional control as hypothesized by previous research in alpha oscillations and cue-reward processing.