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Does meditation swamp working memory?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2007

Ilkka Pyysiinen
Ilkka Pyysiinen*
Affiliation:
Academy of Finland and Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/ipyysiai/
*
ilkka.pyysiainen@helsinki.fi
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Abstract

Religionists often presuppose that mysticism aims at somehow emptying the mind. In the light of evidence, however, meditation seems rather to consist of ritualized action without an explicit emphasis on subjective experience. Boyer & Lienard's (B&L's) theory of ritualized action as swamping working memory thus might help explain the effects of meditation without postulating experiential goals the mystics obviously do not have.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , December 2006 , pp. 626 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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