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Abstract Meditation can exert a profound impact on our mental life, with proficient practitioners often reporting an experience free of boundaries between a separate self and the environment, suggesting an explicit experience of “nondual awareness.” What are the neural correlates of such experiences and how do they relate to the idea of nondual awareness itself? In order to unravel the effects that meditation has on the brain’s spatial topography, we review functional magnetic resonance imaging brain findings from studies specific to an array of meditation types and meditator experience levels. We also review findings from studies that directly probe the interaction between meditation and the experience of the self. The main results are (i) decreased posterior default mode network (DMN) activity, (ii) increased central executive network (CEN) activity, (iii) decreased connectivity within posterior DMN as well as between posterior and anterior DMN, (iv) increased connectivity within the anterior DMN and CEN, and (v) significantly impacted connectivity between the DMN and CEN (likely a nonlinear phenomenon). Together, these suggest a profound organizational shift of the brain’s spatial topography in advanced meditators—we therefore propose a topographic reorganization model of meditation (TRoM). One core component of the TRoM is that the topographic reorganization of DMN and CEN is related to a decrease in the mental-self-processing along with a synchronization with the more nondual layers of self-processing, notably interoceptive and exteroceptive-self-processing. This reorganization of the functionality of both brain and self-processing can result in the explicit experience of nondual awareness. In conclusion, this review provides insight into the profound neural effects of advanced meditation and proposes a result-driven unifying model (TRoM) aimed at identifying the inextricably tied objective (neural) and subjective (experiential) effects of meditation.

The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of pastoral leaders regarding obesity and health within faith-based organizations (FBOs). In this study, the authors focused on gaining additional insight regarding how pastoral leaders conceptualize and make sense of their roles in terms of health promotion within FBOs. Utilizing a qualitative research methodological approach, specifically Qualitative Description, authors administered a qualitative survey to 12 participants which yielded three emerging themes: (1) perceived scope, (2) understanding and use of resources, and (3) defining obesity through pastoral leaders’ perspectives. In the study, investigators discuss clinical implications and provide recommendations.

•Utilizing EEG data from practitioners of different meditation traditions, the study quantitatively analyses the brain's temporal windows, offering a novel approach to understanding meditation's neural basis.•The study demonstrates that meditation practices with different attentional focuses, such as Shoonya, Vipassana, and Mantra meditation, exhibit distinct lengths in their brain's intrinsic neural timescales.•The findings suggest a direct relationship between the width of the attentional scope during meditation and the duration of the brain's temporal neural windows.•The results bridge a knowledge gap, linking the attentional aspects of meditation practices to their corresponding neural dynamics. Meditation encompasses a range of practices employing diverse induction techniques, each characterized by a distinct attentional focus. In Mantra meditation, for instance, practitioners direct their attention narrowly to a given sentence that is recursively repeated, while other forms of meditation such as Shoonya meditation are induced by a wider attentional focus. Here we aimed to identify the neural underpinnings and correlates associated with this spectrum of distinct attentional foci. To accomplish this, we used EEG data to estimate the brain's intrinsic neural timescales (INTs), that is, its temporal windows of activity, by calculating the Autocorrelation Window (ACW) of the EEG signal. The autocorrelation function measures the similarity of a timeseries with a time-lagged version of itself by correlating the signal with itself on different time lags, consequently providing an estimation of INTs length. Therefore, through using the ACW metric, our objective was to explore whether there is a correspondence between the length of the brain's temporal windows of activity and the width of the attentional scope during various meditation techniques. This was performed on three groups of highly proficient practitioners belonging to different meditation traditions, as well as a meditation-naïve control group. Our results indicated that practices with a wider attentional focus, like Shoonya meditation, exhibit longer ACW durations compared to practices requiring a narrower attentional focus, such as Mantra meditation or body-scanning Vipassana meditation. Together, we demonstrated that distinct meditation techniques with varying widths of attentional foci exhibit unique durations in their brain's INTs. This may suggest that the width of the attentional scope during meditation relates and corresponds to the width of the brain's temporal windows in its neural activity. Our research uncovered the neural mechanisms that underpin the attentional foci in various meditation techniques. We revealed that distinct meditation induction techniques, featured by their range of attentional widths, are characterized by varying lengths of intrinsic neural timescales (INTs) within the brain, as measured by the Autocorrelation Window function. This finding may bridge the gap between the width of attentional windows (subjective) and the width of the temporal windows in the brain's neural activity (objective) during different meditation techniques, offering a new understanding of how cognitive and neural processes are related to each other. This work holds significant implications, especially in the context of the increasing use of meditation in mental health and well-being interventions. By elucidating the distinct neural foundations of different meditation techniques, our research aims to pave the way for developing more tailored and effective meditation-based treatments.

The purpose of this study was to explore Marriage and Family Therapy students’ perspectives regarding food addiction and associated eating disorders, as a clinical treatment issue. In a standard addictions course housed in a Marriage and Family Therapy program approved by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), 20 students completed a qualitative survey where they reflected on the topic of food addiction, Binge Eating Disorder, and Bulimia Nervosa, within the context of individual, couple, and family relationships. In the study four major themes emerged, which included (1) Defining Food Addiction, (2) Perceptions of Eating Disorders, (3) Conceptualizing Systemic Treatment, and (4) Experiences in clinical training. Clinical implications, recommendations for MFT education, clinical practice, and future research are discussed. Findings suggest that while MFT students in the study were well versed in conceptualized systemic treatment, it was of a general treatment and understanding using MFT theory, and not in relation to or specifically concerning food addictions and their connection or distinction from Binge Eating Disorder and/or other eating disorders found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, potentially impacting the level of skillfully and appropriately working with clients.

For this study, authors engaged in 9 semi-structured interviews with romantic partners of contestants who were involved with a weight loss intervention (The Biggest Loser), to gain insight into the phenomenon of weight loss within the context of couple relationships and reality television. Utilizing Basic Qualitative Description influenced by aspects of phenomenology, the authors explored the role of weight loss and the role that the specific intervention utilized, has played within the couple relationship. Building upon previous research (Moore, Cooper, Williams, & Zwierstra, 2017a) authors added the voice of the non-contestant partners to the discussion and explored experiences of weight loss and perceptions regarding the utilization of Marriage and Family Therapists during the weight loss process. The major themes that emerged were (1) Behind the Scenes: The sacrifices we make, (2) After the Show Wraps: Re-entry and the Transition Home, and (3) Perceptions of MFT: Addressing couple relationships. Implications for Marriage and Family Therapists as well as other professionals involved in working with couples during weight loss are discussed as well as future directions in research.

Utilizing Qualitative Description influenced by aspects of phenomenology, we conducted fifteen open-ended, semi-structured interviews with former contestants of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser.” The purpose of the study was to explore experiences of significant weight loss. We focused on challenges, emotional well-being, and relational dynamics of contestants transitioning through their weight loss journeys, which included what happened after the show was completed. Further, we analyzed perspectives regarding the utility of Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) in working with this population. In the study, three themes emerged which included: (1) Living at the ranch: It’s reality TV, not reality; (2) After the confetti falls: Post-Traumatic Reality TV Syndrome and The Whiplash Effect; and (3) Therapeutic treatment: Much needed but nowhere to be found. The study includes a rich description of the data, as well as a discussion of clinical implications.

The major questions being answered in the study are 1) what are the attitudes and perceptions of obese African American men regarding bariatric surgery and 2) what barriers currently exist for African American men that prevent them from considering and seeking surgical intervention for obesity? The methodology used in the research study is phenomenology. Fourteen African American men meeting BMI criteria for obesity participated in semi-structured interviews. In the study, the researchers found three major themes emerged, which included 1) participants' process of understanding bariatric surgery, 2) masculinity and social norms, and 3) finances. Likewise, additional research regarding African American men, as well as other men of color, is needed to further explore why health disparities regarding obesity and the utilization of surgical intervention currently exist.

Throughout the mammalian cortex, neurons of similar response characteristics group together into topographic functional domains. The genesis and role of this organization remains in question, but it has been proposed to affect the mixed properties of neurons. These types of neurons possess multiple receptive field preferences, such as a cell responding to a color and an oriented stimulus. To examine the functionality of clustered organization and their effect in generation of neurons possessing mixed properties, this dissertation examined the secondary visual cortex (V2) of the Macaca fasicularis. This particular cortex is comprised of domains organized according to distinct visual stimulus components, specifically clusters of neurons partitioned by color and orientation preferences within a close proximity. In the first series of experiments (Chapter 3), a computer model of a cortical area based upon macaque V2 investigated the effect of clusters of like-preferring neurons on the probability of two different preference terminals synapsing on a particular cell. These results indicate that presence of at least one cluster significantly increases the probability of multiple preferences arriving at a neuron. The second series of experiments (Chapter 4) used single unit electrophysiology to investigate the temporal properties of V2 neurons in response to achromatic and colored oriented stimuli. With the addition of color to the stimulus, an increase in latency, an increase to the time point of the maximum rate of firing, and a decreased initial-phase response with a sustained later-phase response were observed. These studies indicate that functional clusters of neurons significantly increase the joint probability of the co-localization of differing preference terminals, potentially yielding neurons with mixed preferences through these intra-areal connections. Furthermore, the temporal characteristics of V2 neurons, as seen in observed latency and time of maximum spiking, support this idea of domain-enhanced intra-areal integration.