Abstract：
Startle modulation paradigms, namely habituation and prepulse inhibition (PPI), can offer insight into the brain\'s early information processing mechanisms that might be impacted by regular meditation practice. Habituation refers to decreasing response to a repeatedly-presented startle stimulus, reflecting its redundancy. PPI refers to response reduction when a startling stimulus \"pulse\" is preceded by a weaker sensory stimulus \"prepulse\" and provides an operational measure of sensorimotor gating. Here, we examined habituation and PPI of the acoustic startle response in regular meditators (n = 32), relative to meditation-naïve individuals (n = 36). Overall, there was no significant difference between meditators and non-meditators in habituation or PPI, but there was significantly greater PPI in meditators who self-reported being able to enter and sustain non-dual awareness during their meditation practice (n = 18) relative to those who could not (n = 14). Together, these findings suggest that subjective differences in meditation experience may be associated with differential sensory processing characteristics in meditators.
摘要：
惊吓调制范例，即习惯和前脉冲抑制(PPI)，可以深入了解大脑的早期信息处理机制，这些机制可能会受到常规冥想练习的影响。习惯是指减少对反复出现的惊吓刺激的反应，反映了它的冗余。PPI是指当惊人的刺激“脉冲”之前有较弱的感觉刺激“前脉冲”时的反应降低，并提供感觉运动门控的操作量度。这里,我们检查了常规冥想者（n=32）的声惊吓反应的习惯和PPI，相对于冥想幼稚的个体(n=36)。总的来说,冥想者和非冥想者在习惯或PPI方面没有显着差异，但是，自我报告能够在冥想练习期间进入并维持非双重意识的冥想者（n=18）的PPI明显高于不能（n=14）的冥想者。一起,这些发现表明，冥想体验的主观差异可能与冥想者的不同感觉加工特征有关。
