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Mindfulness Meditators Are Less Affected By Virtual Reality (sciencedirect.com)
vrml writes: People often enroll in mindfulness meditation courses to pursue better health, but can such practices have unintended consequences on how they are engaged by emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR)? That's what comes out from a new study published by the Computers in Human Behavior. A group of people with no experience in meditation tried scary VR experiences with an head-mounted display, while researchers measured their emotional reactions through physiological parameters such as heart activity and facial muscles activity. Then, half the participants followed a typical 8-week mindfulness course, while the other half did not (control group). At the end of the 8 weeks, they tried VR again. Participants who had practiced mindfulness during the 8 weeks were much less affected by VR: the scary VR experiences were not able to increase their heart rate as 8 weeks earlier, facial muscles activity was reduced, and their subjective perception of VR was consistent with this lack of engagement. On the contrary, the control group did not show such changes, and was still affected by VR. The paper interprets this emotional deactivation of meditators in terms of self-regulation of attention and detachment that can be gained through mindfulness, and can persist also when people (as these participants trying VR) are not meditating.
...is that one is not affected by hipster bullshit shallow flashy distractions.
Fuck, I used to think mindfulness was eastern woowoo, but it's evolved into something that's actually useful for keeping oneself focused and rational, and I'm pleased to benefit from it. This is just another reason to recommend it.
"Mindfulness meditation" is how one would describe someone actively practicing not living in the moment. In other words, they're saying that people who exist higher on the consciousness scale (there are several terms for what boils down to heightened awareness) are better able to distinguish reality from virtual reality.
Mindfulness meditators are less rattled by actual reality as well. That's kind of the whole point of it. Things that are scary or stressful don't knock them off balance as much. The VR angle should not be a surprise.
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Well duh! Oh well I guess that if the study helps people to "get" what meditation is about it is a good thing.
"Mindfulness meditation" is how one would describe someone actively practicing not living in the moment. In other words, they're saying that people who exist higher on the consciousness scale (there are several terms for what boils down to heightened awareness) are better able to distinguish reality from virtual reality.
Actually, you have that backwards. "Mindfulness" is very much about living in the moment. It's nothing new, just a Western term for what is basically zen meditation. Think of it in terms of being "mindful," as in, just paying attention and not having your head up your ass.
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Huh. Saw the headline and figured this was some new Ubuntu release or something.
Mindfulness
Scary buzzwords give me the creeps!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
This... If I may opine, being mindful is being exactly that, mindful. You're aware of you - your surroundings, your thoughts, your breathing, your heart rate, you movements, your desires, your everything and - ideally - those things around you. There are varied levels of mindfulness, one might not want to be as mindful as they could be while driving - while being mindful while driving is also a good thing. It's not a binary thing, there are lots of shades of gray and being mindful of different things is a good thing even though the ideal is everything.
Being mindful is nothing more than the name implies. There's no mysticism. It doesn't even require closing your eyes or being seated in any special or awkward positions - you don't even have to starve yourself until your ribs poke through your skin. The goal is being constantly mindful. If you're mindful then you can achieve stillness. With stillness there is no desire. Without desire, you are free. 'Snot really all that complicated.
I believe modern psychology is teaching/practicing something a bit similar. They call it CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. That's a subset, if I'm understanding how it was described to me. It is where you're "in tune" with your physical self (mindful) and seeing the way you feel physically or what you are physically doing as a way to understand what's mentally going on. People with some forms of mental illness will manifest their symptoms physically before they're actually able to realize it mentally. This gives them the chance to interrupt that process and change their thinking and/or to change their physical state.
I believe there's another called DBT but I have no idea what that entails and I'm too lazy to look it up. Either way, there's no real mysticism or anything. I want to say that it's fairly well understood, as much as anything involving the brain is understood. It's not like it's new, hip, or even unique to Buddhism. It's certainly not trendy, I don't think? I've been engaged in the practice for what must be 20+ years though certainly quite a bit longer than that but with a different perspective and goal.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Get back to us when you get that relative pronoun thing down, faux Grammar Nazi.
Mindfulness is a dictionary word.
If Buddhadhasa Bikkhu didn't object to it being used in the title for one of his books, perhaps you might wish to reconsider your position.
I'll let "whiplash" address your remaining error.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
The whole point of VR is to provide a close approximation of sensory stimuli that emulate reality such that you suspend disbelief - and therefore enjoy the exhilaration of the experience while 'inside' of the VR world presumably in situations you would never encounter in the real world.
From my own experiences in various VR worlds - I also know that continued and repeated exposure to those worlds - and the recognition of the 'cracks' in the fidelity of the VR in a given world - lead to the same desensitization described here. I presume those of us who continue to show heightened effects over time within VR (e.g. the control group) are slow learners - or not gamers/VR enthusiasts.
No - just the opposite. Meditation is not 'zoning out' or going to sleep - it is actually the opposite of that - becoming acutely aware of everything around you while quieting the inner stream of consciousness (monologue or dialogue depending on your level of schizophrenia). I think of the mind in this state as being like a computer with more free CPU cycles -- more processing can be directed constructively - thus having the outward effect of speeding up your reaction times in various scenarios.
Adrenaline fueled action can either get you killed, or keep you alive - it is not just reaction times that count, as much as a timely accurate response. This is why soldiers are trained as close as possible to wartime conditions to desensitize them and allow them to remain in self control and combat effective when the shit really does hit the fan.
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
Meditation is about as good as a heavy dose of Valium?
Makes sense.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The placebo is strong in this one.
Actually the neuroscience is strong on mindfulness and Ruby Wax is well qualified to explain it in an entertaining manner.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
I wonder if a "not having your head up your ass workshop" would get as many attendees as a "mindfulness workshop."