CHANGES IN SKIN RESISTANCE IN SUBJECTS RESTING, READING, LISTENING TO MUSIC, OR PRACTICING THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TECHNIQUE

Transcription

1 PAPER 24 CHANGES IN SKIN RESISTANCE IN SUBJECTS RESTING, READING, LISTENING TO MUSIC, OR PRACTICING THE TRANSCENDENTAL MICHAEL A. WEST, B.Sc. University Collee of Swansea, University of Wales, Swansea, Wales Research completed December Skin resistance increases were reater drin the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe than drin restin with eyes closed, readin, or listin to msic, indicatin that the TM techniqe prodces a deeper rest than these other forms of relaxation.-editors The skin resistance of t sbjects was recorded every 2 seconds for for 2-minte periods of restin, readin, listin to msic, or practicin the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe. In eiht ot of the t cases the hihest sinle vale of skin resistance occrred drin the period of meditation. The increase in skin resistance was sinificantly reater drin Transcdtal Meditation than drin readin, restin, or listin to msic. The reslts sppon Wallace and Bson's conclsion that distinct physioloical chanes accompany the practice of Transcdtal Medi tat ion. INTRODUCTION Wallace, Bson, and Wilson (5) have fond physioloical chanes drin the Transcdtal Meditation (TM) techniqe characteristic of a niqe state of restfl alertness. Several chanes in respiration occrred: oxy consmption, carbon dioxide elimination, respiratory rate, and minte vtilation decreased with no chane in respiratory qotit. Arterial blood ph and base excess decreased slihtly, and blood lactate also decreased. Skin resistance markedly increased, while systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressre, arterial Po, and Pco,, and rectal temperatre remained nchaned. The EEG showed an increase in intsity of slow alpha waves and occasional theta-wave activity. Orme-Johnson (2) stdied the inflce of the TM proram on the stability of the atonomic nervos system. He measred SRR (skin resistance response) habitation to a 1 db,.5 sec 3 H tone for eiht meditators and eiht nonmeditators drin the normal wakin state and fond that meditators habitated in sinificantly fewer trials than nonmeditators. Sev sbjects from each rop were also measred on restin levels of spontaneos SRR's, and meditators had sinificantly fewer spontaneos SRR' s than nonmeditators, with a correlation coefficit of. 73 betwe the nmber of spontaneos SRR' s and trials to criterion drin habitation. In a second stdy of spontaneos SRR's, eiht nonmeditators who planned to bein the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe in two weeks were compared to a rop of six meditators. Aain medi tators had fewer spontaneos SRR's than nonmeditators. Repeated measremts over three differt sessions showed that meditators consisttly had fewer spontaneos SRR's than nonmeditators. These reslts sest that the relar experice of the state of restfl alertness prodced by the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe redces restin levels of sympathetic activity. The prposes of this stdy were to replicate and extd the findins of dramatic chanes in skin resistance observed by Wallace (3) and Wallace and Bson (4) and to provide additional within-sbject controls not tilied in previos experimts on Transcdtal Meditation and skin resistance. The hypothesis was that if the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe prodces a very deep state of rest and relaxation, a period of meditation shold be characteried by a hiher level of skin resistance than three control periods of restin, book-readin, and listin to msic. METHOD SUBJECTS-T sbjects were tested. All were nderradates at University Collee, Swansea, and varied in ae from 19 to 23 years. All the sbjects were taht the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe by qalified teachers. The lth of time the sbjects had be meditatin varied from five months to two years 11 months. 224

2 WEST ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL AND EEG CHANGES: SKIN RESISTANCE COMPARISONS -PAPER 24 Sbseqtly, it was learned that Sbject 4 had be takin the dr Motival for a week prior to the experimt. As the effects of the dr were probably constant throhot the experimt, the reslts have be inclded. APPARATUS-The sbject sat on a comfortable chair in a qiet, conial room with a constant room temperatre of 7 derees Fahrheit. The recordin apparats was hosed in the same room, bt was ot of the siht of the sbject. The electrodes were two chlorided silver discs, 1 mm in diameter, with connectin leads pled into sockets on the back of their soft plastic bases. Before the electrodes were applied to the palmar area, the hands were cleaned with srical spirit. Sodim chloride electrode jelly was injected throh the top of the electrode so that contact betwe the electrodes and the skin was maintained. The skin resistance chanes were measred with a meter spplied by Electronic Developmts Ltd. A constant crrt of eiht microamps de was passed throh the sbject via the electrodes. The voltae across the sbject was amplified by means of a special operational amplifier and was sed to drive a cter ero panel meter. The maximm resoltion of the meter was 1 ohms. The sbject's basal resistance was read from a balancin control. Readins were tak every 2 seconds. A sinle lon-playin record was sed for the period in which the sbject listed to msic. The record sed was "Frids" by Elton John (EMI Records Ltd.-SPFL 269). The book sed for the readin period was The Wind in the Willows by Kneth Grahame. PROCEDURE-Each sbject's skin resistance was measred over for 2-minte periods. The sbject was assred that the experimt wold be in no way npleasant and was told the fnction of the psychoalvanometer so that he wold not be nnecessarily apprehsive abot the experimt. For the rest period he was instrcted to relax with eyes closed, withot oin to sleep, and to resist any temptation to meditate drin this period. For the msic period the sbject was told to relax and jst list to the msic. For the readin period the sbject was instrcted to read the book ntil asked to stop. For the meditation period the sbjects were asked to meditate as they sally wold and were assred that they wold not be distrbed ntil the d of meditation, which was sinaled after abot 18 mintes. Ot of 24 possible prestation orders, t were chos by referrin to a random nmbers table. RESULTS Table 1 shows the mean skin resistance of all t sbjects for each period. Of the for periods, six sbjects showed the hihest mean skin resistance drin meditation, two sbjects drin the msic period (Sbjects 3 and 9), one sbject drin the book-readin period (Sbject 4), and one sbject drin the restin period (Sbject 5). The hihest sinle vale of skin resistance over all for periods occrred drin the meditation phase for eiht of the t meditators (fis. 1-1). Table 2 shows that vales of p to 32, ohms were fond in the TM period, and the fires show that skin resistance erally increased throhot the meditation period. Wh the sbject received the sinal to stop meditatin, skin resistance dropped dramatically in the space of 8 seconds from the peak it had reached to slihtly below the premeditation level. In some instances this was a drop in skin resistance of over 3, ohms in that time. An analysis of variance of the ranes in skin resistance across the for periods prodced a sinificant overall F of 3.35 (p <.1). A post hoc Newman-Kels test indi- SUBJECT Mean S.D. SUBJECT Mean TABLE 1 MEAN SKIN RESISTANCE DURING DIFFERENT 2-MINUTE TEST PERIODS MEDITATION READING MUSIC (kilohms) (kilohms) (kilohms) TABLE 2 RANGE OF SKIN RESISTANCE DURING DIFFERENT 2-MINUTE TEST PERIODS MEDITATION READING MUSIC (ki1ohms) (ki1ohms) (kilohms) RESTING (kilohms) RESTING (kilohms)

3 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION PROGRAM: COLLECTED PAPERS, VOL. I,-... ] S2 MEDITATION MUSIC RESTING FIG. 1. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT 1 WHILE RESTING, READING, FIG. 2. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT 2 WHILE RESTING, READING,, Cll E..c 4 4..s..s Cll E..c FIG. 3. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT 3 WHILE RESTING, READING, FIG. 4. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT4 WHILE RESTING, READING, 226

4 WEST ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL AND EEG CHANGES: SKIN RESISTANCE COMPARISONS -PAPER 24 5 a -<1:)..s::..s::.9 C/'1 -C/'1 IX - C/'1 3 IX a -C/'1 - C/'1 READING FIG. 5. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT 5 WHILE RESTING, READING, FIG. 6. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT 6 WHILE RESTING, READING, 5 4..s 8 3 ti) t;2 ';;;' s d ti) READING FIG. 7. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT 7 WHILE RESTING, READING, FIG. 8. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT 8 WHILE RESTING, READING, 227

5 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION PROGRAM: COLLECTED PAPERS, VOL. I 'Vi' "' 8 ;, 3 (.I.l 2 (.I.l e::: e::: 4 1 READING FIG. 9. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT9WHILERESTING, READING, FIG. 1. SKIN RESISTANCE FOR SUBJECT 1 WHILE RESTING, READlNG, cated that the rane in the TM rop was sinificantly reater than in any other rop (p <. 1). The differces in rane were not sinificant amon any of the other rops. Skin resistance rose sharply in all t sbjects drin TM and th dropped back to the pre-tm level once the meditation was finished (see fis. 1-1). The reater rane of skin resistance drin TM indicates that skin resistance increases sinificantly more drin TM than drin restin, readin, or listin to msic. DISCUSSION The findins of the experimt may be smmaried as follows: 1. The hihest mean level of skin resistance was fond in the TM period. 2. The lowest mean level of skin resistance was fond in the readin period and the restin period. 3. The hihest sinle vale of skin resistance occrred drin the TM period for eiht ofthe t sbjects. 4. All sbjects showed the reatest rane in skin resistance drin the TM period. The mean rane was sinificantly reater drin TM than drin any other period, indicatin that the TM techniqe cases a sinificantly reater increase in skin resistance than readin, listin to msic, or restin. 5. There was a sdd and dramatic drop in skin resistance at the d of the meditation period that was characteristic of all sbjects. The difficlties of psychophysioloical testin were appart throhot the experimt. Mch was done to alleviate any apprehsion the sbjects felt-their srrondins were comfortable, and they were assred that the experimt wold be qite pleasant. Nevertheless, all the sbjects reported difficlty in meditatin with the knowlede that they were somehow bein tested (except Sbject 3). As Gale (1) points ot, most ofthe difficlties involved in psychophysioloical testin are as mch those of the sbject as they are of the experimter, since the sbject does not know what is expected of him and may be valiantly strlin to act "normally." To combat these problems the sbjects were allowed an explanation of the measrin instrmt, and the testin was performed in the experimter's home in as reat an effort as possible to prevt feelins of nervosness on the part of the sbjects. The fact that the restin period showed a relatively hih overall level of activation miht be de to the sbjects' providin their own stimlation in a relatively stimlsfree sitation. These reslts spport the findins of Wallace, Bson, and Wilson (5). Thoh not tirely conclsive in themselves, they sest that the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe prodces an accelerated chane in the basal level of skin resistance. The dramatic drop in skin resistance fond in all sbjects drin the immediate postmeditation period, tak in conjnction with physioloical correlates of meditation fond in other stdies, sests that a rapid retrn to the "normal" wakefl 228

6 WEST ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL AND EEG CHANGES: SKIN RESISTANCE COMPARISONS -PAPER 24 metabolic state occrs in the sbject after the experice of restfl alertness. Wh the chanes in skin resistnce drin the TM techniqe observed in the prst stdy are compared with chanes in skin resistance drin sleep observed in other stdies, it is fond that the rate of increase in skin resistance is mch faster and the amont of increase is mch larer drin Transcdtal Meditation than drin sleep. Therefore, the reslts of the prest stdy are consistt with Wallace's sestion that a niqe state of restfl alertness is achieved drin the practice of the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe. REFERENCES 1. GALE, A. In press. The psychophysioloy of individal differces: Stdies of extroversion and the EEG. In New Approaches in Psycholoical Measremt, ed. P. Kline. 2. ORME-JOHNSON, D. W Atonomic stability and Transcdtal Meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine 35: WALLACE, R. K Physioloical effects of Transcdtal Meditation. Scice 167: WALLACE,R. K.,andBENSON,H.l972. Thephysioloyof meditation. Scitific American 226: WALLACE, R. K.; BENSON, H.; and WILSON, A. F A wakefl hypometabolic physioloic state. American Jornal of Physioloy 221:

7 . PAPER 24 CHANGES IN SKIN RESISTANCE IN SUBJECTS RESTING, READING, LISTENING TO MUSIC, OR PRACTICING THE TRANSCENDENTAL MICHAEL A. WEST, B. Sc. University Collee of Swansea, University of Wales, Swansea, Wales Research completed December Skin resistance increases were reater drin the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe than drin restin with eyes closed, readin, or listin to msic, indicatin that the TM techniqe prodces a deeper rest than these other forms of relaxation. -EDITORS The skin resistance of t sbjects was recorded every 2 seconds for for 2-minte periods of restin, readin, listin to msic, or practicin the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe.in eiht ot of the t cases the hihest sinle vale of skin resistance occrred drin the period of meditation. The increase in skin resistance was sinificantly reater drin Transcdtal Meditation than drin readin, restin, or listin to msic. The reslts spport Wallace and Bson's conclsion that distinct physioloical chanes accompany the practice of Transcdtal Meditation. INTRODUCTION Wallace, Bson, and Wilson (5) have fond physioloical chanes drin the Transcdtal Meditation (TM) techniqe characteristic of a niqe state of restfl alertness. Several chanes in respiration occrred: oxy consmption, carbon dioxide elimination, respiratory rate, and minte vtilation decreased with no chane in respiratory qotit. Arterial blood ph and base excess decreased slihtly, and blood lactate also decreased. Skin resistance markedly increased, while systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressre, arterial Po2 and Pco2, and rectal temperatre remained nchaned. The EEG showed an increase in intsity of slow alpha waves and occasional theta-wave activity. Orme-Johnson (2) stdied the inflce of the TM proram on the stability of the atonomic nervos system. He measred SRR (skin resistance response) habitation to a 1 db,. 5 sec 3 H tone for eiht meditators and eiht nonmeditators drin the normal wakin state and fond that meditators habitated in sinificantly fewer trials than nonmeditators. Sev sbjects from each rop were also measred on restin levels of spontaneos SRR' s, and meditators had sinificant! y fewer spontaneos SRR's than nonmeditators, with a correlation coefficit of. 73 betwe the nmber of spontaneos SRR's and trials to criterion drin habitation. In a second stdy of spontaneos SRR's, eiht nonmeditators who planned to bein the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe in two weeks were compared to a rop of six meditators. Aain meditators had fewer spontaneos SRR's than nonmeditators. Repeated measremts over three differt sessions showed that meditators consisttly had fewer spontaneos SRR's than nonmeditators. These reslts sest that the relar experice of the state of restfl alertness prodced by the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe redces restin levels of sympathetic activity. The prposes of this stdy were to replicate and extd the findins of dramatic chanes in skin resistance observed by Wallace (3) and Wallace and Bson ( 4) and to provide additional within-sbject controls not tilied in previos experimts on Transcdtal Meditation and skin resistance. The hypothesis was that if the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe prodces a very deep state of rest and relaxation, a period of meditation shold be characteried by a hiher level of skin resistance than three control periods of restin, book-readin, and listin to msic. METHOD SUBJECTS-T sbjects were tested. All were nderradates at University Collee, Swansea, and varied in ae from 19 to 23 years. All the sbjects were taht the Transcdtal Meditation techniqe by qalified teachers. The lth of time the sbjects had be meditatin varied from five months to two years 11 months. 224