Meditation - 6 Biological Bases of Behavior - STEP 4 Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High

5 Steps to a 5: AP Psychology - McGraw Hill 2021

Meditation
6 Biological Bases of Behavior
STEP 4 Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High

Do you know someone who practices yoga or meditates? Meditation is a set of techniques used to focus concentration away from thoughts and feelings in order to create calmness, tranquility, and inner peace. Meditation is popular in Asia, where Zen Buddhists meditate. EEGs of meditators show alpha waves characteristic of relaxed wakefulness. Physiological changes, such as lowered blood pressure, slowed heart rate and breathing rate, and warming of hands, common during meditation, indicate activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is normally not under conscious control. Meditators often report an increased feeling of well-being. Psychologists disagree as to whether or not meditation is an altered state of consciousness.