Ricerc@Sapienza

A number of studies in cognitive psychology and neuroscience have shown the effects of mindfulness and meditation training in enhancing cognitive functions assessed by a broad range of tasks implicating measures of response accuracy, response time, and associated electrophysiological and neuroimaging patterns. We will offer a theoretical framework based on cognitive and consciousness neurosciences to account for the broad range of effects of mindfulness meditation training on multiple cognitive functions.

Several studies in mindfulness and meditation research have used the Attentional Network Task (ANT) to assess changes in the efficiency of attentional networks. The approaches used for mental training, the experimental designs, and the results in such studies are however heterogeneous, and in most cases, do not involve an assessment of dispositional mindfulness in its different facets.

Many studies have consistently demonstrated an epigenetic link between environmental stimuli and physiological as well as cognitive responses. Epigenetic mechanisms represent a way to regulate gene activity in real time without modifying the DNA sequence, thus allowing the genome to adapt its functions to changing environmental contexts. Factors such as lifestyle, behavior, and the practice of sitting and moving mindful activities have been shown to be important means of environmental enrichment.

Il nibbāna non si lascia oggettivare, sfugge alle definizioni. È proprio il rifiuto a tratteggiare puntualmente il nibbāna che ne fa qualcosa che torreggia sullo sfondo dell'intero canone buddhista in lingua pāli. E ancora di più questa condizione ineffabile si staglia sulla scena quando i testi trattano di sati o consapevolezza. Il nibbāna non può essere rimosso dal quadro della pratica di sati, giacché meta primaria della sati è appunto il nibbāna.