Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Psychophysiology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpsycho No meditation-related changes in the auditory N1 during first-time meditation L.J. Barnes a,b, ⁎ , G.M. McArthur a,b , B.A. Biedermann b,c , P. de Lissa b,1 , V. Polito a,b , N.A. Badcock a,b a Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia b ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia c School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Australia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Meditation Attention N1 N100 Event-related potentials Attention ABSTRACT Recent studies link meditation expertise with enhanced low-level attention, measured through auditory event- related potentials (ERPs). In this study, we tested the reliability and validity of a recent finding that the N1 ERP in first-time meditators is smaller during meditation than non-meditation – an effect not present in long-term meditators. In the first experiment, we replicated the finding in first-time meditators. In two subsequent ex- periments, we discovered that this finding was not due to stimulus-related instructions, but was explained by an effect of the order of conditions. Extended exposure to the same tones has been linked with N1 decrement in other studies, and may explain N1 decrement across our two conditions. We give examples of existing meditation and ERP studies that may include similar condition order effects. The role of condition order among first-time meditators in this study indicates the importance of counterbalancing meditation and non-mediation conditions in meditation studies that use event-related potentials. 1. Introduction Meditation – a family of contemplative practices used for self-reg- ulation or transformation (Sedlmeier et al., 2012) – is gaining research interest as a mediator of brain processes that underlie attention. At- tention is involved in a wide range of processes, from sensory proces- sing through to response selection (Correa et al., 2006; Downing, 1988). Clinically-focused research addresses some interactions between med- itation and executive aspects of attention, such as consciously directing focus away from recurring negative thoughts (Bostanov et al., 2012). However, it is possible that meditation affects attention at many levels, and in different ways. Research suggests that meditation may influence the role of atten- tion in both low-level (e.g., perceptual discrimination) and high-level (e.g., inhibiting an automatic response) processes (MacLean et al., 2010; Prakash et al., 2010). A meta-analysis on the psychological ef- fects of meditation found that meditation is associated with moderate changes in high-level attention (Sedlmeier et al., 2012). These data were drawn from studies of inhibition, vigilance, and attention switching. Meditation is also associated with changes in low-level at- tention, as measured by long-term meditators' performance on a per- ceptual discrimination task and use of exogenous cues (Jha et al., 2007; MacLean et al., 2010). The effect of meditation on attention may depend upon the form of the meditation practice. Many practices include focus on a single sen- sation (e.g., the breath) and non-judgmental awareness of present ex- periences (e.g., noticing the content of the mind without reactivity). Focus on the breath may train one aspect of attention, such as vigilance, which may improve low-level perceptual attention; while nonjudg- mental awareness may train another aspect of attention, such as the ability to remain focused in a changing environment, which may im- prove high-level executive attention (Valentine and Sweet, 1999). It is therefore important to investigate the effect of meditation on specific levels of attention. In the current study, we focus on the effect of meditation on low-level attention. Low-level attention can be indexed by auditory event-related po- tentials (ERP; Luck et al., 2000). Auditory ERPs are produced by the synchronous activity of groups of neurons following the onset of a sound. They can be recorded actively, with attention directed towards stimuli, or passively, with attention directed away from stimuli. Passive auditory ERPs are especially useful for studies of meditation since they can be recorded during meditation without distracting a participant from their meditation. This is not the case for other methods, such as behavioral tests and active ERPs, which typically measure meditation https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.03.003 Received 22 September 2017; Received in revised form 5 February 2018; Accepted 5 March 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia. 1 Present address: Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. E-mail address: lydia.barnes@mq.edu.au (L.J. Barnes). International Journal of Psychophysiology 127 (2018) 26–37 Available online 06 March 2018 0167-8760/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T