Newsletter No. 414

What Professor Davidson primarily did was to study the differences between expert practitioners of meditation (those with at least 10,000 hours of meditation) and the uninitiated, with the aid of MRI technology and careful monitoring of the brain’s electrical and chemical responses, in a range of psychological experiments from attention to compassion. His research has found correlations between the practice of meditation and mental stimulation and activity. It was also found that meditation results in observable altruistic or prosocial behavioural changes even for relatively short term of meditation practice. Meditation was found to have enhanced subjects’ attention to details. In psychology, attentional blinks refer to the lapse of attention when one is too focused on one thing. Thus, when shown a quick succession of a mixture of letters and digits and told to pay attention to the digits, we often notice the first digit that appears but sometimes miss the digit that appears next. Our attention on the first digit is said to have clouded or blocked our perception of the second. One can of course be trained to do better on it. In a series of attentional blink experiments, Professor Davidson tested two groups of subjects (one of meditation practitioners and the other a control group) and found that the meditation group consistently did better on spotting details, thus overcoming the effect of attentional blinks. In another set of experiments on ‘compassion training’, subjects were asked to meditate on the suffering of their loved ones, themselves, their enemies, a difficult person and all human beings, in that order, and then wish for their deliverance from suffering. Positive altruistic changes in behaviour were observed in the subjects afterwards, providing proof that changing the mind changes one’s behaviour, and for the better too. Other scientific evidence has also accrued as to the peripheral biological effects of meditation. For example, meditation had been shown to have a positive effect on the inflammation of the lungs which is a common cause of asthma. Activities in the insular cortex region of the brain, which controls the organs below the neck, had been shown to be dramatically influenced by compassion meditation. Educators should take heed of Professor Davidson’s ‘kindness curriculum’ which was developed to apply the mind-training techniques to small children so as to develop their learning capability and emotional qualities. In his work done so far, it has been demonstrated that intervention has enhanced the children’s ability to pay attention, regulate their emotions and practise kindness. Training in mindfulness and kindness has generally fostered prosocial and cooperative behaviour among the young children under study. The full-house of over 450 students and guests, many of them medical practitioners themselves, were mesmerized by Professor Davidson’s presentation. This was evident in the succession of eager and admiring questions from the floor in the Q&A. Professor Davidson seemingly enjoyed the questions and regaled the audience with more of his experience and insights on related subjects. He did, however, in response to a question from an audience member, acknowledge that meditation did not work for everyone and definitely not for those diagnosed to have schizophrenia or bipolar syndromes. 理察 ‧ 大衛遜教授 Prof. Richard J. Davidson 暖胃夜粥 Stomach-warming Congee 晚上的崇基書院眾志堂，遠遠可看到收銀處附近懸着LED廣告牌，閃耀着 「夜粥」兩字。對﹗在教學日每天晚上9時起直至零晨2時，該處有夜粥供應，在 校園聚腳夜宵，現又多了一個選擇。 甚受同學歡迎的粥品之一是皮蛋瘦肉粥。師傅接單後，就將皮蛋和已醃的瘦肉 加進粥底滾一會，然後熟練地連白粥舀起。由於粥底已煲上數小時，而且煮時 加進了一點的薑汁和米酒，所以香滑軟綿，不太稀又不太稠。不消數分數，一碗 熱騰騰的夜粥便端在面前，客人可按自己喜好，灑上蔥花和花生。吃過這碗夜 粥，未必會懂得耍功夫，但肯定讓你懷着一副暖胃腸。 When passing the Chung Chi College Student Canteen at night, a bright LED advertising sign near the cashier will catch your eye. Two Chinese characters ‘ 夜粥 ’ (night congee) tells passers-by that congee is available if you fancy a late-night snack. It’s served from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am nightly during term time. According to the canteen, a popular congee is one cooked with salted pork and preserved egg. The congee has been boiled separately for hours until the rice becomes puffy. A bit of ginger juice and cooking wine are added to give it a subtle flavour. The cooking is done when it is neither too thick nor too thin. When the cook receives an order, he will put the ingredients in with the congee in a pot, boil it for a while and spoon everything into a bowl. It can be served with chopped spring onions and peanuts. No. 414, 19.3.2013 5