An EEG study conducted on college students at American University found they could activate the default mode network, (DMN) a suggested natural "ground state" of the brain, during their practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. Previous research has shown closing one's eyes and relaxing increases the DMN, but this three-month randomized control study, published in Cognitive Processing, found activity in the DMN, comprising deep midline structures, increases significantly during TM compared to simple eyes-closed rest.

"The finding of significant brain wave differences between students practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique and those simply resting with their eyes closed is especially convincing because subjects were randomly assigned to conditions, and testing was conducted by a researcher unaware of the experimental condition to which the subject had been assigned," said David Haaga, Ph.D., coauthor and professor of psychology at American University.
"Research has already shown that simply closing one's eyes and relaxing increases the default mode. A significant additional finding of this new study is that activity in the default mode increases during TM compared to simple eyes-closed rest," said Fred Travis, Ph.D., lead author and director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management.