It's usually better to look at what the study actually says, instead of what a journalist makes of it, the latter often being a misrepresentation.
This is the study's abstract:
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
I'm not sure what conclusions we can draw from this, but I don't think all of your conclusions are warranted.
They may have not meditated regularly but it's likely that they prayed regularly. Do you know if studies have been done that examine the effect of regular prayer on the right amygdala response? It might have the same effect.
And how likely was the average Asian citizen to meditate regularly? Wasn't meditation mostly practiced by monks and warriors?
The right amygdala is mainly involved with the fear-response. If meditation causes a reduced fear-response, that may help explain why meditation is often incorporated into Asian martial arts.
But are tranquilizers similar to meditation? The fact that tranquilizers aren't incorporated into martial arts probably signifies that at least in some way the effects of tranquilizers and meditation are dissimilar.
If those facts are indeed linked to differences in religion, that still may have nothing to do with meditation. It seems more plausible to me that it has to do with a belief in reincarnation and karma. A belief that the suffering people experience is the result of actions from past lives might well cause people to be less compelled to change the circumstances that cause that suffering.
Western culture was also a caste culture, with strict separation between social classes (e.g. aristocrats and peasants).
This is the study's abstract:
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
Quote
The amygdala has been repeatedly implicated in emotional processing of both positive and negative-valence stimuli. Previous studies suggest that the amygdala response to emotional stimuli is lower when the subject is in a meditative state of mindful-attention, both in beginner meditators after an 8-week meditation intervention and in expert meditators. However, the longitudinal effects of meditation training on amygdala responses have not been reported when participants are in an ordinary, non-meditative state. In this study, we investigated how 8 weeks of training in meditation affects amygdala responses to emotional stimuli in subjects when in a non-meditative state. Healthy adults with no prior meditation experience took part in 8 weeks of either Mindful Attention Training (MAT), Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT; a program based on Tibetan Buddhist compassion meditation practices), or an active control intervention. Before and after the intervention, participants underwent an fMRI experiment during which they were presented images with positive, negative, and neutral emotional valences from the IAPS database while remaining in an ordinary, non-meditative state. Using a region-of-interest analysis, we found a longitudinal decrease in right amygdala activation in the Mindful Attention group in response to positive images, and in response to images of all valences overall. In the CBCT group, we found a trend increase in right amygdala response to negative images, which was significantly correlated with a decrease in depression score. No effects or trends were observed in the control group. This finding suggests that the effects of meditation training on emotional processing might transfer to non-meditative states. This is consistent with the hypothesis that meditation training may induce learning that is not stimulus- or task-specific, but process-specific, and thereby may result in enduring changes in mental function.
I'm not sure what conclusions we can draw from this, but I don't think all of your conclusions are warranted.
Quote
Corboy
The Revolutions of 1789 in France and 1688 in England were created by persons ignorant of mediation and angered by unfair salt tax burdens(France) and intrusive policies of a king who was a religious bigot (England)
They may have not meditated regularly but it's likely that they prayed regularly. Do you know if studies have been done that examine the effect of regular prayer on the right amygdala response? It might have the same effect.
And how likely was the average Asian citizen to meditate regularly? Wasn't meditation mostly practiced by monks and warriors?
The right amygdala is mainly involved with the fear-response. If meditation causes a reduced fear-response, that may help explain why meditation is often incorporated into Asian martial arts.
Quote
Corboy
Tranquilizers do ease suffering. In the wring hands, tranquilizers are used to dope us. Tranquilizers require oversight.
But are tranquilizers similar to meditation? The fact that tranquilizers aren't incorporated into martial arts probably signifies that at least in some way the effects of tranquilizers and meditation are dissimilar.
Quote
Corboy
France, America and England and Germany, all cultures based on non Asian religions were discontented enough w pain and social misery to want to reduce them, creating clean water supplies and public health.
If those facts are indeed linked to differences in religion, that still may have nothing to do with meditation. It seems more plausible to me that it has to do with a belief in reincarnation and karma. A belief that the suffering people experience is the result of actions from past lives might well cause people to be less compelled to change the circumstances that cause that suffering.
Quote
Corboy
Through non caste cultures, mechanics and scholars befriended each other and in this Western context printing developed, launching the first information revolution making it possible to correct errors, communicate findings, and led to modern science.
Western culture was also a caste culture, with strict separation between social classes (e.g. aristocrats and peasants).