NOM

Antoine Lutz

Affiliation

Director of Research and Team Leader at INSERM at the French Medical Research Institute (INSERM)

Role in NOM

NOM Consortium Coordinator (Principal Investigator of the IRB), Coordinator of the Neuroscience and Psychology Measures

Goal(s) in the NOM

Neurophenomenological study of non-dual awareness during Nature of Mind practices.

Education

Habilitation to supervise PhD students (HDR) (2016), PhD degree, Brain-Cognition-Behaviour Doctoral School (with distinction), University of P. et M. Curie, Paris (VI) (2002),  Ms. in Cognitive Science, with Honors, University of P. et M. Curie, Paris (VI) (1996), BA in Philosophy, with Honors, University of Sorbonne, Paris IV (2000), Engineer Degree (MSc) from Institut National des Télécommunications, Evry (1996).

Relevant Experience 

  • Expertise in studying the neurophysiological basis of meditation practices in particular  mindfulness, compassion and nature of mind practices and their impacts on brain plasticity, perception, pain, the regulation of emotions and attention using EEG, MEG and fMRI measures.
  • Expertise in neurophenomenological approach which combines first-person and neurophysiological data using disciplined methods for the study and understanding of consciousness. Recent interest in  computational models of meditation.
  • Extensive prior experience in meditation research: Co-PI of the NIH-NCCAM Center of Excellence on Research dedicated to neurophysiological study of meditation, UW-Madison, USA (2008-2013), PI of the European ERC consolidator grant (Brain&Mindfulness on the neurophysiology of mindfulness meditation, 2014-2019), co-PI of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research Project MeditAgeing on meditation and ageing No: 667696 (2015-2020), co-PI of the ANR MindMadeClear (ANR-17-CE40-0005, computational phenomenology of meditation) (2017-2021) and the PI of the ANR-23-CE37-0022 (2023-2027), “Connectomics, Ageing and Meditation”.

Relevant Publications 

  • Abdoun, O., Poublan-Couzardot, A., Offort, S., Pagnoni, G., & Lutz, A. (2025). Shedding Light on Changes in Subjective Experience During an Intensive Contemplative Retreat: The Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology Questionnaire. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 5(4), 100474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100474
  • Fucci, E., Abdoun, O., Caclin, A., Francis, A., Dunne, J. D., Ricard, M., Davidson, R. J., & Lutz, A. (2018). Differential effects of non-dual and focused attention meditations on the formation of automatic perceptual habits in expert practitioners. Neuropsychologia, 119, 92–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.07.025
  • Katyal, S., Abdoun, O., Mounier, H., & Lutz, A. (2024). Reduced processing of afforded actions while observing mental content as ongoing mental phenomena. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 10130. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60934-6
  • Lutz, A., Abdoun, O., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Trautwein, F.-M., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2024). An Overview of Neurophenomenological Approaches to Meditation and their Relevance to Clinical Research. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.11.008
  • Lutz, A., McFarlin, D. R., Perlman, D. M., Salomons, T. V., & Davidson, R. J. (2013). Altered anterior insula activation during anticipation and experience of painful stimuli in expert meditators. NeuroImage, 64, 538–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.09.030
  • Zorn, J., Abdoun, O., Bouet, R., & Lutz, A. (2020). Mindfulness meditation is related to sensory-affective uncoupling of pain in trained novice and expert practitioners. European Journal of Pain (London, England). https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1576