Nancy Alker Craigmyle is a leading expert in mindfulness meditation, salience detecting, anterior cingulate, locus coerulius, and norepinephine. She has spent more than four decades specializing in the physiology and psychology behind brain changes during meditation, specifically mindful meditation, and is renowned for her passion, talent, and commitment to excellence. She is devoted to unlocking the mysteries of consciousness.
Ms. Craigmyle began her prestigious career by earning a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with an emphasis on physiological psychology from Columbia University in 1974. She also enrolled in the PhD Department of Physiological Psychology at the University of South Carolina in 1984. While at Columbia, Ms. Craigmyle was introduced to some of the earliest Western scientific studies of meditation. After graduation, she became a research assistant to Dr. Neal Miller, the initiator of mind-body biofeedback studies, in his laboratory of physiological psychology at the Rockefeller University in New York from 1975 to 1979. This experience was instrumental to her future success, as it allowed her the opportunity to learn and grow in a hands-on environment and to demonstrate her abilities.
When Ms. Craigmyle moved to Columbia, S.C., she transferred to work as a doctorate research assistant to Dr. D. A. Powell in his neuroscience laboratory at the Veterans Administration Hospital from 1982 to 1984. Ms. Craigmyle’s research was particularly centered on how norepinephrine could change behavior, causing the rapid performance of well-learned responses and how stress-associated disease changed norepinephrine levels in direct contrast to meditation.
To share what she learned in her studies, Ms. Craigmyle has contributed papers, like “Physiological Effects of Meditation,” to various journals, including “Frontiers of Psychology,” “Science,” and the “European Journal of Pharmacology.” She has also given talks at the Toward a Science of Consciousness convention and organized by the Center of Consciousness at the University of Arizona. One of her talks concerned the suggestion that the same areas of the brain known to be active during orienting might be among those active during meditation. Her papers on meditation have captured the attention of noteworthy professionals and key experts around the world.
Despite being retired, Ms. Craigmyle continues to keep abreast of the latest developments in her field through the continued exploration of the neuroscientific basis for the beneficial effects of meditation on the mind and body. As a testament to her hard work and dedication, she has been recognized by Strathmore Who’s Who Worldwide as a woman of excellence, by Continental Who’s Who as a pinnacle professional in the field of research, and has received the 2017 Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in meditative research and development. She is also featured in Who’s Who in America.
