Objectives <p>The main objective of the present study was to explore the effects of different types of meditation on the neurophysiologic mechanisms of pain processing.</p> Method <p>EEG responses to electric median nerve stimulation were recorded in short-term and long-term meditators (STM, LTM) during rest and three forms of meditation engaging attentional and affective regulation in different ways: focused attention meditation (FAM), open monitoring meditation (OMM), and loving-kindness meditation (LKM). EEG responses were analysed in the time- and time-frequency domains to compute local components, and temporal and spatial synchronizations of multi-spectral pain-related oscillations (PROs) in order to characterize bottom-up processes, proactive modulation of cortical excitability, cognitive/affective appraisal, and the connectivity of performance monitoring (fronto-medial) and attentional (fronto-parietal) networks during pain processing.</p> Results <p>STM manifested a significant decrease in the connectedness of the fronto-medial theta-alpha network and a significant reduction of the P3b during LKM. In contrast, changes in LTM were observed during FAM and OMM. They were characterized by pre-stimulus alpha increase at somatosensory areas, and modulations of fronto-medial and fronto-parietal theta-alpha synchronizations.</p> Conclusions <p>Different meditation states do not influence bottom-up sensory pain processing. However, they significantly alter cognitive/affective pain mechanisms in state- and trait-dependent ways. In novice meditators, a positive emotional disposition during meditation can suppress the distribution and cognitive/affective appraisal of nociceptive signals. In expert meditators, the effects of meditation states on pain processing are critically guided by advanced control of internal attention leading to fine-tuned involvement and functional segregation of cognitive control and attention networks.</p> Preregistration <p>This study is not preregistered.</p>