Effects of Meditation Experience on Functional Connectivity of Distributed Brain Networks
TLDR
Because altered connectivity of brain regions in experienced meditators was observed in a non-meditative (resting) state, this may represent a transference of cognitive abilities “off the cushion” into daily life.Abstract:
This study sought to examine the effect of meditation experience on brain networks underlying cognitive actions employed during contemplative practice. In a previous study, we proposed a basic model of naturalistic cognitive fluctuations that occur during the practice of focused attention meditation. This model specifies four intervals in a cognitive cycle: mind wandering (MW), awareness of MW, shifting of attention, and sustained attention. Using subjective input from experienced practitioners during meditation, we identified activity in salience network regions during awareness of MW and executive network regions during shifting and sustained attention. Brain regions associated with the default mode were active during MW. In the present study, we reasoned that repeated activation of attentional brain networks over years of practice may induce lasting functional connectivity changes within relevant circuits. To investigate this possibility, we created seeds representing the networks that were active during the four phases of the earlier study, and examined functional connectivity during the resting state in the same participants. Connectivity maps were then contrasted between participants with high vs. low meditation experience. Participants with more meditation experience exhibited increased connectivity within attentional networks, as well as between attentional regions and medial frontal regions. These neural relationships may be involved in the development of cognitive skills, such as maintaining attention and disengaging from distraction, that are often reported with meditation practice. Furthermore, because altered connectivity of brain regions in experienced meditators was observed in a non-meditative (resting) state, this may represent a transference of cognitive abilities “off the cushion” into daily life.read more
Citations
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The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation
TL;DR: Research over the past two decades broadly supports the claim that mindfulness meditation exerts beneficial effects on physical and mental health, and cognitive performance, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear.
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Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation:
Nicholas T. Van Dam,Marieke K. van Vugt,David R. Vago,Laura Schmalzl,Clifford D. Saron,Andrew Olendzki,Ted Meissner,Sara W. Lazar,Catherine E. Kerr,Jolie Gorchov,Kieran C. R. Fox,Brent A. Field,Willoughby B. Britton,Julie A. Brefczynski-Lewis,David E. Meyer +14 more
TL;DR: The difficulties of defining mindfulness are discussed, the proper scope of research into mindfulness practices is delineated, and crucial methodological issues for interpreting results from investigations of mindfulness are explained.
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The wandering brain: meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of mind-wandering and related spontaneous thought processes.
TL;DR: It is concluded that further progress in the cognitive and clinical neuroscience of spontaneous thought will therefore require a re-balancing of the authors' view of the contributions of various regions and networks throughout the brain, and beyond the DMN.
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Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective.
TL;DR: This article examines the construct of mindfulness in psychological research and reviews recent, nonclinical work in this area, interpreting it as a continuum of practices involving states and processes that can be mapped into a multidimensional phenomenological matrix which itself can be expressed in a neurocognitive framework.
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Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state
Gaelle Desbordes,Gaelle Desbordes,Lobsang Tenzin Negi,Thaddeus W.W. Pace,B. Alan Wallace,Charles L. Raison,Eric L. Schwartz +6 more
TL;DR: This study investigated how 8 weeks of training in meditation affects amygdala responses to emotional stimuli in subjects when in a non-meditative state and found a longitudinal decrease in right amygdala activation in the Mindful Attention group in response to positive images, and inresponse to images of all valences overall.
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