Differential engagement of anterior cingulate and adjacent medial frontal cortex in adept meditators and non-meditators.
This study investigated differences in brain activation during meditation between meditators and non-meditators. Fifteen Vipassana meditators (mean practice: 7.9 years, 2h daily) and fifteen non-meditators, matched for sex, age, education, and handedness, participated in a block-design fMRI study that included mindfulness of breathing and mental arithmetic conditions. For the meditation condition (contrasted to arithmetic), meditators showed stronger activations in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex bilaterally, compared to controls. Greater rostral anterior cingulate cortex activation in meditators may reflect stronger processing of distracting events. The increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex may reflect that meditators are stronger engaged in emotional processing.
Hölzel
Britta K
BK
Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany. britta.k.hoelzel@psychol.uni-giessen.de
Ott
Ulrich
U
Hempel
Hannes
H
Hackl
Andrea
A
Wolf
Katharina
K
Stark
Rudolf
R
Vaitl
Dieter
D
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D019122:Meditation; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood
D010100:Oxygen