title: Differential engagement of anterior cingulate and adjacent medial frontal cortex in adept meditators and non-meditators.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany. britta.k.hoelzel@psychol.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: Britta K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Hölzel
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hempel
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hackl
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vaitl
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen