title: Cerebral blood flow differences between long-term meditators and non-meditators.
abstract: We have studied a number of long-term meditators in previous studies. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences in baseline brain function of experienced meditators compared to non-meditators. All subjects were recruited as part of an ongoing study of different meditation practices. We evaluated 12 advanced meditators and 14 non-meditators with cerebral blood flow (CBF) SPECT imaging at rest. Images were analyzed with both region of interest and statistical parametric mapping. The CBF of long-term meditators was significantly higher (p<.05) compared to non-meditators in the prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, thalamus, putamen, caudate, and midbrain. There was also a significant difference in the thalamic laterality with long-term meditators having greater asymmetry. The observed changes associated with long-term meditation appear in structures that underlie the attention network and also those that relate to emotion and autonomic function.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, USA. Andrew.newberg@uphs.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Newberg
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wintering
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Waldman
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amen
authors.forename: Dharma S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Khalsa
authors.forename: Abass
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alavi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000098:blood supply; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000523:psychology*; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000098:blood supply; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000098:blood supply; D011699:Putamen / Q000098:blood supply; D012016:Reference Values; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000098:blood supply; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D055815:Young Adult