title: Dynamical properties of BOLD activity from the ventral posteromedial cortex associated with meditation and attentional skills.
abstract: Neuroimaging data suggest a link between the spontaneous production of thoughts during wakeful rest and slow fluctuations of activity in the default mode network (DMN), a set of brain regions with high basal metabolism and a major neural hub in the ventral posteromedial cortex (vPMC). Meta-awareness and regulation of mind-wandering are core cognitive components of most contemplative practices and to study their impact on DMN activity, we collected functional MRI (fMRI) data from a cohort of experienced Zen meditators and meditation-naive controls engaging in a basic attention-to-breathing protocol. We observed a significant group difference in the skewness of the fMRI BOLD signal from the vPMC, suggesting that the relative incidence of states of elevated vPMC activity was lower in meditators; furthermore, the same parameter was significantly correlated with performance on a rapid visual information processing (RVIP) test for sustained attention conducted outside the scanner. Finally, a functional connectivity analysis with the vPMC seed revealed a significant association of RVIP performance with the degree of temporal correlation between vPMC and the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ), a region strongly implicated in stimulus-triggered reorienting of attention. Together, these findings suggest that the vPMC BOLD signal skewness and the temporal relationship of vPMC and TPJ activities reflect the dynamic tension between mind-wandering, meta-awareness, and directed attention, and may represent a useful endophenotype for studying individual differences in attentional abilities and the impairment of the latter in specific clinical conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, I-41125 Modena, Italy. giuseppe.pagnoni@unimore.it
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pagnoni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000523:psychology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012119:Respiration; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen