title: The structure of mindful brain.
abstract: Mindfulness is currently attracting a great deal of attention as a psychotherapy technique. It is defined as bringing one's complete attention to the experiences occurring in the present moment in a nonjudgmental or accepting way. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) was developed to assess individual differences in mindfulness states. The FFMQ is composed of five facets representing elements of mindfulness: non-reactivity to inner experience, non-judging, acting with awareness, describing, and observing. In the present study, we applied voxel-based morphometry to investigate the relationship between the brain structure and each facet as measured by the FFMQ. The results showed a positive association between the describing facet of mindfulness on the FFMQ and gray matter volume in the right anterior insula and the right amygdala. In conclusion, mindfulness was related with development in parts of the somatic marker circuit of the brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroimaging, Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan. hmurakami@ncnp.go.jp
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsunaga
authors.forename: Yukinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kasuya
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shinoda
authors.forename: Jitsuhiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation; D010487:Periaqueductal Gray / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult