title: Neural correlates of mindful self-awareness in mindfulness meditators and meditation-naïve subjects revisited.
abstract: Mindful self-awareness is central to mindfulness meditation and plays a key role in its salutary effects. It has been related to decreased activation in cortical midline structures (CMS) and amygdala, and increased activation in somatosensory regions. However, findings in untrained individuals are contradictory, and scarce in experienced meditators. Using fMRI, we investigated experienced mindfulness meditators (LTM, n=21, average 4652 practice-hours) and matched meditation-naïve participants (MNP, n=19) during short periods of mindful self-awareness (FEEL) and self-referential thinking (THINK). We report somatosensory activations and decreases in CMS during FEEL for both groups, but significantly stronger decreases in prefrontal CMS in LTM. LTM further showed decreases in language-related and amygdala regions, but the latter was not significantly different between groups. Overall, higher activations in amygdala and mid-line regions during FEEL were related to levels of depressiveness. Neural patterns of mindful self-awareness emerge already in MNP but more pronounced in LTM. Specifically, meditation training might reduce self-reference and verbalization during mindful awareness. We further corroborate the suggested link between mindfulness and healthy self-related functions on the neural level. Longitudinal studies need to corroborate these findings.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital for Psychiatry, Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Zurich, Switzerland; University of Zurich, Psychological Institute, Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: jacqueline.lutz@puk.zh.ch.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.affiliation: University Hospital for Psychiatry, Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Zurich, Switzerland; University of Cambridge, Department of Psychiatry, Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Brühl
authors.affiliation: University Hospital for Psychiatry, Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Scheerer
authors.affiliation: University of Zurich, Psychological Institute, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jäncke
authors.affiliation: University Hospital for Psychiatry, Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Zurich, Switzerland; University of Ulm, Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Herwig
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D064866:Mindfulness / Q000379:methods; D012649:Self Concept; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Attention; Body-awareness; DMPFC; Default mode network; Emotion regulation; Self