Enhanced amygdala-anterior cingulate white matter structural connectivity in Sahaja Yoga Meditators.

Objective: To study the white matter connections between anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula and amygdala as key regions of the frontal-limbic network that have been related to meditation.

Design: Twenty experienced practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and twenty nonmeditators matched on age, gender and education level, were scanned using Diffusion Weighted Imaging, using a 3T scanner, and their white matter connectivity was compared using diffusion tensor imaging analyses.

Results: There were five white matter fiber paths in which meditators showed a larger number of tracts, two of them connecting the same area in both hemispheres: the left and right amygdalae and the left and right anterior insula; and the other three connecting left anterior cingulate with the right anterior insula, the right amygdala and the left amygdala.

Crystallized and fluid intelligence are predicted by microstructure of specific white-matter tracts.

Studies of the neural basis of intelligence have focused on comparing brain imaging variables with global scales instead of the cognitive domains integrating these scales or quotients. Here, the relation between mean tract-based fractional anisotropy (mTBFA) and intelligence indices was explored. Deterministic tractography was performed using a regions of interest approach for 10 white-matter fascicles along which the mTBFA was calculated.

Anatomical connections underlying personally-familiar face processing.

Familiar face processing involves face specific regions (the core face system) as well as other non-specific areas related to processing of person-related information (the extended face system). The connections between core and extended face system areas must be critical for face recognition. Some studies have explored the connectivity pattern of unfamiliar face responding area, but none have explored those areas related to face familiarity processing in the extended system.

Inferior fronto-temporo-occipital connectivity: a missing link between maltreated girls and neglectful mothers.

The neurobiological alterations resulting from adverse childhood experiences that subsequently may lead to neglectful mothering are poorly understood. Maternal neglect of an infant's basic needs is the most prevalent type of child maltreatment. We tested white matter alterations in neglectful mothers, the majority of whom had also suffered maltreatment in their childhood, and compared them to a matched control group.

Testing the connections within face processing circuitry in Capgras delusion with diffusion imaging tractography.

Although Capgras delusion (CD) patients are capable of recognizing familiar faces, they present a delusional belief that some relatives have been replaced by impostors. CD has been explained as a selective disruption of a pathway processing affective values of familiar faces. To test the integrity of connections within face processing circuitry, diffusion tensor imaging was performed in a CD patient and 10 age-matched controls.