AI Article Synopsis
- Meditation is believed to enhance sustained attention, and a study was conducted comparing meditators and nonmeditators using the Stroop Word-Color Task while undergoing fMRI scans.
- Both groups performed better on the second run of the task, but interestingly, meditators showed increased brain activation in the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex, while nonmeditators showed decreased activation.
- The findings suggest that meditation practice may positively influence how certain brain regions are activated during attention-demanding tasks.
Article Abstract
Background And Purpose: Among several cognitive advantages, meditation is thought to enhance practitioners' capacity for sustained attention. In the present study, we explored this question by testing meditation practitioners (meditators) and nonpractitioners (nonmeditators) on a task that requires sustained attention, the Stroop Word-Color Task (SWCT), while using functional MRI.
Participants And Methods: Participants were all right-handed and included 23 regular meditators as well as 17 nonmeditators. Participants viewed color words (i.e. 'red,' 'blue,' or 'green') presented one at a time on the screen that were written in either the same color (congruent condition) or a different color (incongruent condition) and were asked to indicate the color of the print. Participants also viewed noncolor words written in unrelated colors (neutral condition). Both groups completed the same two acquisition runs.
Results: Although both meditators and nonmeditators gave faster responses on run 2 than run 1 for both the neutral and incongruent trials, nonmeditators showed decreased activation and meditators showed increased activation in precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex. These regions were previously shown to be activated in the SWCT and belong to default mode network as well as to cognitive control network.
Conclusion: Attention to repetitive stimuli during two equal runs of SWCT is mediated by the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex, and mental training through meditation may influence the activity of these regions during such tasks.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0000000000001133 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Does mindfulness facilitate letting be? A longitudinal investigation of nonattachment as a mediator in the association between mindfulness, well-being, and affect at trait and state levels.
Appl Psychol Health Well Being
February 2025
Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
This research investigated the mediating role of nonattachment in the association between mindfulness and well-being. Study 1, a 2-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study with 2446 responses from 69 participants, showed that state mindfulness at time (t) - 1 was not significantly associated with nonattachment at t and (positive and negative) affect at t + 1. However, nonattachment at t significantly mediated the association between state mindfulness at t and (positive and negative) affect at t.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMeditation expertise influences response bias and prestimulus alpha activity in the somatosensory signal detection task.
Psychophysiology
November 2024
Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
This study investigates the proposed mechanism of mindfulness, its impact on body awareness and interoception, and its potential benefits for mental and physical health. Using psychophysical assessments, we compared 31 expert meditators with 33 matched controls (non-meditators who engage in regular reading, more than 5 h per week) in terms of somatosensory accuracy with a somatosensory signal detection task (SSDT) and interoceptive sensibility via self-report measures. We hypothesized that meditators would demonstrate superior somatosensory accuracy, indicative of heightened body awareness, potentially linked to increased alpha modulation in the somatosensory cortex, as observed via electroencephalography (EEG).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreased wakefulness as measured by the WAKE-16 is related to mindfulness and emotional self-regulation in experienced Buddhist meditators.
Prog Brain Res
August 2024
Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address:
Introduction: We tested and validated the German version of a new instrument for measuring "wakefulness," defined as "an expansive, higher-functioning, and stable state of being in which a person's vision of and relationship to the world are transformed, along with their subjective experience, their sense of identity and their conceptual outlook" (Taylor, 2017, p. 22).
Methods: In order to test the construct validity of the new instrument (Inventory of Secular/Spiritual Wakefulness; WAKE-16), we performed a parametric comparison between a group of expert meditators (n=36) with a history of predominantly meditating in silence and demographically matched non-meditators (n=36) for the WAKE-16 and two conceptually related questionnaires of mindfulness and emotion regulation.
When the body fosters empathy: The interconnectivity between bodily reactivity, meditation, and embodied abstract concepts.
Prog Brain Res
August 2024
Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education and Didactics, Patrizio Paoletti Foundation for Development and Communication, Assisi, Italy.
Empathy is a fundamental social ability that allows humans to infer others' emotions and intentions. Empathy is thought to be rooted in bodily sensations coming from the autonomic nervous system. In parallel, the functionality and perceptions coming from the autonomic nervous system could be improved by practicing activities that involve mind-body interactions, such as meditation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnhancing specialization of attention-related EEG power and phase synchronism brain patterns by meditation.
Cereb Cortex
July 2024
School of Automation Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Wushan Road 381, Guangzhou 510641, China.
Meditation, mental training that aims to improve one's ability to regulate their cognition, has been widely applied in clinical medicine. However, the mechanism by which meditation affects brain activity is still unclear. To explore this question, electroencephalogram data were recorded in 20 long-term meditators and 20 nonmeditators during 2 high-level cognitive tasks (meditation and mental calculation) and a relaxed resting state (control).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!