Real-time FMRI of meditators showed decreased default mode network activity when concentrated
Meditation researcher Dr. Judson Brewer compared brain activity in novice and expert meditators using a real-time fMRI neurofeedback showing whether posterior cingulate cortex activity was increasing or decreasing. The experts came in with an average of more than ten thousand hours of practice, whereas we taught the novices three types of meditation on the morning of their fMRI scan. They set up a procedure in which I would see adjectives flash on a screen in the scanner for thirty seconds. The results showed a reduced response to the adjectives and decreased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex, the central hubs of the default mode network, as people became more concentrated.
References
- Brewer, Judson. (2017). The Craving Mind Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits Chapter 5. Addicted to Distraction (Location 1624). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience Status:☀️