The default mode network (DMN) is more active when people make decisions based on stored information from a previous trial than when they respond to current perceptual input. Using fMRI, the study found increased BOLD activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex when individuals recalled the location of a shape from the prior trial, and decreased activity when they judged the current location. This challenges the view of the DMN as merely task-negative or emotion-sensitive. Instead, the DMN's core hubs enable cognition to be guided by internal representations rather than immediate sensory input, explaining its involvement in higher-order thought such as imagining the future or considering another's perspective.
Compassion-meditation and Reappraisal both effectively regulate emotional responses to others' suffering, but through different mechanisms. Compassion-meditation primarily increases positive affect and activates brain regions linked to affiliation and reward, such as the ventral striatum and medial orbitofrontal cortex, even before seeing distressing stimuli. Reappraisal mainly decreases negative affect. Compassion's regulatory mechanism involves the endogenous generation of positive affect independent of the stimulus, which may preserve emotional connectedness.
A three-month mental training module focused on socio-affective skills like compassion (the Affect module) reduced negative feelings when viewing images of human suffering and increased brain activity in the right supramarginal gyrus. Two other three-month modules—one cultivating attention and interoceptive awareness (Presence) and another cultivating socio-cognitive skills like theory of mind (Perspective)—did not produce these effects. The findings suggest that compassion-based mental training specifically improves emotion regulation when facing adversity, whereas attention- or meta-cognitive training does not.
Long-term meditation practitioners who had spent an average of 40,000 hours cultivating loving-kindness and compassion showed increased cortical thickness in fronto-insular brain regions compared to meditation-naïve controls. Functional MRI during a loving-kindness meditation session revealed increased brain activity in multiple prefrontal and insular areas, with partial overlap in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, suggesting these regions are central to generating emotional states relevant to the practice. These cross-sectional findings motivate future longitudinal research on brain plasticity from training aimed at enhancing altruism and prosocial motivation.