In patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, both focused attention and open monitoring meditation increased interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) density compared to story listening, but not compared to classical music listening. The relationship between IED density and perceived meditation depth changed across meditative levels, indicating a dynamic interplay between neural excitability and subjective meditative engagement. This exploratory study provides intracranial evidence that meditation can transiently modulate epileptic network dynamics in meditation-naïve epilepsy patients, suggesting a functional coupling between meditative states and cortical excitability.
Thirst was induced in humans by intravenous infusion of hypertonic saline. PET imaging revealed blood flow changes in ancient brain regions similar to those seen when thirst is maximal, while fMRI additionally showed activation in the anterior wall of the third ventricle, a region central to thirst generation in animals. Strong fMRI activations also appeared in the anterior cingulate, parahippocampal gyrus, frontal gyri, insula, and cerebellum. Drinking water to satiation immediately reduced thirst and caused a sharp decline in anterior cingulate activation, but the third ventricle activation remained unchanged, consistent with the time needed for plasma sodium to change after water absorption.