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.
A 3-month contemplative intervention involving daily Body Scan and Breath Meditation improved five of eight measured aspects of interoceptive body awareness (IA) in 148 participants, compared to a retest control group. The strongest improvements occurred in regulatory aspects—how the body is used for self-regulation in daily life—while the Noticing aspect (awareness of bodily changes) showed no significant change. Participants with low baseline IA changed most. Practice duration weakly predicted individual differences, but liking the practices and integrating them into daily life predicted changes on most scales. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) questionnaire, tested in a German version with 1,076 participants, showed good reliability and validity.