Long-term mindfulness meditation is associated with stronger resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, lower connector hub strength of the default mode network relative to other networks, and better attention to task. In a sample of 40 long-term meditators (average 3,759 hours of practice) compared to 124 meditation-naïve controls, orienting attention positively correlated with posterior cingulate–rostrolateral prefrontal connectivity and negatively correlated with default mode network connector hub strength. These findings suggest that posterior cingulate–rostrolateral prefrontal connectivity may support attention orienting, consistent with a role for rostrolateral prefrontal cortex in meta-cognitive background awareness, a core component of mindfulness training.
Long-term mindfulness meditation is associated with stronger functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, lower connector hub strength across the default mode network, and better subjective attention. In a sample of 40 long-term meditators averaging 3759 hours of practice, compared with 124 meditation-naive controls, orienting attention positively correlated with PCC-RLPFC connectivity and negatively correlated with default mode network connector hub strength. These results suggest that PCC-RLPFC connectivity may support attention orienting, a core component of metacognitive awareness trained in mindfulness meditation.
Two weeks of compassion meditation training, compared with reappraisal training, increased healthy adults' visual preference for images of suffering. Greater visual preference for suffering in the compassion group was linked to decreased activity in the amygdala, a brain region associated with negative valence and fear responses, as well as in the anterior insula and orbitofrontal cortex, areas tied to empathic distress. The reappraisal group showed opposite neural effects. Across both time points, engaging in compassion generally led to a visual attention preference for suffering over reappraisal. These findings suggest compassion meditation may foster a more equanimous, nonreactive attention to suffering while dampening aversive neural processing.