Enhanced Attentional Network by Short-Term Intensive Meditation
Frontiers in Psychology February 7, 2020 Seoyeon Kwak, So-yeon Kim, Dahye Bae et al.
A 4-day intensive meditation retreat improved executive attention and increased neural activity in brain regions supporting attention networks. In a randomized trial, 23 meditators and 14 relaxation retreat participants performed the attention network test during fMRI before and after the intervention. The meditation group showed significantly better behavioral performance on executive control and increased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Activity in the right ACC predicted individual behavioral conflict levels. Alerting and orienting networks also showed enhanced activity after meditation. The findings suggest short-term meditation can strengthen attention networks at the neural level and may benefit those at risk of cognitive deficits.