Mindfulness is associated with intrinsic functional connectivity between default mode and salience networks
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience August 25, 2015 Anselm Doll, Britta K. Hölzel, Christine C. Boucard et al. 174 citations
Mindfulness, defined as nonjudgmental attention to the present moment, is linked to synchronized ongoing activity between the default mode and salience networks in the brain. After two weeks of daily 20-minute attention-to-breath training, healthy participants completed mindfulness questionnaires and resting-state functional MRI. Analysis revealed that intrinsic functional connectivity between subnetworks of the default mode and salience networks—and at a trend level between the salience and left central executive networks—correlated with mindfulness scores. Additional control analyses supported the specificity of these findings. The results suggest that ongoing interactions among core brain networks relate to the ability to attend to current experience without judgment.