Brain network topology predicts participant adherence to mental training programs.
Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) January 1, 2020 Marzie Saghayi, Jonathan Greenberg, Christopher O'Grady et al.
Greater system segregation and clustering of brain connections measured in resting-state fMRI scans predict adherence to both meditation and creative writing programs. At a local level, regions in subcortical circuitry such as striatum and accumbens predicted adherence in all subjects. Adherence to meditation was predicted by connectivity within the local network of the anterior insula and default mode network; in the writing program, adherence was predicted by network neighborhood of frontal and temporal regions. Four machine learning methods classified individual capacity for adherence with reasonable accuracy. These findings indicate that adherence to mental training programs is associated with organizational patterns of brain connectivity.