Posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus blood oxygen-level dependent signal changes during the repetition of an attention task in meditators and nonmeditators.
Neuroreport December 5, 2018 Diego B G Rodrigues, Shirley S Lacerda, Joana B Balardin et al.
Regular meditation practitioners and nonpractitioners performed a Stroop Word-Color Task requiring sustained attention while undergoing functional MRI. Both groups responded faster on the second run than the first for neutral and incongruent trials. However, nonmeditators showed decreased activation and meditators showed increased activation in the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex, brain regions linked to the default mode and cognitive control networks. Mental training through meditation may influence activity in these regions during tasks requiring sustained attention.