Mindfulness training reduces stress and amygdala reactivity to fearful faces in middle-school children.
Behavioral Neuroscience December 1, 2019 Clemens C C Bauer, Camila Caballero, Ethan Scherer et al.
Mindfulness training in middle-school children reduces stress and alters brain function. Forty children were randomly assigned to eight weeks of mindfulness or coding training. Before training, higher stress was linked to greater right amygdala activity when viewing fearful faces. After training, children who learned mindfulness reported lower stress and showed reduced right amygdala response to fearful faces, along with stronger connectivity between the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These brain changes occurred outside of meditation, suggesting the benefits generalize. The findings indicate that mindfulness can be integrated into school curricula and that its stress-reducing effects involve dampening amygdala reactions to negative stimuli.