Mindfulness meditation training is linked to structural changes in the hippocampus, specifically the subiculum, which are associated with reduced connectivity between the hippocampus and lateral occipital regions during the retrieval of extinguished fear memories. This reduced connectivity correlates with decreases in self-reported anxiety after mindfulness training. The findings suggest that the subiculum plays a key role in regulating interactions with contextual cues during memory retrieval, and that mindfulness training may foster resilience by altering these brain circuits.
Mindfulness training helped maintain sensitivity to learned emotional cues, while controls lost that response. In a pilot study, 46 healthy participants were quasi-randomized to an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course or a waitlist control group. Before and after the course, they underwent a two-day fear conditioning, extinction learning, and extinction memory protocol. Skin conductance response showed that after MBSR, participants maintained a differential response to conditioned versus non-conditioned stimuli, whereas controls did not. MBSR participants also showed increased fractional anisotropy in the uncinate fasciculus, a white matter tract linked to emotional learning, though the group-by-time interaction was not significant. Changes in this tract correlated with changes in emotional response, suggesting neural plasticity from mindfulness practice.