Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
August 1, 2024
Xuefeng Xu, Xuefeng Ma, Haosen Ni et al.
14 citations
Mindfulness meditation reduced addiction severity and game craving in people with internet gaming disorder more effectively than progressive muscle relaxation. After one month of training, functional connectivity between the executive control network and both the default mode network and reward-related brain regions increased. These connectivity changes correlated negatively with dopamine and acetylcholine transporters and positively with serotonin and GABA receptors. The findings suggest mindfulness meditation enhances top-down control over cravings by altering brain network interactions.
Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science
July 1, 2025
Shuang Li, Anhang Jiang, Xuefeng Ma et al.
3 citations
Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a global mental health issue, and effective treatments remain challenging. In a study of 61 participants with IGD, 30 received mindfulness meditation (MM) training and 31 received progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) over eight sessions. Using resting-state functional MRI and dynamic network analysis of 142 brain regions, MM training significantly reduced addiction severity and cravings compared to PMR, which showed only nonspecific effects. MM increased brain network recruitment in the frontoparietal and basal ganglia networks while decreasing it in the default mode network, and increased integration between the frontoparietal-default mode and default mode-limbic networks. MM may improve top-down control, cognitive and emotional functions, and reward processing through reconfiguration of these neural pathways.
Asian Journal of Philosophy
June 18, 2026
Chang Liu
This commentary argues that Chan and Chen's defense of compatibility between phenomenology and naturalism inadvertently shifts the meaning of experience, which can be interpreted as a phenomenalist version of the Argument from Sparse Bundles. Drawing on Husserl's work, the author contends that phenomenology does not entail phenomenalism because perceptual experience is directly directed toward objects, not toward sensory data. The commentary aims to strengthen the target article's central argument rather than challenge it.
Journal for General Philosophy of Science
March 26, 2026
Chang Liu, Bin Ye
Constructionists argue that emotions arise from categorizing a basic phenomenal quality called core affect, shaped by prior experiences. Husserl's model of perception similarly describes perceptions emerging from apprehending phenomenal character, also shaped by prior experience. The two views are independent formulations of a single Construction Framework of the Mental (CFM), which treats most folk psychological categories as constructs built from more basic mental processes. Given the framework's consistency with recent neuroscience findings, competitive metaphysical positions, and its application in psychology and phenomenology, it should be considered a feasible research framework for understanding mental states.
Archive for the Psychology of Religion
January 12, 2026
Junyi Hao, Chang Liu, Shaozhen Feng et al.
Daoist meditation practices, such as Sitting in Oblivion and Inner Observation, are less commonly used than Buddhist meditation for psychological regulation due to their philosophical complexity. This analysis compared classical Daoist methods and developed a new technique called Merging Oblivion Meditation, which combines Inner Observation and Sitting in Oblivion. Inner Observation, which involves merging with the cosmic landscape, proved more adaptable for psychological use. Merging Oblivion Meditation uses guided imagination to reduce the sense of self by fostering experiential unity with cosmic landscapes, facilitating nondual awareness without apophatic operations. This approach simplifies traditional Sitting in Oblivion, making it more feasible as a psychological technique. It differs from Buddhist-derived practices in process and effects, potentially engaging distinct mechanisms for nondual experiences.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
May 1, 2026
Ran Mo, Chang Liu, Junyi Hao
Resilience, the capacity to adapt and recover from adversity, can be cultivated through meditation, but different types of meditation may contribute in distinct ways. This perspective article introduces the Meditation-Resilience Interaction Model (MRIM), which proposes that focused attention meditation (FAM) enhances recoverability by strengthening executive control, while open monitoring meditation (OMM) reduces vulnerability and fosters interactivity through a process of decentering. The two practices work synergistically: FAM builds the attentional foundation that allows OMM to promote broader resilience. The model provides a framework for designing personalized meditation interventions and for guiding future empirical research.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
April 14, 2026
Meichao Zhang, Casey Paquola, Katya Krieger-Redwood et al.
The brain's default mode network (DMN) contains spatially distinct subregions that support different cognitive processes: some DMN areas are more active during perceptual decisions about faces, while others are more active during memory-guided decisions based on previously seen images. These subregions differ in their connectivity profiles—perception-related areas have receiver-like, afferent-biased connections across the heteromodal cortex, whereas memory-related areas have sender-like, efferent-biased connections with perceptual-motor and attentional systems beyond the DMN. This double dissociation, found across three fMRI datasets, suggests that DMN architecture is organized to flexibly support both external perception and internal memory-guided thought.
Translational Psychiatry
February 18, 2026
Xuefeng Xu, Huabin Wang, Shaoyu Cui et al.
Mindfulness meditation (MM) reduced depression, addiction severity, and cravings in patients with internet gaming disorder and co-occurring depression (IGD-D) more than progressive muscle relaxation did. After 8 training sessions over one month, brain scans showed that MM strengthened functional connectivity in networks involved in executive control, emotion regulation, and self-referential thought. These connectivity changes correlated with several neurotransmitter systems, including serotonin and dopamine receptors. The findings suggest MM works by enhancing top-down control and disrupting negative reinforcement mechanisms, making it a promising therapy for IGD-D.
Journal of Psychiatric Research
October 1, 2025
Haohao Dong, Huabin Wang, Xuefeng Xu et al.
Both online and face-to-face mindfulness meditation reduce the severity of Internet Gaming Disorder and enhance cortical structure, particularly in the superior temporal gyrus and right insula. In a randomized trial with 100 participants, eight sessions of mindfulness meditation (face-to-face or online) increased cortical thickness in the superior temporal gyrus compared to progressive muscle relaxation. Face-to-face meditation also increased local gyrification index in the left superior temporal gyrus and right insula. These structural changes correlated with reduced disorder severity. Mindfulness meditation also reduced structural covariance between the right superior temporal gyrus and default mode and sensory networks, suggesting neuroanatomical targets for treatment.
PNAS Nexus
September 1, 2025
Xin Luo, Huabin Wang, Xuefeng Xu et al.
Mindfulness meditation reduces gaming and depression severity in people with co-occurring internet gaming disorder and depression more effectively than progressive muscle relaxation. Brain imaging showed that mindfulness meditation decreased activity in the medial frontal gyrus and parahippocampal gyrus while increasing activity in the left lentiform when participants faced gaming cues. It also altered functional connectivity between these regions, suggesting changes in executive control and reward processing. Progressive muscle relaxation produced similar but weaker effects. Mindfulness meditation may be an efficacious treatment for individuals with both conditions.
npj Mental Health Research
July 31, 2025
Xuefeng Xu, Haosen Ni, Huabin Wang et al.
Internet gaming disorder involves abnormal functional connectivity in brain networks for executive control and reward processing. A randomized clinical trial with 80 patients compared mindfulness meditation (twice-weekly for 8 sessions) to progressive muscle relaxation. Mindfulness meditation enhanced connectivity within the executive control network and between the executive control and reward networks, improving top-down control over gaming cravings. The findings suggest mindfulness meditation can effectively treat internet gaming disorder.
JAMA Network Open
June 3, 2024
Haosen Ni, Huabin Wang, Xuefeng Ma et al.
An 8-session mindfulness meditation program reduced internet gaming disorder severity and gaming cravings more than progressive muscle relaxation in adults with internet gaming disorder. After four weeks, the mindfulness group showed a greater decrease in addiction severity scores than the relaxation group. Mindfulness meditation was linked to reduced brain activity in regions involved in reward and craving, and increased connectivity between the medial frontal gyrus and lentiform nuclei predicted lower craving. The findings suggest mindfulness meditation may be an effective treatment for internet gaming disorder by altering frontopallidal pathways.
Journal of Religion and Health
August 1, 2022
Junyi Hao, Chang Liu, Shaozhen Feng et al.
A meditation method from Chinese Buddhism, developed by Zhiyi, uses imagination to cultivate loving-kindness and compassion, limiting the content of imagination during practice. This contrasts with Theravada Buddhist free association and Tibetan Buddhist tonglen methods. Zhiyi's approach may be more suitable for participants without religious beliefs because it involves helping others entirely through imagination. The article outlines a mental-health training program based on this method and discusses its limitations and future research directions, noting that empirical studies are needed to compare its effects and applicability with other meditation methods.
Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
August 1, 2018
Kaijia Yu, Chang Liu, Tao Yu et al.
Stimulating the anterior insular cortex (AIC) with intracranial electrodes triggered an out-of-body experience (OBE) in a child with intractable epilepsy. After destroying specific sites in the left AIC using radiofrequency thermocoagulation, the patient's seizures stopped and the OBE could no longer be reproduced by stimulating those sites. This is the first reported case of an OBE originating from the AIC. The authors analyze how OBEs typically arise from the temporo-parietal junction and propose two possible mechanisms by which the AIC might cause the experience.