Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
June 5, 2015
Adrienne A. Taren, Peter J. Gianaros, Carol M. Greco et al.
232 citations
Higher perceived stress over the past month is associated with greater functional connectivity between the amygdala and the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) in a sample of 130 community adults. A subsequent randomized controlled trial with 35 stressed unemployed adults showed that a 3-day intensive mindfulness meditation training, compared to a relaxation training without mindfulness, reduced right amygdala-sgACC connectivity. The findings suggest that mindfulness meditation training may reverse stress-related increases in amygdala-sgACC connectivity, indicating a neural pathway for stress reduction.
Psychosomatic Medicine
March 22, 2017
Adrienne A. Taren, Peter J. Gianaros, Carol M. Greco et al.
212 citations
Three days of intensive mindfulness meditation training, compared with relaxation training, strengthened functional connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and brain regions involved in executive control. In adults with high psychological distress, resting-state functional connectivity increased between left dlPFC and the right inferior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, right supplementary eye field, right parietal cortex, and left middle temporal gyrus, and between right dlPFC and right middle frontal gyrus. These results suggest that even brief mindfulness training can enhance neural circuit connectivity underlying executive function, extending prior work on active meditation by identifying specific resting-state networks affected in distressed individuals.
PLoS One
May 22, 2013
Adrienne A. Taren, J. David Creswell, Peter J. Gianaros
127 citations
Higher levels of dispositional mindfulness—a trait reflecting present-moment attention and awareness—are associated with smaller grey matter volume in the right amygdala and left caudate in healthy adults. These associations remained after accounting for age, total grey matter volume, neuroticism, and depression. The findings suggest that structural differences in these brain regions may underlie the reduced stress reactivity observed in mindful individuals, pointing to candidate neurobiological pathways linking mindfulness with mental and physical health.
Biological Psychiatry
July 1, 2016
J David Creswell, Adrienne A. Taren, Emily K. Lindsay et al.
A 3-day intensive mindfulness meditation training, compared with relaxation training, increased resting-state functional connectivity between the default mode network and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in stressed unemployed adults. These brain connectivity changes statistically explained 30% of the mindfulness meditation training effects on reducing interleukin-6, a marker of systemic inflammation, at 4-month follow-up. The findings suggest that mindfulness meditation may improve inflammatory health markers by strengthening brain networks involved in executive control.
Shaoming Wang, Lindsey J. Tepfer, Adrienne A. Taren et al.
preprint
The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions that work together to support different types of thinking. Three key regions—the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), temporal parietal junction (TPJ), and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC)—are often highlighted, but their unique roles in specific cognitive processes and health conditions were unclear. Using a meta-analytic parcellation approach with the Neurosynth database, the authors found that these regions collectively support functions like decision making, memory, and awareness. Further analysis showed each region can be subdivided into functionally distinct subcomponents, each with different strengths of association across cognitive processes and health conditions, highlighting the need for nuanced understanding of DMN specialization.