2 papers in the library · 5 citations · publishing 2023-2024
bioRxiv Preprint Server December 6, 2023 Sébastien Czajko, Jelle Zorn, Loïc Daumail et al. 5 citations preprint
Short mindfulness-based interventions improve well-being, cognition, and clinical symptoms, but they are considered early steps on a longer transformative path that may produce lasting trait changes. Little is known about the brain correlates of these meditation traits.
Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science November 1, 2024 Sébastien Czajko, Jelle Zorn, Loïc Daumail et al.
Long-term Buddhist practitioners show distinct, enduring patterns of large-scale brain functional connectivity that are present whether they are meditating or resting, indicating that meditation expertise produces trait-like neural changes. Comparing 28 expert meditators with 47 matched novices, a machine-learning classifier successfully decoded expertise from brain scans taken during both meditative and nonmeditative states. The experts' brains exhibited greater integration across multiple networks, including those involved in attention, emotion, body awareness, and cognitive control. This increased integration correlated with a stronger ability to create psychological distance from thoughts and emotions, suggesting that meditation cultivates an embodied cognition that persists beyond formal practice.