Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
August 13, 2007
Norman A. S. Farb, Zindel V. Segal, Helen S. Mayberg et al.
1,305 citations
Two distinct forms of self-awareness—one linking experiences across time (narrative focus) and one centered on the present moment (experiential focus)—rely on different brain networks and can be dissociated through mindfulness training. In novice participants, focusing on the present reduced activity in cortical midline regions (medial prefrontal cortex) associated with narrative self-reference. In participants who completed an 8-week mindfulness course, present-moment focus produced more extensive reductions in the medial prefrontal cortex and increased engagement of a right-lateralized network including the lateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and somatosensory areas. Functional connectivity showed strong coupling between the right insula and medial prefrontal cortex in novices that was absent in the mindfulness group, indicating attentional training can uncouple these normally integrated forms of self-awareness.
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
June 11, 2012
Norman A. S. Farb, Zindel V. Segal, Adam K. Anderson
566 citations
Graduates of an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course, compared to a waitlisted control group, showed changes in brain activity during a task requiring attention to breathing sensations. Functional MRI revealed that mindfulness training predicted greater activity in the anterior insula, a brain region that integrates internal body sensations with external context. The training also predicted reduced activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and altered connectivity between that region and the posterior insula, the primary interoceptive cortex. Greater meditation practice was linked to more posterior insula activity and less reliance on visual brain regions during the task. These results suggest that mindfulness training produces plasticity in brain networks involved in sensing the body's internal state, similar to training-related changes seen in the external senses.
Emotion
February 1, 2010
Norman A. S. Farb, Adam K. Anderson, Helen S. Mayberg et al.
523 citations
Mindfulness training alters the brain's response to sadness, shifting activity from self-referential cortical midline regions toward right-lateralized visceral and somatosensory areas associated with body sensation. After eight weeks of mindfulness training, participants showed this distinct neural pattern during sadness provocation compared to waitlisted controls, even though both groups reported equivalent levels of sadness. The greater somatic brain response in the mindfulness group was linked to lower depression scores. Restoring balance between affective and sensory neural networks—supporting conceptual versus body-based emotion representations—may be one mechanism through which mindfulness reduces vulnerability to dysphoric reactivity.
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
February 1, 2012
Norman A. S. Farb, Adam K. Anderson, Zindel V. Segal
361 citations
Mindfulness training enhances focused attention through changes in the anterior cingulate cortex and lateral prefrontal cortex. In emotion regulation, these changes promote a nonconceptual sensory pathway as an alternative to cognitive reappraisal of negative emotion. The transition to nonconceptual awareness reduces evaluative processing supported by midline prefrontal structures, directing attention toward a limbic pathway for present-moment sensory awareness involving the thalamus, insula, and primary sensory regions. For people with affective disorders, mindfulness provides an alternative to cognitive control of negative emotion, directing attention to the transitory nature of experience. Limiting cognitive elaboration in favor of momentary awareness reduces automatic negative self-evaluation, increases tolerance for negative affect and pain, and helps engender self-compassion and empathy in people with chronic dysphoria.
NeuroImage Clinical
January 1, 2022
Norman A. S. Farb, Philip A. Desormeau, Adam K. Anderson et al.
15 citations
Neural reactivity to sad mood—specifically deactivation in somatosensory brain regions—was a stable marker of depression relapse risk in remitted patients, regardless of whether they received Cognitive Therapy or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. In contrast, reduced activation in the left lateral prefrontal cortex after treatment predicted lower relapse risk, suggesting that therapy may work by dampening cognitive control processes and enhancing sensory integration. The findings point to two distinct factors in depression vulnerability: an enduring sensory deactivation pattern that signals relapse risk, and a modifiable prefrontal response that can be targeted by prophylactic interventions.
Brain Sciences
November 29, 2023
Yakun Zhang, Shichun Chen, Zongpai Zhang et al.
1 citation
Two months of focused attention meditation training in novice meditators altered brain activity during a visual oddball task. Using arterial spin labeling (ASL), activation increased in the middle cingulate and temporoparietal regions; more practice time was linked to decreased activation in the medial prefrontal and middle frontal regions. Using BOLD, more practice time was linked to increased activation in the inferior parietal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and precentral regions. The effect sizes for changes and their association with practice time were larger with ASL than with BOLD. The findings suggest that focused attention meditation may improve attention by modulating the default mode, dorsal attention, salience, and frontoparietal networks, and that ASL may be a sensitive tool for studying these effects.
Brain Sciences
September 24, 2021
Zongpai Zhang, Wen-Ming Luh, Wenna Duan et al.
A novel MRI technique called dynamic arterial spin labeling (dASL) detected changes in resting-state functional connectivity after two months of focused attention meditation practice in ten novice meditators. Meditation practice caused increased connectivity between the left medial temporal seed and precuneus, and between the right frontal eye seed and medial prefrontal cortex. More practice time was linked to increased connectivity between the default mode network and dorsal attention network, and between the default mode network and insula, but decreased connectivity between the default mode network and frontoparietal control network, and between the dorsal attention network and visual regions. These findings suggest focused attention meditation strengthens efficient control of the frontoparietal control network for switching between the default mode and dorsal attention networks, and reduces focus on visual processing.
Scientific Reports
May 31, 2021
Zongpai Zhang, Wen-Ming Luh, Wenna Duan et al.
After two months of focused attention meditation, novice meditators showed increased resting-state functional connectivity between brain networks involved in attention and mind wandering. Ten participants from a university meditation course were scanned before and after the practice. Connectivity increased between the posterior cingulate cortex and the dorsal attention network, the right middle temporal region and the default mode network, and the superior parietal lobules with both networks. The connectivity between the left superior parietal lobule and medial prefrontal cortex was linked to total meditation practice time. These changes suggest that focused attention meditation may improve the brain's ability to switch between mind wandering and focused attention.