PLoS One
August 15, 2012
Tatia M C Lee, Mei-Kei Leung, Wai-Kai Hou et al.
163 citations
Focused-attention meditation (FAM) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM) produce distinct patterns of brain activity during cognitive and emotional tasks. In a study of 44 male Chinese meditators, FAM practice was linked to expertise-related improvements in attention task performance and corresponding neural activation differences, while LKM did not carry over to attention performance. Both forms of meditation affected neural responses to affective pictures: during viewing of sad faces, FAM practitioners showed activation consistent with attention-related processing, whereas LKM experts showed responses more aligned with differentiating emotional contagion from compassion or emotional regulation. These findings provide the first report of distinct neural activity associated with these meditation forms during sustained attention and emotion processing.
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
July 18, 2012
Mei-Kei Leung, Chetwyn C H Chan, Jing Yin et al.
145 citations
Long-term practice of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is linked to greater gray matter volume in specific brain regions involved in emotional regulation and empathy. Using magnetic resonance imaging, experts who had practiced LKM for at least five years showed more gray matter in the right angular gyrus and posterior parahippocampal gyrus compared to novices. The right angular gyrus finding is novel for meditation research and may relate to cognitive empathy. Greater gray matter also appeared in the left temporal lobe, consistent with studies of other meditation styles. These results suggest that LKM may influence brain structures underlying affective regulation, empathic response, anxiety, and mood.
Brain and neuroscience advances
January 1, 2018
Bolton K H Chau, Kati Keuper, Mandy M Lo et al.
After eight weeks of meditation training, healthy older adults rated both positive and negative affective images as more neutral, indicating a change in valence perception. This behavioral shift was linked to structural enlargements in a prefrontal network including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal sulcus, and inferior frontal junction. An active control group that completed relaxation training showed no such brain changes. A path analysis suggests meditation may trigger a series of prefrontal neuroplastic changes related to how emotional valence is processed. These findings point to meditation as a potential intervention to promote healthy aging by counteracting affective dysregulations common in older people.
Brain Research Bulletin
September 1, 2017
Kevin Kai-Ting Po, Joseph Wai-Hin Leung, Jackie Ngai-Man Chan et al.
Dextromethorphan (DXM), a common ingredient in cough medicine, is abused by adolescents and can cause euphoria, dissociation, hallucinations, and depressive symptoms with chronic use. Lycium barbarum (wolfberry), a traditional Chinese medicine for neurodegenerative diseases, may reduce depression-like behavior. In a rat study, DXM-treated animals showed increased depression-like and social anxiety-like behaviors after two weeks. Co-treatment with Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) reduced these adverse effects. Histological analysis revealed that LBP did not promote hippocampal neurogenesis alone but lessened the suppression of neurogenesis caused by DXM. These findings suggest wolfberry could be an adjunct treatment for mood disturbances during cough syrup abuse rehabilitation.
Neuroscience Letters
March 17, 2015
Mei-Kei Leung, Chetwyn C H Chan, Jing Yin et al.
Meditation experts show stronger connections between the left amygdala and brain regions involved in emotion regulation and body awareness—specifically the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, premotor cortex, and primary somatosensory cortex—when viewing positive emotional stimuli, compared to novices. This suggests that long-term meditation practice may lead to neuroplastic changes in how the brain processes positive emotions.