Intracranial substrates of meditation-induced neuromodulation in the amygdala and hippocampus.
Christina Maher, Lea Tortolero, Soyeon Jun, Daniel D Cummins, Adam Saad, James Young, Lizbeth Nunez Martinez, Zachary Schulman, Lara Marcuse, Allison Waters, Helen S. Mayberg, Richard J. Davidson, Fedor Panov, Ignacio Saez
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences February 11, 2025 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2409423122 (opens in new tab)
The journal has published a correction to this paper. Read the correction (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Epilepsy patients chronically implanted with responsive neurostimulation devices |
| Intervention | Loving-kindness meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Amygdala Hippocampus Intracranial electrophysiology Loving-kindness meditation |
| Citations | 7 |
| Key findings | Loving-kindness meditation increased gamma power and altered beta and gamma burst durations in the amygdala and hippocampus of novice meditators. |
Abstract
Meditation is an accessible mental practice associated with emotional regulation and well-being. Loving-kindness meditation (LKM), a specific subtype of meditative practice, involves focusing one's attention on thoughts of well-being for oneself and others. Meditation has been proven to be beneficial in a variety of settings, including therapeutic applications, but the neural activity underlying meditative practices and their positive effects are not well understood. It has been difficult to understand the contribution of deep limbic structures given the difficulty of studying neural activity directly in the human brain. Here, we leverage a unique patient population, epilepsy patients chronically implanted with responsive neurostimulation devices that allow chronic, invasive electrophysiology recording to investigate the physiological correlates of LKM in the amygdala and hippocampus of novice meditators. We find that LKM-associated changes in physiological activity were specific to periodic, but not aperiodic, features of neural activity. LKM was associated with an increase in γ (30 to 55 Hz) power and an alternation in the duration of β (13 to 30 Hz) and γ oscillatory bursts in both the amygdala and hippocampus, two regions associated with mood disorders. These findings reveal the nature of LKM-induced modulation of limbic activity in first-time meditators.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
- Effectiveness of meditation in the management of epilepsy: An updated mini systematic review of recent findings. Complementary Therapies in Medicine June 1, 2026
- Mindfulness meditation increases interictal epileptiform discharges in meditation-naïve surgical epilepsy patients. Epilepsia June 16, 2026
Cites 20
- Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology October 27, 2008
- Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 8, 2004
- Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 28, 2007
- Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise PLoS One March 25, 2008
- Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
and 15 more in the library