Intracranial substrates of meditation-induced neuromodulation in amygdala and hippocampus
Christina Maher, Lea Tortolero, Daniel D Cummins, Adam Saad, James Young, Lizbeth Nunez Martinez, Zachary Schulman, Lara Marcuse, Allison Waters, Helen S. Mayberg, Richard J. Davidson, Ignacio Saez, Fedor Panov
bioRxiv Preprint Server May 10, 2024 preprint DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.10.593445 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Population | Epilepsy patients chronically implanted with responsive neurostimulation devices |
| Intervention | Loving-kindness meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | LKM was associated with an increase in gamma (30-55 Hz) power and an alteration in the duration of beta (13-30 Hz) and gamma oscillatory bursts 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 sub-type 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 therapeutical applications, but the neural activity underlying meditative practices and their positive effects are not well understood. In particular, it’s 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 device that allow chronic, invasive electrophysiology recording to investigate the physiological correlates of loving-kindness meditation in the amygdala and hippocampus of novice meditators. We find that LKM-associated changes in physiological activity specific to periodic, but not aperiodic, features of neural activity. LKM was associated with an increase in γ (30-55 Hz) power and an alternation in the duration of β (13-30 Hz) and γ oscillatory bursts in both the amygdala and hippocampus, two regions associated with mood disorders. These findings reveals 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
Cites 19
- 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
- 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
- Mindfulness Meditation and Psychopathology Annual Review of Clinical Psychology December 11, 2018
and 14 more in the library