Exploring the Embodied Mind: Functional Connectome Fingerprinting of Meditation Expertise.

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Short mindfulness-based interventions have gained traction in research due to their positive impact on well-being, cognition, and clinical symptoms across various settings. However, these short-term trainings are viewed as preliminary steps within a more extensive transformative path, presumably leading to long-lasting trait changes. Despite this, little is still known about the brain correlates of these meditation traits. To address this gap, we investigated the neural correlates of meditation expertise in long-term Buddhist practitioners, comparing the large-scale brain functional connectivity of 28 expert meditators with 47 matched novices. Our hypothesis posited that meditation expertise would be associated with specific and enduring patterns of functional connectivity present during both meditative (open monitoring/open presence and loving-kindness and compassion meditations) and nonmeditative resting states, as measured by connectivity gradients. Applying a support vector classifier to states not included in training, we successfully decoded expertise as a trait, demonstrating its non-state-dependent nature. The signature of expertise was further characterized by an increased integration of large-scale brain networks, including the dorsal and ventral attention, limbic, frontoparietal, and somatomotor networks. The latter correlated with a higher ability to create psychological distance from thoughts and emotions. Such heightened integration of bodily maps with affective and attentional networks in meditation experts could point toward a signature of the embodied cognition cultivated in these contemplative practices.