Long-term meditation training is associated with enhanced attention and stronger posterior cingulate – rostrolateral prefrontal cortex resting connectivity

Long-term mindfulness meditation is associated with stronger resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, lower connector hub strength of the default mode network relative to other networks, and better attention to task. In a sample of 40 long-term meditators (average 3,759 hours of practice) compared to 124 meditation-naïve controls, orienting attention positively correlated with posterior cingulate–rostrolateral prefrontal connectivity and negatively correlated with default mode network connector hub strength. These findings suggest that posterior cingulate–rostrolateral prefrontal connectivity may support attention orienting, consistent with a role for rostrolateral prefrontal cortex in meta-cognitive background awareness, a core component of mindfulness training.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which is thought to reflect improvements in attention to the present moment. However, prior research in long-term meditation practitioners lacked quantitative measures of attention that would provide a more direct behavioral correlate and interpretational anchor for PCC–DLPFC connectivity and was inherently limited by small sample sizes. Moreover, whether mindfulness meditation primarily impacts brain function locally, or impacts the dynamics of large-scale brain networks, remained unclear. Here, we sought to replicate and extend prior findings of increased PCC – DLPFC rsFC in a sample of 40 long-term meditators (average practice= 3759 hours) who also completed a behavioral assay of attention. In addition, we tested a network-based framework of changes in inter-regional connectivity by examining network-level connectivity. We found that meditators had stronger PCC-rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) rsFC, lower connector hub strength across the default mode network (DMN) relative to other functional networks, and better attention to task, compared to 124 meditation-naïve controls. Orienting attention positively correlated with PCC– rostrolateral PFC connectivity, and negatively correlated with DMN connector hub strength. These findings provide novel evidence that posterior cingulate – rostrolateral PFC rsFC may support attention orienting, consistent with a role for rostrolateral PFC in meta-cognitive background awareness that is a core component of mindfulness meditation training. Our results further demonstrate that long-term mindfulness meditation may improve attention and strengthen the underlying brain networks.