Is Mindfulness Associated With Lower Pain Reactivity and Connectivity of the Default Mode Network? A Replication and Extension Study in Healthy and Episodic Migraine Participants
Carly Hunt, Janelle E. Letzen, Samuel R Krimmel, Shana A B Burrowes, Jennifer A. Haythornthwaite, Patrick H. Finan, Maria Vetter, David A Seminowicz
Journal of Pain August 4, 2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2022.07.011 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 134 |
| Population | Healthy adults and episodic migraine patients |
| Topics | Default mode network Meditation |
| Keywords | Posterior cingulate Chronic pain Resting State FMRI Functional connectivity Association psychology Pain catastrophizing Anterior cingulate cortex Rumination Clinical psychology Cognition Psychotherapist |
| Citations | 15 |
| Key findings | No significant associations were found between dispositional mindfulness and pain measures or default mode network connectivity in healthy adults or migraine patients. Exploratory analyses revealed that in healthy adults, higher mindfulness was associated with greater functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and cerebellum, suggesting the relationship may be nuanced or non-robust. |
Abstract
Formal training in mindfulness-based practices promotes reduced experimental and clinical pain, which may be driven by reduced emotional pain reactivity and undergirded by alterations in the default mode network, implicated in mind-wandering and self-referential processing. Recent results published in this journal suggest that mindfulness, defined here as the day-to-day tendency to maintain a non-reactive mental state in the absence of training, associates with lower pain reactivity, greater heat-pain thresholds, and resting-state default mode network functional connectivity in healthy adults in a similar manner to trained mindfulness. The extent to which these findings extend to chronic pain samples and replicate in healthy samples is unknown. Using data from healthy adults (n = 36) and episodic migraine patients (n = 98) and replicating previously published methods, we observed no significant association between mindfulness and heat-pain threshold, pain intensity or unpleasantness, or pain catastrophizing in healthy controls, or between mindfulness and headache frequency, severity, impactor pain catastrophizing in patients. There was no association between default mode network connectivity and mindfulness in either sample when probed via seed-based functional connectivity analyses. In post-hoc whole brain exploratory analyses, a meta-analytically derived default mode network node (ie, posterior cingulate cortex) showed connectivity with regions unassociated with pain processing as a function of mindfulness, such that healthy adults higher in mindfulness showed greater functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex-and cerebellum. Collectively, these findings suggest that the relationship between mindfulness and default mode network functional connectivity may be nuanced or non-robust, and encourage further investigation of how mindfulness relates to pain. PERSPECTIVE: This study found few significant associations between dispositional mindfulness and pain, pain reactivity and default mode connectivity in healthy adults and migraine patients. The relationship between mindfulness and default mode network connectivity may be nuanced or non-robust.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on default mode network, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| A default mode of brain function Normal adult human brain | 2001 | Observational study | |
| Resting-State Functional Connectivity Reflects Structural Connectivity in the Default Mode Network Healthy subjects | 2008 | Observational cohort | |
| 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 | |
| The precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex plays a pivotal role in the default mode network: Evidence from a partial correlation network analysis Healthy subjects | 2008 | Observational study |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- Reducing default mode network connectivity with mindfulness-based fMRI neurofeedback: a pilot study among adolescents with affective disorder history. Molecular Psychiatry June 1, 2023
- Connectome-Based Predictive Modeling of Trait Mindfulness. Human Brain Mapping 2025
- Connectome predictive modeling of trait mindfulness bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 14, 2024
- Shared neural mechanisms of trait mindfulness and hypnotic susceptibility: A scoping review toward a unifying predictive coding framework. Brain Research Bulletin June 27, 2026
Cites 26
- Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Assessment January 27, 2006
- Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Assessment February 29, 2008
- Assessment of Mindfulness by Self-Report Assessment September 1, 2004
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
- Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience August 13, 2007
and 21 more in the library