Neurocognitive correlates of the effects of yoga meditation practice on emotion and cognition: a pilot study.
Brett Froeliger, Eric L Garland, Leslie A Modlin, F Joseph McClernon
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 2012 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2012.00048 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational fMRI study with a matched control group Pilot study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Yoga practitioners and a matched control group |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Emotion-cognition FMRI |
| Key findings | Yoga practitioners showed less right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex reactivity to negative versus neutral images and greater ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation during negative-distractor Stroop trials, opposite to controls. Amygdala activation predicted reduced self-reported positive affect only in controls. The authors suggest that although yoga practitioners show limbic reactivity to negative stimuli, it does not affect later mood, possibly because they use frontal executive strategies to reduce emotional interference during cognitive demands. |
Abstract
Mindfulness meditation involves attending to emotions without cognitive fixation of emotional experience. Over time, this practice is held to promote alterations in trait affectivity and attentional control with resultant effects on well-being and cognition. However, relatively little is known regarding the neural substrates of meditation effects on emotion and cognition. The present study investigated the neurocognitive correlates of emotion interference on cognition in Yoga practitioners and a matched control group (CG) underwent fMRI while performing an event-related affective Stroop task. The task includes image viewing trials and Stroop trials bracketed by neutral or negative emotional distractors. During image viewing trials, Yoga practitioners exhibited less reactivity in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) to negative as compared to neutral images; whereas the CG had the opposite pattern. A main effect of valence (negative > neutral) was observed in limbic regions (e.g., amygdala), of which the magnitude was inversely related to dlPFC activation. Exploratory analyses revealed that the magnitude of amygdala activation predicted decreased self-reported positive affect in the CG, but not among Yoga practitioners. During Stroop trials, Yoga practitioners had greater activation in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) during Stroop trials when negative, compared to neutral, emotional distractor were presented; the CG exhibited the opposite pattern. Taken together, these data suggest that though Yoga practitioners exhibit limbic reactivity to negative emotional stimuli, such reactivity does not have downstream effects on later mood state. This uncoupling of viewing negative emotional images and affect among Yoga practitioners may be occasioned by their selective implementation of frontal executive-dependent strategies to reduce emotional interference during competing cognitive demands and not during emotional processing per se.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cited by 33
- A narrative review of yoga and mindfulness as complementary therapies for addiction. Complementary Therapies in Medicine June 1, 2013
- The impact of a brief mindfulness meditation intervention on cognitive control and error-related performance monitoring Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
- What Has Neuroimaging Taught Us on the Neurobiology of Yoga? A Review Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience July 8, 2020
- Changes in high-order interaction measures of synergy and redundancy during non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by meditation, hypnosis, and auto-induced cognitive trance. Neuroimage June 1, 2024
- Management of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms by yoga: an overview. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies July 21, 2023
and 28 more in the library
Cites 18
- Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Assessment January 27, 2006
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- A systematic review of neurobiological and clinical features of mindfulness meditations Psychological Medicine November 27, 2009
- Pain Attenuation through Mindfulness is Associated with Decreased Cognitive Control and Increased Sensory Processing in the Brain Cerebral Cortex December 15, 2011
- Changes in spirituality partly explain health-related quality of life outcomes after Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Journal of Behavioral Medicine December 2011
and 13 more in the library