Hippocampal-somatomotor coactivation and perceived benefit following Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Life in healthcare students: An exploratory randomized study
Nicolas Clairis, Luigi Francesco Saccaro, Sylvain Delplanque, Claire Holman, Zeynep Celen, Claudia Cachet, Camille Serquet, Ben Meuleman, Guido Bondolfi, Françoise Jermann, Serge L. Rudaz, Camille Piguet
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) October 19, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.64898/2026.10.12.758559 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 57 |
| Population | Healthcare students |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Life (MBCT-L) |
| Duration | 8-week intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | MBCT-L improved self-reported mindfulness, but no significant Group*Time interaction was found for hippocampus-somatomotor coactivation or resting physiological measures. In the MBCT-L group, higher hippocampus-somatomotor co-activity was associated with higher perceived importance of the intervention, perceived long-lasting benefits, and post-intervention mindfulness scores. The authors suggest that the capacity to up-regulate hippocampus-somatomotor coactivation may index part of the individual benefit derived from mindfulness. |
Abstract
Mindfulness-based interventions are known to enhance emotion regulation and stress management, yet their neural mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Effective coping strategies for emotion regulation and stress management would be particularly beneficial for healthcare students, frequently exposed to highly stressful situations. Based on prior work implicating hippocampal-somatomotor dynamics in emotion regulation, we tested whether Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Life (MBCT-L) modulates hippocampal micro-coactivation patterns (μCAPs) in healthcare students. In a randomized controlled study including 161 healthcare students, 57 participants (39 females; mean age: 23+/-5 years old) completed resting-state fMRI before and after the 8-weeks intervention and were allocated to MBCT-L (N = 24) or a no-intervention control (N = 33) condition. Hippocampus-seeded CAPs analysis identified six recurrent patterns, including a somatomotor network. MBCT-L improved self-reported mindfulness, but no significant Group*Time interaction for hippocampus-somatomotor coactivation or resting physiological measures was found. In the MBCT-L group, higher hippocampus-somatomotor co-activity was associated with higher perceived importance of the intervention, perceived long-lasting benefits, and post-intervention mindfulness scores. This study suggests that the capacity to up-regulate hippocampus-somatomotor coactivation may index part of the individual benefit derived from mindfulness, supporting its role as a tool for emotion regulation and stress management.
Comparable studies
Other randomized controlled trials on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Healthy employees in a work environment | 2003 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 41 |
| Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Recovered recurrently depressed patients | 2000 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 145 |
| Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Working adults | 2008 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 139 |
| Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Undergraduate Chinese students | 2007 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 40 |
| Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. Recovered recurrently depressed patients | 2004 | Randomized controlled trial | n = 73 |