Abstract
(1) The effects of intensive mental training based on meditation on the functional and structural organization of the human brain have been addressed by several neuroscientific studies. However, how large-scale connectivity patterns are affected by long-term practice of the main forms of meditation, Focused Attention (FA) and Open Monitoring (OM), as well as by aging, has not yet been elucidated. (2) Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and multivariate pattern analysis, we investigated the impact of meditation expertise and age on functional connectivity patterns in large-scale brain networks during different meditation styles in long-term meditators. (3) The results show that fMRI connectivity patterns in multiple key brain networks can differentially predict the meditation expertise and age of long-term meditators. Expertise-predictive patterns are differently affected by FA and OM, while age-predictive patterns are not influenced by the meditation form. The FA meditation connectivity pattern modulated by expertise included nodes and connections implicated in focusing, sustaining and monitoring attention, while OM patterns included nodes associated with cognitive control and emotion regulation. (4) The study highlights a long-term effect of meditation practice on multivariate patterns of functional brain connectivity and suggests that meditation expertise is associated with specific neuroplastic changes in connectivity patterns within and between multiple brain networks.
Highlights
The results show that meditation expertise and age can be predicted with significant accuracy from functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) functional connectivity (FC) data recorded during meditation
In our investigation of the relevant features for prediction of expertise in Focused Attention (FA) meditation, we found an increase in connectivity associated with meditation expertise between the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS)–angular gyrus (AngG) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), two brain regions that are involved in top-down attention and attentional control
Our study demonstrated that fMRI connectivity patterns within and between brain networks can differentially predict meditation expertise and age of long-term meditators, with different patterns in FA and open monitoring (OM) meditation forms
Summary
Meditation can be characterized as a set of mind–body practices involving the regulation of attention, awareness and mental states [1,2]. It can be usefully classified into two main styles—focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM) meditation—depending on how attentional processes and cognitive monitoring are set [1,3]. Open Monitoring is based on non-reactive and non-judgmental monitoring of the contents of experiences and mind-body processes, primarily as a mean to become aware of emotional and cognitive patterns and to increase cognitive and emotional flexibility [5,6]. Meditation practices are increasingly relevant in society and have important clinical, educational and workplace applications [7]
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