ABSTRACT
Previous studies have demonstrated that meditation is associated with neuroplastic changes in the brain regions including amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and temporal-parietal junction. Extended from these previous works, this study examined the functional connectivity of the amygdala in meditation experts during affective processing and observed that these experts had significantly stronger left amygdala (LA) connectivity with the dorsal ACC (dACC), premotor, and primary somatosensory cortices (PSC) while viewing affectively positive stimuli when compared to the novices. The current findings have implications for further understanding of affective neuroplastic changes associated with meditation in the amygdala.
Subject(s)
Amygdala/physiology , Cerebral Cortex/physiology , Meditation , Arousal , Brain Mapping , Emotions , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Photic StimulationABSTRACT
Previous voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies have revealed that meditation is associated with structural brain changes in regions underlying cognitive processes that are required for attention or mindfulness during meditation. This VBM study examined brain changes related to the practice of an emotion-oriented meditation: loving-kindness meditation (LKM). A 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner captured images of the brain structures of 25 men, 10 of whom had practiced LKM in the Theravada tradition for at least 5 years. Compared with novices, more gray matter volume was detected in the right angular and posterior parahippocampal gyri in LKM experts. The right angular gyrus has not been previously reported to have structural differences associated with meditation, and its specific role in mind and cognitive empathy theory suggests the uniqueness of this finding for LKM practice. These regions are important for affective regulation associated with empathic response, anxiety and mood. At the same time, gray matter volume in the left temporal lobe in the LKM experts appeared to be greater, an observation that has also been reported in previous MRI meditation studies on meditation styles other than LKM. Overall, the findings of our study suggest that experience in LKM may influence brain structures associated with affective regulation.
Subject(s)
Awareness/physiology , Functional Laterality , Meditation , Neuronal Plasticity/physiology , Parahippocampal Gyrus/anatomy & histology , Adaptation, Psychological/physiology , Adult , Attention/physiology , Beneficence , Brain/anatomy & histology , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Brain/physiology , Brain Mapping , Humans , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted , Male , Matched-Pair Analysis , Meditation/methods , Meditation/psychology , Middle Aged , Parahippocampal Gyrus/diagnostic imaging , Parahippocampal Gyrus/physiology , Practice, Psychological , RadiographyABSTRACT
This study examined the dissociable neural effects of anapanasati (focused-attention meditation, FAM) and metta (loving-kindness meditation, LKM) on BOLD signals during cognitive (continuous performance test, CPT) and affective (emotion-processing task, EPT, in which participants viewed affective pictures) processing. Twenty-two male Chinese expert meditators (11 FAM experts, 11 LKM experts) and 22 male Chinese novice meditators (11 FAM novices, 11 LKM novices) had their brain activity monitored by a 3T MRI scanner while performing the cognitive and affective tasks in both meditation and baseline states. We examined the interaction between state (meditation vs. baseline) and expertise (expert vs. novice) separately during LKM and FAM, using a conjunction approach to reveal common regions sensitive to the expert meditative state. Additionally, exclusive masking techniques revealed distinct interactions between state and group during LKM and FAM. Specifically, we demonstrated that the practice of FAM was associated with expertise-related behavioral improvements and neural activation differences in attention task performance. However, the effect of state LKM meditation did not carry over to attention task performance. On the other hand, both FAM and LKM practice appeared to affect the neural responses to affective pictures. For viewing sad faces, the regions activated for FAM practitioners were consistent with attention-related processing; whereas responses of LKM experts to sad pictures were more in line with differentiating emotional contagion from compassion/emotional regulation processes. Our findings provide the first report of distinct neural activity associated with forms of meditation during sustained attention and emotion processing.
Subject(s)
Attention/physiology , Brain Mapping/methods , Meditation/methods , Adult , Aged , Behavior , Brain/physiology , Cognition , Emotions , Empathy , Humans , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods , Love , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Male , Meditation/psychology , Middle Aged , Models, Neurological , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Adopting the definition suggested by the United Nations, a risk model for regional debris flow assessment is presented. Risk is defined as the product of hazard and vulnerability, both of which are necessary for evaluation. A Multiple-Factor Composite Assessment Model is developed for quantifying regional debris flow hazard by taking into account eight variables that contribute to debris flow magnitude and its frequency of occurrence. Vulnerability is a measure of the potential total losses. On a regional scale, it can be measured by the fixed asset, gross domestic product, land resources, population density, as well as the age, education, and wealth of the inhabitants. A nonlinear power-function assessment model that accounts for these indexes is developed. As a case study, the model is applied to compute the hazard, vulnerability and risk for each prefecture of the Yunnan province in southwestern China.
