The Immediate and Sustained Positive Effects of Meditation on Resilience Are Mediated by Changes in the Resting Brain

Seoyeon Kwak, Tae Young Lee, Wi Hoon Jung, Ji-Won Hur, Dahye Bae, Wu Jeong Hwang, Kang Ik K Cho, Kyung-Ok Lim, So-Yeon Kim, Hye Yoon Park, Jun Soo Kwon, Seoyeon Kwak, Tae Young Lee, Wi Hoon Jung, Ji-Won Hur, Dahye Bae, Wu Jeong Hwang, Kang Ik K Cho, Kyung-Ok Lim, So-Yeon Kim, Hye Yoon Park, Jun Soo Kwon

Abstract

While recent studies have explored the maintenance of the effect of meditation on stress resilience, the underlying neural mechanisms have not yet been investigated. The present study conducted a highly controlled residential study of a 4-day meditation intervention to investigate the brain functional changes and long-term effects of meditation on mindfulness and resilience. Thirty participants in meditation practice and 17 participants in a relaxation retreat (control group) underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans at baseline and post-intervention and completed the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale (CAMS) and Resilience Quotient Test (RQT) at baseline, post-intervention, and the 3-month follow-up. All participants showed increased CAMS and RQT scores post-intervention, but only the meditation group sustained the enhancement after 3 months. Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the left rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), precuneus, and angular gyrus was significantly increased post-intervention in the meditation group compared with the relaxation group. The changes in rACC-dmPFC rsFC mediated the relationship between the changes in the CAMS and RQT scores and correlated with the changes in the RQT score both immediately and at 3 months post-intervention. Our findings suggest that increased rACC-dmPFC rsFC via meditation causes an immediate enhancement in resilience that is sustained. Since resilience is known to be associated with the preventative effect of various psychiatric disorders, the improvement in stress-related neural mechanisms may be beneficial to individuals at high clinical risk.

Keywords: meditation; mindfulness training; resilience; resting-state functional connectivity; templestay.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the intervention study, including enrollment, allocation, baseline, follow-up, and analysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Functional connectivity of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) subregions: (A) rostral (green, red) and caudal (yellow, blue) ACC in each hemisphere. Distinct functional connectivity was observed in the bilateral (B) caudal ACC (cACC) and (C) rostral ACC (rACC).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Significant differences in the group-by-time interaction effect (meditation group > control group, minimum Z score >2.3, cluster significance: p < 0.05, corrected). Significant differences were observed in connectivity involved in the default mode network (DMN), including the left rACC, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), precuneus and temporoparietal junction (TPJ).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scatterplots of the relationship between the changes in left rACC—dmPFC resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and the changes in the following psychological measures in the meditation group: (A) changes in the Resilience Quotient Test (RQT) between baseline and immediate follow-up (r = 0.54, p = 0.002), (B) changes in the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness scale (CAMS) between baseline and immediate follow-up (r = 0.41, p = 0.024), (C) changes in RQT between baseline and 3-month follow-up (r = 0.42, p = 0.034), (D) the positive association between the changes in CAMS (X) and RQT (Y), mediated by the changes in left rACC-dmPFC rsFC (M), showing that changes in rsFC partially contribute to the prediction of resilience enhancement. a, b, and c are path coefficients. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

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