Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity

Abstract

Many philosophical and contemplative traditions teach that "living in the moment" increases happiness. However, the default mode of humans appears to be that of mind-wandering, which correlates with unhappiness, and with activation in a network of brain areas associated with self-referential processing. We investigated brain activity in experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls as they performed several different meditations (Concentration, Loving-Kindness, Choiceless Awareness). We found that the main nodes of the default-mode network (medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices) were relatively deactivated in experienced meditators across all meditation types. Furthermore, functional connectivity analysis revealed stronger coupling in experienced meditators between the posterior cingulate, dorsal anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (regions previously implicated in self-monitoring and cognitive control), both at baseline and during meditation. Our findings demonstrate differences in the default-mode network that are consistent with decreased mind-wandering. As such, these provide a unique understanding of possible neural mechanisms of meditation.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.

Experienced meditators demonstrate decreased DMN activation during meditation. Brain activation in meditators > controls is shown, collapsed across all meditations (relative to baseline). (A and B) Activations in the left mPFC and PCC. (C and D) Average percent signal change (± SD) during individual meditation conditions in the mPFC and PCC, respectively: Choiceless Awareness (green bars), Loving-Kindness (red), and Concentration (blue) meditations. Note that decreased activation in PCC in meditators is common across different meditation types. n = 12 per group.

Fig. 2.

Experienced meditators demonstrate coactivation of PCC, dACC, and dlPFC at baseline and during meditation. Functional connectivity with the PCC seed region collapsed across all meditation conditions, is shown in (A and I) controls at baseline; (B and J) meditators at baseline; (C and K) meditators > controls at baseline; (E and M) controls during meditation; (F and N) meditators during meditation; (G and O) meditators > controls during meditation. Connectivity z-scores (± SD) are shown (D) for dACC cluster from C; (H) for dACC cluster from G; (L) for left dlPFC cluster from K; and (P) for right dlPFC cluster from K. Baseline (white bars), Choiceless Awareness (green bars), Loving-Kindness (red bars), and Concentration (blue bars) meditation conditions are shown separately for meditators (Left) and controls (Right). n = 12/group. FWE-corrected, P < 0.05.

Fig. 3.

Experienced meditators demonstrate coactivation of mPFC, insula, and temporal lobes during meditation. Differential functional connectivity with mPFC seed region and left posterior insula is shown in meditators > controls: (A) at baseline and (B) during meditation. (C) Connectivity z-scores (±SD) are shown for left posterior insula. Choiceless Awareness (green bars), Loving-Kindness (red), and Concentration (blue) meditation conditions are shown separately. For each color, baseline condition is displayed on the left and the meditation period on right. n = 12/group. FWE-corrected, P < 0.05.