Short-term meditation induces white matter changes in the anterior cingulate

Abstract

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is part of a network implicated in the development of self-regulation and whose connectivity changes dramatically in development. In previous studies we showed that 3 h of mental training, based on traditional Chinese medicine (integrative body-mind training, IBMT), increases ACC activity and improves self-regulation. However, it is not known whether changes in white matter connectivity can result from small amounts of mental training. We here report that 11 h of IBMT increases fractional anisotropy (FA), an index indicating the integrity and efficiency of white matter in the corona radiata, an important white-matter tract connecting the ACC to other structures. Thus IBMT could provide a means for improving self-regulation and perhaps reducing or preventing various mental disorders.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.

Eleven hours of IBMT increases fiber integrity in the left anterior corona radiata (after versus before training, two sagittal sections, x = −17 and −18).

Fig. 2.

FA in the left anterior corona radiata before and after IBMT or RT. Changes are shown in FA values in the left anterior corona radiata before and after 11 h of IBMT (P < 0.01) or relaxation training (P > 0.05), indicating the training effects on the integrity and efficacy of the white matter in the region.

Fig. 3.

Demonstration of brain regions with significant FA increases after 11 h of IBMT. The demonstration map shows the significant FA increases in the left anterior corona radiata (green area), the left superior corona radiata (purple area), the genu of corpus callosum (blue area), and the body of corpus callosum (red area) after 11 h of IBMT, all P < 0.05.

Fig. 4.

The intensity and number of voxels after versus before training. The horizontal axis illustrates the 1 − PFWE (corrected) value of a paired t test result, whereas the vertical axis shows the number of voxels with the corresponding P value. The difference between posttest versus pretest was significant, if the 1 − PFWE (corrected) value was larger than 0.95. The gray bar indicates the significance area. No significance was detected in both IBMT (solid line) and RT (dashed line) groups.