Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness
Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness
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DOI：
10.1097/01.wnr.0000186598.66243.19
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发表时间：
2005-11-28
期刊：
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Fischl, B
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lazar, SW;Kerr, CE;Fischl, B
先前的研究表明，长期冥想练习与静息脑电模式的改变有关，这暗示着大脑活动的长期变化。我们假设冥想练习也可能与大脑物理结构的变化有关。核磁共振成像被用来评估20名具有广泛洞察冥想经验的参与者的皮质厚度，这涉及到对内部体验的集中关注。冥想参与者与注意力、内感和感觉处理相关的大脑区域比匹配的对照组更厚，包括前额皮质和右前脑岛。前额叶皮质厚度的组间差异在年龄较大的参与者中最为明显，这表明冥想可能会抵消与年龄相关的皮质变薄。最后，两个区域的厚度与冥想体验相关。这些数据为冥想练习中依赖经验的皮质可塑性提供了第一个结构性证据。
Previous research indicates that long-term meditation practice is associated with altered resting electroencephalogram patterns, suggestive of long lasting changes in brain activity. We hypothesized that meditation practice might also be associated with changes in the brain's physical structure. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess cortical thickness in 20 participants with extensive Insight meditation experience, which involves focused attention to internal experiences. Brain regions associated with attention, interoception and sensory processing were thicker in meditation participants than matched controls, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula. Between-group differences in prefrontal cortical thickness were most pronounced in older participants, suggesting that meditation might offset age-related cortical thinning. Finally, the thickness of two regions correlated with meditation experience. These data provide the first structural evidence for experience-dependent cortical plasticity associated with meditation practice.