Qigong Institute

Mindfulness training induces structural connectome changes in insula networks.

Author: Sharp PB¹, Sutton BP^2,^3,⁴, Paul EJ², Sherepa N^2,³, Hillman CH⁵, Cohen NJ^2,^3,⁶, Kramer AF^2,⁵, Prakash RS⁷, Heller W^2,^3,⁶, Telzer EH⁸, Barbey AK^9,^10,^11,^12,^13,^14,¹⁵
Affiliation:
¹University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA. psharp89@live.unc.edu.
²University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Champaign-Urbana, USA.
³Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA.
⁴Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA.
⁵Northeastern University, Champaign-Urbana, USA.
⁶Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA.
⁷The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
⁸University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
⁹University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Champaign-Urbana, USA. barbey@illinois.edu.
¹⁰Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA. barbey@illinois.edu.
¹¹Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA. barbey@illinois.edu.
¹²Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA. barbey@illinois.edu.
¹³Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA. barbey@illinois.edu.
¹⁴Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA. barbey@illinois.edu.
¹⁵Center for Brain Plasticity, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign-Urbana, USA. barbey@illinois.edu.
Conference/Journal: Sci Rep.
Date published: 2018 May 21
Other: Volume ID: 8 , Issue ID: 1 , Pages: 7929 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26268-w. , Word Count: 209

Although mindfulness meditation is known to provide a wealth of psychological benefits, the neural mechanisms involved in these effects remain to be well characterized. A central question is whether the observed benefits of mindfulness training derive from specific changes in the structural brain connectome that do not result from alternative forms of experimental intervention. Measures of whole-brain and node-level structural connectome changes induced by mindfulness training were compared with those induced by cognitive and physical fitness training within a large, multi-group intervention protocol (n = 86). Whole-brain analyses examined global graph-theoretical changes in structural network topology. A hypothesis-driven approach was taken to investigate connectivity changes within the insula, which was predicted here to mediate interoceptive awareness skills that have been shown to improve through mindfulness training. No global changes were observed in whole-brain network topology. However, node-level results confirmed a priori hypotheses, demonstrating significant increases in mean connection strength in right insula across all of its connections. Present findings suggest that mindfulness strengthens interoception, operationalized here as the mean insula connection strength within the overall connectome. This finding further elucidates the neural mechanisms of mindfulness meditation and motivates new perspectives about the unique benefits of mindfulness training compared to contemporary cognitive and physical fitness interventions.

PMID: 29785055 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-26268-w

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Mindfulness training induces structural connectome changes in insula networks.