2. About the Presenters
● Dr.Suresh Kumar Murugesan and Dr.Veenavani
are passionate Professors,researchers and
Mental Health Practitioners from Tamil Nadu,
India
● They are the founders of Yellow Pond,
Redpond,TNCCA,TNCPA
● They are specialized in Psychometry,Positive
Psychology,etc
● They are very keen in learning new research
studies in behavioural Sciences and open to
learn.
● Their ultimate aim is to make impression in
the field of Knowledge
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3. Disclaimer
● This presentation is prepared
for learning purpose only and
anyone can use the content.
● All the images used in this
presentation are taken from
google image search.
● Due acknowledgement was
given to all the material
collected from the various
sources.
● Any name or reference is not
included kindly bring it to the
notice of the presenter for
inclusion.
● Email -
sureshkumar800@yahoo.com
Thank you
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5. Neuroscience
Neuroscience deal with the structure or function of the nervous system and
brain and it focus on the brain and its impact on behavior and cognitive
functions, or how people think.
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6. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is “Keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality” (Thich Nhat
Hanh, 1976)
The mindfulness can be defined as, “remembering to come back to the present
moment” (Hanh, 1998).
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7. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is most often defined as a two-component process that includes:
(1) attention to present moment experience, coupled with (2) an attitude that is
open, non-reactive, and accepting of things as they are (Bishop et al., 2004;
Ludwig and Kabat-Zinn, 2008; Kabat-Zinn, 2017).
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9. Case Study
● In July 2018, twelve Thai boys and their soccer coach
were trapped for more than two weeks in a flooded
cave during a trip intended to last just an afternoon.
● The complexity of the rescue attracted global attention
and an international team of experts gathered to tackle
the predicament.
● When the first group of British divers finally discovered
the victims, they were amazed to find that the boys and
their coach were sitting in the dark, meditating. All of
them came out alive.
● According to CNBC, the coach had spent a decade as a
Buddhist monk.
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11. Studies on
Mindfulness
There are many studies, which have been done on mindfulness
● Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the University of
Massachusetts Medical Center developed the
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programme (MBSR).
● The Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy program was
developed by Segal, Williams and, Teasdale (MBCT).
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12. Amygdala
Lutz, Dunne & Davidson (2008) examined how
mindfulness impacts the amygdala, which is a region of
the brain that is primarily associated with emotional
processes.
In the study, it was determined that this area of the brain
tended to be less active and have less gray matter density
following mindfulness sessions.
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13. Hippocampus
The hippocampus also plays a role in mindfulness. The hippocampus, the
region of the brain associated with memory, helps regulate the amygdala.
Following mindfulness training, this part of the brain was also found to be more
active according to Goldin & Gross (2010).
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14. Prefrontal Cortex
Other studies examined the prefrontal cortex, the part of
the brain associated with both impulse control and
maturity. This part of the brain tended to become more
active following mindfulness training. (Chiesa & Serretti,
2010).
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15. Thicker Cortical Region
In a study published in NeuroReport in 2005, results
showed thicker cortical regions related to attention and
sensory processing in long-term meditation practitioners,
when compared with those who did not meditate.
These findings also suggest that simple meditation
practice may offset cortical thinning brought about by
aging. (Lazar et al. 2005)
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16. Grey Matter
Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School and her team
discovered that those who meditated in their 40’s and 50’s had the same
amount of grey matter as those in their 20’s and 30’s.
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17. The Temporoparietal junction
In Lazar’s second study, she used people who had never meditated before.
These people attended a Mindfulness-based stress reduction training
program, where they took a weekly class.
They also participated in various mindfulness sessions lasted for 30 -40
minutes every day.
In this study, Lazar tested the recipients for the positive effects that
mindfulness meditation would have on psychological well-being.
Lazar was also interested in helping people alleviate symptoms of chronic
pain, insomnia, depression, and anxiety, amongst other things.
After 8 weeks, brain volume had increased in 4 regions of the brain. The
most relevant of these regions included:
● The Hippocampus
● The Temporoparietal junction
Areas of the brain that decreased from the study included the amygdala.
The study results also showed that the amygdala decreased, which meant
the fight-or-flight response, the reaction to threats, also decreased.
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18. Meta-analysis on Mindfulness
One meta-analysis taken from 21 neuroimaging studies
examined the brains of 300 experienced practitioners of
meditation. The study revealed that 8 unique regions of the brain
were consistently changed in those who were experienced in
meditation.
These 8 regions of the brain included:
1. Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex
2. Sensory cortices
3. Insular cortex
4. Hippocampus
5. Anterior cingulate cortex
6. Mid-cingulate cortex
7. Superior longitudinal fasciculus
8. Corpus callosum
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19. Meta Analysis
Fox et al.(2014) performed a meta-analysis on 21 neuroimaging studies (with a total of 300 subjects) that examined changes in brain structures related to mindfulness
meditation.They found several brain regions that show consistent difference between meditators and non-meditators,including areas key to meta-awareness (prefrontal
cortex),exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness (sensory cortices and insula),memory (hippocampus),and emotional regulation (anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal
cortex).
The following bullet points provide more detailed description of their findings:
● Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is an important area for higher order thinking,processing of complex,abstract information,and metacognition.Results in this area
across meditation styles are consistent with the idea that meditation engages,and possibly trains,metacognitive awareness.
● Somatomotor cortex is the region that processes somatosensory information and motor information.It has been shown that long-term meditators have
higher pain tolerance (which is equivalent to lower pain sensitivity) and they also have less perceived unpleasantness of painful stimuli than
non-meditators.
● Insula differences involved practitioners with an intensive,explicit focus on interoceptive body awareness,including attention to body posture,
respiration,and temperature sensations.
● Hippocampus appears to be critical for memory and contextualized emotional learning. This also relates to meditation’s effects on stress reduction.In
animal studies,it has been shown that a supportive rearing environment can lead to structural changes in the hippocampus (e.g.,increased density of
glucocorticoid receptors) that have a protective effect against stress.
● Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is crucial for self-control, focused problem-solving,and adaptive behavioral responses.Indeed,these processes are
considered goals of the utmost importance in many meditation traditions.Both cross sectional and longitudinal studies show enhanced activation of
regions of the ACC in experienced meditators.
● Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is richly connected to primary sensory regions as well as the limbic system,including the amygdala,striatum,and
hypothalamus.Enhanced emotional regulation is consistent with reports on reducing stress and anxiety after meditation.
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20. Mindfulness and
brain
The exact ways in which these different brain
regions changed did vary from study to study since
different studies use different neuroimaging
measurements. However, consistent changes were
seen across the board including:
● Changes in brain density
● Changes in thickness of brain tissue
● An increase in the number of neurons, fibers,
and glia in a given region
● Changes in cortical surface area
● Changes in white matter fiber density
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21. ACC and OFC
● Mindfulness meditation influences our ability to
concentrate, strengthen our emotion regulation
skills, and enhance our self-awareness. In a
meta-analysis study, Tang and colleagues (2015)
propose a tentative model that explains the
mechanisms and stages of how mindfulness
meditation impacts self-regulation.
● They suggest that better attention control is related
to increase in ACC and OFC activation in
experienced meditators, so these people may make
more conscious decisions and pay more attention
during action execution.
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22. PFC and PCC
In addition, people reported lower intensity and frequency
of negative emotions and improved positive mood states
after practicing mindfulness meditation. This might
indicate that they are more successful at dealing with
negative emotions.
Interestingly, areas of the medial PFC and posterior
cingulate cortex (PCC) show high activity during rest, mind
wandering, and theory of mind, but they showed relatively
little activity in meditators.
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23. Insula and medial PFC
One study reported an uncoupling of the right insula and
medial PFC and increased connectivity of the right insula
with dorsolateral PFC regions in individuals after
mindfulness training.
This might indicate a shift in self-referential processing
from an affective or subjective valuation towards more
self-detached and objective analysis of interoceptive and
exteroceptive sensory events after meditation.
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24. References
1. Leslie Riopel (25 November 2021).Mindfulness and the Brain: What Does Research and Neuroscience Say?
https://positivepsychology.com/mindfulness-brain-research-neuroscience/
2. Hanh,T.N.,1998.The heart of the Buddha’s teaching: Transforming suffering into peace,joy,and liberation.New York: Broadway
Books; 1998.
3. Kabat-Zinn,J.(1994).Wherever you go,there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life.New York: Hyperion.
4. Fox,K.C.et al.Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric
neuroimaging in meditation practitioners.Neurosci.Biobehav.Rev.43,48–73 (2014).
5. Tang,Y-Y.et al.(2015) The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation.Neuroscience,16,213-225.Luders,E.,Cherbuin,N.,& Kurth,F.
2015.Forever young(er): Potential age-defying effects of long-term meditation on gray matter atrophy.Frontiers in Psychology,5:
1551.
6. Feiyi Wang (January 2022).Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation.
https://neuro.wharton.upenn.edu/community/winss_scholar_blog2/
7. Norris CJ,Creem D,Hendler R and Kober H (2018) Brief Mindfulness Meditation Improves Attention in Novices: Evidence From ERPs
and Moderation by Neuroticism.Front.Hum.Neurosci.12:315.doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00315
8. Alvin Powell (April 9,2018).Researchers study how it seems to change the brain in depressed patients.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-p
atients/
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25. References
1. Kristyna Zapletal (26 June 2017).Neuroscience of Mindfulness: What Happens to Your Brain When You Meditate.
https://observer.com/2017/06/neuroscience-mindfulness-brain-when-you-meditate-development/
2. Sarah McKay (March 25,2020 ).The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation.
https://chopra.com/articles/the-neuroscience-of-mindfulness-meditation
3. Sigal Samuel (Jan 10,2020).Are we morally obligated to meditate? A growing body of neuroscience research shows that
meditation can make us better to each other.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/1/10/21013234/meditation-brain-neuroscience-moral-obligation
4. Jeremy Adam Smith,Kira Newman,Jill Suttie and Hooria Jazaieri (December 5,2017).The State of Mindfulness Science.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_state_of_mindfulness_science
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