Short-term meditation increases blood flow in anterior cingulate cortex and insula.

Yiyuan Tang, Qilin Lu, Hongbo Feng, Rongxiang Tang, Michael I. Posner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Scopus citations

Abstract

Asymmetry in frontal electrical activity has been reported to be associated with positive mood. One form of mindfulness meditation, integrative body-mind training (IBMT) improves positive mood and neuroplasticity. The purpose of this study is to determine whether short-term IBMT improves mood and induces frontal asymmetry. This study showed that 5-days (30-min per day) IBMT significantly enhanced cerebral blood flow (CBF) in subgenual/adjacent ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), medial prefrontal cortex and insula. The results showed that both IBMT and relaxation training increased left laterality of CBF, but only IBMT improved CBF in left ACC and insula, critical brain areas in self-regulation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number212
Pages (from-to)212
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume6
Issue numberFEB
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015

Keywords

  • Anterior cingulate cortex
  • Cerebral blood flow
  • Frontal asymmetry
  • Integrative body-mind training
  • Positive mood

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