Cerebral blood flow differences between long-term meditators and non-meditators.

Author: Newberg AB, Wintering N, Waldman MR, Amen D, Khalsa DS, Alavi A.
Affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, United States; Center for Spirituality and the Mind, University of Pennsylvania, United States.
Conference/Journal: Conscious Cogn.
Date published: 2010 Jun 4
Other: Word Count: 145


We have studied a number of long-term meditators in previous studies. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences in baseline brain function of experienced meditators compared to non-meditators. All subjects were recruited as part of an ongoing study of different meditation practices. We evaluated 12 advanced meditators and 14 non-meditators with cerebral blood flow (CBF) SPECT imaging at rest. Images were analyzed with both region of interest and statistical parametric mapping. The CBF of long-term meditators was significantly higher (p<.05) compared to non-meditators in the prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, thalamus, putamen, caudate, and midbrain. There was also a significant difference in the thalamic laterality with long-term meditators having greater asymmetry. The observed changes associated with long-term meditation appear in structures that underlie the attention network and also those that relate to emotion and autonomic function. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.