Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Guava Building, Room 130, La Jolla, CA, 92093, United States, 1 6086092291.
2 papers in the library · 15 citations · publishing 2024-2025
Consistency of response times during a breath-monitoring task, measured with electroencephalography in 324 people aged 15 to 91, correlates with attentive performance on an exteroceptive inhibitory control task. On-task alpha band activity (8-12 Hz) was greater than at rest. Low-consistency and longer breath responses were associated with elevated brain activity, particularly in posterior default mode network (pDMN) regions. pDMN activity was inversely linked with functional connectivity to frontal networks during the task but not at rest, suggesting frontal networks regulate pDMN activity during interoceptive attention. Greater pDMN activity in the precuneus was linked to lower subjective mindfulness and was adaptively modulated by task difficulty. Elevated pDMN alpha activity serves as an objective neural marker for low-consistency responding during interoceptive breath attention.
A pilot study tested a parent-child digital mindfulness and compassion training app called Cooperative Compassion (CoCo) with 24 families. After 30 sessions over three months, the program was feasible, with 80% of families completing most sessions. Children showed no significant improvement in depression scores but did demonstrate faster processing on an emotion task. Parents experienced significant reductions in stress, anxiety, and depression that lasted at three months, and their mindfulness gains correlated with stress relief. Brain recordings during a breathing task revealed reduced default mode network activity after training, suggesting less mind-wandering and better focus. The results support larger, randomized trials.