Transformative Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Training on the Dynamic Reconfiguration of Executive and Default Mode Networks in Internet Gaming Disorder.
Biological psychiatry global open science July 1, 2025 Shuang Li, Anhang Jiang, Xuefeng Ma et al. 3 citations
Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a global mental health issue, and effective treatments remain challenging. In a study of 61 participants with IGD, 30 received mindfulness meditation (MM) training and 31 received progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) over eight sessions. Using resting-state functional MRI and dynamic network analysis of 142 brain regions, MM training significantly reduced addiction severity and cravings compared to PMR, which showed only nonspecific effects. MM increased brain network recruitment in the frontoparietal and basal ganglia networks while decreasing it in the default mode network, and increased integration between the frontoparietal-default mode and default mode-limbic networks. MM may improve top-down control, cognitive and emotional functions, and reward processing through reconfiguration of these neural pathways.