Neuroscience of consciousness
January 1, 2023
Lena Lindström, Philippe Goldin, Johan Mårtensson et al.
12 citations
People who report a stronger sense of self-boundarylessness—feeling less distinct from the surrounding world—tend to endorse words related to fluidity more strongly and take longer on a math task. Brain imaging shows that during mind-wandering, boundarylessness is linked to less activity in the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus. Interestingly, both low and high boundarylessness, compared to moderate levels, are associated with greater connectivity within the default mode network at rest, less activity in the medial prefrontal cortex when processing self-related words, and lower endorsement of words related to constancy. Directing attention to the center of experience activates brain regions similar to meditation onset, regardless of meditation experience.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
April 1, 2025
Saampras Ganesan, Fernando A Barrios, Ishaan Batta et al.
6 citations
Meditation practices, which have shown therapeutic benefits for conditions like depression, pain, addiction, and anxiety, have been studied with neuroimaging over the past decade. However, existing neuroscientific models are based on small, heterogeneous datasets, limiting generalizability and replicability. The ENIGMA-Meditation consortium is the first worldwide collaborative effort to conduct systematic meta- and mega-analyses of globally distributed neuroimaging data using standardized methods. This framework aims to improve statistical power and address multidomain heterogeneity in meditation practice types, experience, and experimental design. The consortium will generate rigorous neuroscientific insights into the mechanisms underlying meditation's therapeutic effects on psychological and cognitive attributes.
Brain and cognition
August 1, 2023
Etzel Cardeña, Lena Lindström, Philippe Goldin et al.
4 citations
Automatic writing, whether occurring spontaneously or induced by hypnosis, reduces the sense of control and agency compared to copying symbols. In a functional MRI study of one spontaneous automatic writer and four highly hypnotizable individuals, automatic writing was associated with decreased brain activity in regions linked to the sense of agency, including the left premotor cortex and insula, right premotor cortex, and supplemental motor area. Increased activity was observed in the left and right temporoparietal junctions and occipital lobes. The highly hypnotizable individuals showed widespread decreases in brain activity and increases in frontal and parietal regions compared to the spontaneous writer. Spontaneous and induced automatic writing had similar effects on the subjective experience of agency but only partly overlapping effects on cortical activity.
medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
January 16, 2026
Colleen Caleshu, Maryann Campion, Jehannine J Austin et al.
Mindfulness meditation may reduce burnout and stress among genetic counselors. In a randomized controlled trial with 397 clinical genetic counselors in the US, those assigned to 10 minutes of daily app-based mindfulness meditation for eight weeks showed lower burnout and stress compared to a no-meditation control group. The effect on burnout was large. However, the active control meditation designed to mimic mindfulness without its techniques did not perform as an inert control, so the primary comparison between mindfulness and active control was inconclusive. Further research with more diverse samples and better controls is needed.