Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience January 1, 2013 Kathleen A. Garrison, Juan F. Santoyo, Jake H. Davis et al. 226 citations
Meditators' subjective experiences during a real-time fMRI neurofeedback study align with activity in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), a core region of the default mode network. Reports of undistracted awareness—such as concentration, observing sensory experience, and effortless doing (including not efforting and contentment)—correspond with decreased PCC activity. In contrast, experiences of distracted awareness (distraction, interpreting) and controlling (efforting, discontentment) correspond with increased PCC activity. The findings also generated novel hypotheses, including a distinction between meditating and trying to meditate, offering insights into how meditation relates to mind wandering and self-related thinking.