Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise
PLoS ONE March 25, 2008 Antoine Lutz, Julie Brefczynski-Lewis, Tom Johnstone et al. 942 citations
During loving-kindness-compassion meditation, expert practitioners show greater brain activation in the insula and limbic regions when hearing emotional sounds, especially negative ones, compared to novices. This enhanced response correlates with self-reported meditation intensity. Experts also exhibit increased activity in the amygdala, temporo-parietal junction, and posterior superior temporal sulcus, suggesting improved detection of emotional vocalizations and mental state reasoning. The findings indicate that training in cultivating positive emotion alters neural circuits associated with empathy and theory of mind.