Mindfulness Meditation Training Reshapes Somatomotor Edge-Centric Connectivity Underlying Somatic Awareness: Insights for Healthy and Depressed Individuals

Mindfulness meditation training alters functional connectivity in the somatomotor network (SMN) in both healthy and depressed populations. In 51 healthy and 35 depressed participants, common changes involved SMN-attentional network connections, suggesting that training modulates attention through somatic awareness. Population-specific changes also emerged: healthy individuals showed SMN-subcortical network shifts, indicating more pervasive effects on automatic processes, while depressed individuals showed SMN-default mode network interactions, which may explain why mindfulness is effective for depression. These altered connectivity patterns significantly predicted insomnia improvements after training in both groups, highlighting shared and distinct neural mechanisms underlying mindfulness-related mental health benefits.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Background Somatic awareness is a fundamental practice for novice mindfulness practitioners. It has been proposed that mindfulness meditation training (MMT) enhances brain function through somatic awareness in both non-clinical and clinical populations. However, the neural signatures underlying this mechanism remain poorly understood. Methods In our study, we conducted mindfulness interventions in both healthy (51 subjects) and depressed (35 subjects) populations and examined whether somatomotor network (SMN)-related edge-centric functional connectivity (eFC) is modulated by MMT, uncovering the population common and population-specific functioning pathways that may underlie somatic awareness. In addition, we tested whether such SMN-related eFCs can predict the insomnia status across populations. Results Our findings revealed population-common eFC changes involving the SMN and attentional networks, indicating MMT may modulate the attentional system across populations via somatic awareness. Additionally, we identified population-specific eFC profiles engaging SMN-subcortical networks in the healthy population, suggesting MMT may target more pervasively the automatic processes in the healthy population. The specific eFC profile engaged SMN-default mode network interactions in the depressed population, which may be the functioning mechanism explaining MMT is efficient for depressed individuals. These findings demonstrate the differential neural signatures underlying different focuses of mindfulness via somatic awareness in different populations. Furthermore, support vector regression analysis demonstrated that these altered eFCs significantly predicted improvements in insomnia after MMT in both populations. Conclusions In summary, our results highlight both shared and distinct neural functioning signatures underlying mindfulness-related mental health improvements via somatic awareness in both the healthy and depressed populations.