Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
J Altern Complement Med. 2010 May;16(5):597-9. doi: 10.1089/acm.2009.0309.
B.L. is a Tibetan Buddhist with many years of compassion meditation practice. During meditation B.L. uses a technique to generate a feeling of love and compassion while reciting a mantra. The aim of the present study was to investigate the neural correlates of compassion meditation in 1 experienced meditator.
B.L. was examined by functional magnetic resonance imaging during compassion meditation, applying a paradigm with meditation and word repetition blocks.
The most significant finding was the activation in the left medial prefrontal cortex extending to the anterior cingulate gyrus. Other significant loci of activation were observed in the right caudate body extending to the right insula and in the left midbrain close to the hypothalamus.
The results in this study are in concordance with the hypothesis that compassion meditation is accompanied by activation in brain areas involved with empathy as well as with happy and pleasant feelings (i.e., the left medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate gyrus).
B.L. 是一位藏传佛教徒，拥有多年的慈悲冥想修行经验。在冥想过程中，B.L. 使用一种技术，通过念咒来产生爱与慈悲的感觉。本研究的目的是调查 1 名经验丰富的冥想者在进行慈悲冥想时的神经相关性。
在慈悲冥想期间，通过功能磁共振成像对 B.L. 进行检查，应用包含冥想和单词重复的实验范式。
最显著的发现是左内侧前额叶皮层的激活，延伸至前扣带回。还观察到右侧尾状核体到右侧岛叶以及左侧中脑靠近下丘脑的其他显著激活部位。
本研究的结果与假设一致，即慈悲冥想伴随着与同理心以及快乐和愉悦感相关的脑区的激活（即左内侧前额叶皮层和前扣带回）。
