Department of Motor Sciences and Wellness, University of Naples "Parthenope", Naples, Italy.
Department of Engineering, University of Naples "Parthenope", Naples, Italy.
Neural Plast. 2018 Dec 18;2018:5340717. doi: 10.1155/2018/5340717. eCollection 2018.
It has been suggested that the practice of meditation is associated to neuroplasticity phenomena, reducing age-related brain degeneration and improving cognitive functions. Neuroimaging studies have shown that the brain connectivity changes in meditators. In the present work, we aim to describe the possible long-term effects of meditation on the brain networks. To this aim, we used magnetoencephalography to study functional resting-state brain networks in Vipassana meditators. We observed topological modifications in the brain network in meditators compared to controls. More specifically, in the theta band, the meditators showed statistically significant ( corrected = 0.009) higher degree (a centrality index that represents the number of connections incident upon a given node) in the right hippocampus as compared to controls. Taking into account the role of the hippocampus in memory processes, and in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease, meditation might have a potential role in a panel of preventive strategies.
有人认为,冥想的实践与神经可塑性现象有关,可以减少与年龄相关的大脑退化并改善认知功能。神经影像学研究表明,冥想者的大脑连接发生了变化。在本工作中,我们旨在描述冥想对大脑网络的可能长期影响。为此,我们使用脑磁图研究了内观冥想者的功能静息态大脑网络。我们观察到冥想者的大脑网络拓扑发生了变化与对照组相比。更具体地说,在θ波段,与对照组相比,冥想者的右海马体的度数(表示连接到给定节点的连接数的中心性指标)具有统计学上的显著差异(校正后 p=0.009)。考虑到海马体在记忆过程中的作用以及阿尔茨海默病的病理生理学,冥想可能在一组预防策略中具有潜在作用。