Kwak Seoyeon, Kim So-Yeon, Bae Dahye, Hwang Wu-Jeong, Cho Kang Ik Kevin, Lim Kyung-Ok, Park Hye-Yoon, Lee Tae Young, Kwon Jun Soo
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Department of Psychology, Duksung Women's University, Seoul, South Korea.
Front Psychol. 2020 Feb 7;10:3073. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03073. eCollection 2019.
While recent studies have suggested behavioral effects of short-term meditation on the executive attentional functions, functional changes in the neural correlates of attentional networks after short-term meditation have been unspecified. Here, we conducted a randomized control trial to investigate the effects of a 4-day intensive meditation on the neural correlates of three attentional functions: alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Twenty-three participants in meditation practice and 14 participants in a relaxation retreat group performed attention network test (ANT) during functional magnetic resonance imaging both before and immediately after intervention. The meditation group showed significantly improved behavioral performance in the executive control network in ANT after the intervention. Moreover, neural activities in the executive control network, namely, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), were also significantly increased during the ANT after meditation. Interestingly, neural activity in the right ACC was significantly predicted by behavioral conflict levels in each individual in the meditation group, indicating significant effects of the program on the executive control network. Moreover, brain regions associated with the alerting and orienting networks also showed enhanced activity during the ANT after the meditation. Our study provides novel evidence on the enhancement of the attentional networks at the neural level via short-term meditation. We also suggest that short-term meditation may be beneficial to individuals at high risk of cognitive deficits by improving neural mechanisms of attention.
虽然近期研究表明短期冥想对执行性注意力功能有行为影响，但短期冥想后注意力网络的神经关联的功能变化尚不明确。在此，我们进行了一项随机对照试验，以研究为期4天的强化冥想对三种注意力功能（警觉、定向和执行性注意力）的神经关联的影响。23名冥想练习参与者和14名放松静修组参与者在干预前后分别于功能磁共振成像期间进行了注意力网络测试（ANT）。干预后，冥想组在ANT的执行控制网络中表现出显著改善的行为表现。此外，冥想后ANT期间，执行控制网络中的神经活动，即前扣带回皮质（ACC）和背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）也显著增加。有趣的是，冥想组中每个人的行为冲突水平显著预测了右侧ACC的神经活动，表明该项目对执行控制网络有显著影响。此外，与警觉和定向网络相关的脑区在冥想后的ANT期间也显示出活动增强。我们的研究为通过短期冥想在神经层面增强注意力网络提供了新证据。我们还表明，短期冥想可能通过改善注意力的神经机制而对认知缺陷高风险个体有益。
