Neural dynamics and Mindfulness Flashcards
Hasenkamp study looked at what?
The differing areas of the brain activity in MW, awareness, and shift focus
They hypothesised that MW would be DMN and other 3 would attention networks
What did Hasenkamp find in each area?
Awareness: insula and salience areas
Shift: Lateral networks-Prefrontal and inferior parietal cortex-executive control
Focus: Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Executive-working memory (Sati-sustain focus) not seeing top down effect yet as potentially this takes longer than 3 seconds
Mind Wandering: DMN and Bilateral post-central gyrus and insula
Also some activation in the pre central gyrus, potentially because of the button press
How long does button press take from decision to pushing button?
250ms
What was notable regarding shift phase and time meditating?
The more time spent meditating the easier it was for individuals to shift.
This area Ventral PFC is also responsible for sense of self so it may be due to meditators spending less time in self referral positions.
What did Hasenkamp summarise in their findings?
Mind wandering was seen as DMN and all three other tasks activated the executive function and working memory areas.
Areas related to self-referencing were modulated by time practiced.
What did Brefczynski-Lewis study and what did they find with regards to attention?
They contrasted expert, novice and money motivated novices in their ability to focus attention.
Expert meditators activated more wide spread areas than novices with regards to attention and novice meditators showed more activation of DMN areas.
When Expert meditators were further divided into experience levels, those with the most experience had a negative activation of attention. potentially neural efficiency.
What did Brefczynski-Lewis find when presenting distracting sounds?
Expert meditators showed a negative correlation in the Posterior Cingulate and Medial PFC aka Medial frontal gyrus.
Meditators with the least number of hours meditating showed the highest reposes in these areas
