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Comparative Study
. 2008 Mar;3(1):55-61.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nsm038. Epub 2007 Dec 3.

Investigation of mindfulness meditation practitioners with voxel-based morphometry

Britta K Hölzel  1 , Ulrich Ott, Tim Gard, Hannes Hempel, Martin Weygandt, Katrin Morgen, Dieter Vaitl
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Investigation of mindfulness meditation practitioners with voxel-based morphometry

Britta K Hölzel et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2008 Mar.

Abstract

Mindfulness meditators practice the non-judgmental observation of the ongoing stream of internal experiences as they arise. Using voxel-based morphometry, this study investigated MRI brain images of 20 mindfulness (Vipassana) meditators (mean practice 8.6 years; 2 h daily) and compared the regional gray matter concentration to that of non-meditators matched for sex, age, education and handedness. Meditators were predicted to show greater gray matter concentration in regions that are typically activated during meditation. Results confirmed greater gray matter concentration for meditators in the right anterior insula, which is involved in interoceptive awareness. This group difference presumably reflects the training of bodily awareness during mindfulness meditation. Furthermore, meditators had greater gray matter concentration in the left inferior temporal gyrus and right hippocampus. Both regions have previously been found to be involved in meditation. The mean value of gray matter concentration in the left inferior temporal gyrus was predictable by the amount of meditation training, corroborating the assumption of a causal impact of meditation training on gray matter concentration in this region. Results suggest that meditation practice is associated with structural differences in regions that are typically activated during meditation and in regions that are relevant for the task of meditation.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Greater gray matter concentration for meditators compared to non-meditators (P < .001; uncorrected; > 20 voxels) in the left inferior temporal gyrus (upper left panel; cluster size: 157 voxels), right anterior insula (lower left panel; cluster size: 22 voxels) and right hippocampus (upper right panel; cluster size: 106 voxels). MNI coordinates of shown slices: x, y, z: −49, −32, 6; color bar indicates t-values.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Gray matter concentration at the medial orbitofrontal cortex correlates with total hours of meditation training. MNI coordinates of shown slices: x, y, z: 1, 45, −16; cluster size: 185 voxels; color bar indicates t-values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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