Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners

“…Our results were in the posterior insula, which differs from previous insular findings which are typically located in the anterior insula (Fox et al, 2014 ). This distinction is important because the PI and MidI have been associated with objective ratings of stimuli, whereas the AI has been associated with their subjective ratings (Craig, 2002 , 2011 ; Singer et al, 2004 ).…”

“…Regarding our predictions for the specific effects of the Presence, Affect and Perspective training modules, unlike previous studies on MBI (Fox et al, 2016;Fox et al, 2014;Tang et al, 2015;Young et al, 2018) we did not find a training-related modulation of brain activity after the Presence training. In previous studies, the authors claimed that present-moment focused attention helps people to better regulate their emotions via a reinforcement of the topdown cognitive control (Allen et al, 2012;Farb et al, 2012;Kral et al, 2018;Lutz et al, 2014).…”

“…The inferior frontal lobes, which were observed also in the AAL area subdivision analysis, are crucial for executive functions such as sustained attention, working memory, performance monitoring, switching and inhibitory self-control [55]. The finding of larger GMV in these regions is in line with previous VBM studies of other meditation techniques that also found larger frontal lobe volumes in long-term Meditators, in particular in inferior frontal regions [56]. The findings suggest that long-term meditation leads to enlargement of inferior frontal lobe regions possibly due to the fact that meditation which teaches the practitioner to inhibit unwanted thoughts and control their attention is a powerful attention and self-control training which may lead to the enlargement of areas that mediate attention and inhibitory self-control [57][58][59][60].…”