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Focused attention meditation changes the boundary and configuration of functional networks in the brain

View ORCID ProfileShogo Kajimura, View ORCID ProfileNaoki Masuda, View ORCID ProfileJohnny King Lau, View ORCID ProfileKou Murayama
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/664573
Shogo Kajimura
1Faculty of Information and Human Science, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto, Japan
2Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
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  • For correspondence: kajimura.shogo.1204@gmail.com
Naoki Masuda
3Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol, UK
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Johnny King Lau
4Department of Psychology, University of Reading, UK
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Kou Murayama
4Department of Psychology, University of Reading, UK
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Abstract

Research has shown that meditation not only improves our cognitive and motivational functioning (e.g., attention, mental health), it influences the way how our brain networks [e.g., default mode network (DMN), fronto-parietal network (FPN), and sensory-motor network (SMN)] function and operate. However, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the possibility that meditation alters the structure (composition) of these functional brain networks. Here, using a single-case experimental design with longitudinal intensive data, we examined the effect of mediation practice on intra-individual changes in the composition of whole-brain networks. The results showed that meditation (1) changed the community size (with a number of regions in the FPN being merged into the DMN after meditation), (2) changed the brain regions composing the SMN community without changing its size, and (3) led to instability in the community allegiance of the regions in the FPN. These results suggest that, in addition to altering specific functional connectivity, meditation leads to reconfiguration of whole-brain network structure. The reconfiguration of community structure in the brain provides fruitful information about the neural mechanisms of meditation.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted December 06, 2019.
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Focused attention meditation changes the boundary and configuration of functional networks in the brain
Shogo Kajimura, Naoki Masuda, Johnny King Lau, Kou Murayama
bioRxiv 664573; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/664573
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Focused attention meditation changes the boundary and configuration of functional networks in the brain
Shogo Kajimura, Naoki Masuda, Johnny King Lau, Kou Murayama
bioRxiv 664573; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/664573

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