Intracranial substrates of meditation-induced neuromodulation in the amygdala and hippocampus.
Christina Maher, Lea Tortolero, Soyeon Jun, Daniel D Cummins, Adam Saad, James Young, Lizbeth Nunez Martinez, Zachary Schulman, Lara Marcuse, Allison Waters, Helen S Mayberg, Richard J Davidson, Fedor Panov, Ignacio Saez
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America February 11, 2025 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2409423122 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractLoving-kindness meditation, which involves directing thoughts of goodwill toward oneself and others, alters neural activity in the amygdala and hippocampus. In first-time meditators with implanted brain-recording devices, the practice increased gamma-band (30 to 55 Hz) power and changed the duration of beta (13 to 30 Hz) and gamma oscillatory bursts in both regions. These changes were specific to periodic features of neural activity, not aperiodic ones. The findings suggest that even novice meditation can modulate limbic brain activity linked to emotional regulation and mood disorders.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Epilepsy patients chronically implanted with responsive neurostimulation devices |
| Intervention | Loving-kindness meditation |
| Keywords | Amygdala Hippocampus Intracranial electrophysiology Loving-kindness meditation |
| Citations | 7 |
| Key finding | Loving-kindness meditation increased gamma power and altered beta and gamma burst durations in the amygdala and hippocampus of novice meditators. |
Abstract
Meditation is an accessible mental practice associated with emotional regulation and well-being. Loving-kindness meditation (LKM), a specific subtype of meditative practice, involves focusing one's attention on thoughts of well-being for oneself and others. Meditation has been proven to be beneficial in a variety of settings, including therapeutic applications, but the neural activity underlying meditative practices and their positive effects are not well understood. It has been difficult to understand the contribution of deep limbic structures given the difficulty of studying neural activity directly in the human brain. Here, we leverage a unique patient population, epilepsy patients chronically implanted with responsive neurostimulation devices that allow chronic, invasive electrophysiology recording to investigate the physiological correlates of LKM in the amygdala and hippocampus of novice meditators. We find that LKM-associated changes in physiological activity were specific to periodic, but not aperiodic, features of neural activity. LKM was associated with an increase in γ (30 to 55 Hz) power and an alternation in the duration of β (13 to 30 Hz) and γ oscillatory bursts in both the amygdala and hippocampus, two regions associated with mood disorders. These findings reveal the nature of LKM-induced modulation of limbic activity in first-time meditators.