TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of mindfulness-based interventions on brain activity
T2 - A systematic review of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies
AU - Young, Katherine S
AU - van der Velden, Anne Maj
AU - Craske, Michelle G
AU - Pallesen, Karen Johanne
AU - Fjorback, Lone
AU - Roepstorff, Andreas
AU - Parsons, Christine E
N1 - Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - Mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly used in the treatment and prevention of mental health conditions. Despite this, the mechanisms of change for such interventions are only beginning to be understood, with a number of recent studies assessing changes in brain activity. The aim of this systematic review was to assess changes in brain functioning associated with manualised 8-session mindfulness interventions. Searches of PubMed and Scopus databases resulted in 39 papers, 7 of which were eligible for inclusion. The most consistent longitudinal effect observed was increased insular cortex activity following mindfulness-based interventions. In contrast to previous reviews, we did not find robust evidence for increased activity in specific prefrontal cortex sub-regions. These findings suggest that mindfulness interventions are associated with changes in functioning of the insula, plausibly impacting awareness of internal reactions ‘in-the-moment’. The studies reviewed here demonstrated a variety of effects across populations and tasks, pointing to the need for greater consistency in future study design.
AB - Mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly used in the treatment and prevention of mental health conditions. Despite this, the mechanisms of change for such interventions are only beginning to be understood, with a number of recent studies assessing changes in brain activity. The aim of this systematic review was to assess changes in brain functioning associated with manualised 8-session mindfulness interventions. Searches of PubMed and Scopus databases resulted in 39 papers, 7 of which were eligible for inclusion. The most consistent longitudinal effect observed was increased insular cortex activity following mindfulness-based interventions. In contrast to previous reviews, we did not find robust evidence for increased activity in specific prefrontal cortex sub-regions. These findings suggest that mindfulness interventions are associated with changes in functioning of the insula, plausibly impacting awareness of internal reactions ‘in-the-moment’. The studies reviewed here demonstrated a variety of effects across populations and tasks, pointing to the need for greater consistency in future study design.
KW - Emotion regulation
KW - Insula
KW - Mindfulness
KW - Mindfulness-based interventions
KW - fMRI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028363475&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.08.003
DO - 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.08.003
M3 - Review
C2 - 28797556
SN - 0149-7634
VL - 84
SP - 424
EP - 433
JO - Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
JF - Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
IS - January
ER -