| Title |
The Neural Mechanisms of Meditative Practices: Novel Approaches for Healthy Aging
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, October 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s40473-016-0098-x |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Bianca P. Acevedo, Sarah Pospos, Helen Lavretsky |
| Abstract |
Meditation has been shown to have physical, cognitive, and psychological health benefits that can be used to promote healthy aging. However, the common and specific mechanisms of response remain elusive due to the diverse nature of mind-body practices. In this review, we aim to compare the neural circuits implicated in focused-attention meditative practices that focus on present-moment awareness to those involved in active-type meditative practices (e.g., yoga) that combine movement, including chanting, with breath practices and meditation. Recent meta-analyses and individual studies demonstrated common brain effects for attention-based meditative practices and active-based meditations in areas involved in reward processing and learning, attention and memory, awareness and sensory integration, and self-referential processing and emotional control, while deactivation was seen in the amygdala, an area implicated in emotion processing. Unique effects for mindfulness practices were found in brain regions involved in body awareness, attention, and the integration of emotion and sensory processing. Effects specific to active-based meditations appeared in brain areas involved in self-control, social cognition, language, speech, tactile stimulation, sensorimotor integration, and motor function. This review suggests that mind-body practices can target different brain systems that are involved in the regulation of attention, emotional control, mood, and executive cognition that can be used to treat or prevent mood and cognitive disorders of aging, such as depression and caregiver stress, or serve as "brain fitness" exercise. Benefits may include improving brain functional connectivity in brain systems that generally degenerate with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other aging-related diseases. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 23 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 9 | 39% |
| Spain | 2 | 9% |
| Australia | 1 | 4% |
| Unknown | 11 | 48% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 19 | 83% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 9% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 4% |
| Scientists | 1 | 4% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 338 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 1 | <1% |
| Spain | 1 | <1% |
| United States | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 335 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 41 | 12% |
| Researcher | 39 | 12% |
| Student > Master | 38 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 37 | 11% |
| Other | 18 | 5% |
| Other | 55 | 16% |
| Unknown | 110 | 33% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 70 | 21% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 39 | 12% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 24 | 7% |
| Neuroscience | 24 | 7% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 9 | 3% |
| Other | 39 | 12% |
| Unknown | 133 | 39% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 21. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 February 2023.
All research outputs
#1,771,955
of 25,321,938 outputs
Outputs from Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports
#17
of 186 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#30,717
of 324,471 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports
#3
of 11 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,321,938 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 186 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 91% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 11 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 81% of its contemporaries.