Neural Networks for Mindfulness and Emotion Suppression

A Model for Emotional Intelligence in Biology Education Research

Informed by social science fields including psychology and public health, we propose a Model for Emotional Intelligence to advance biology education research in affective learning. The model offers a shared discourse for biology education researchers to develop and assess evidence-based strategies to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions for students and instructors in life sciences classrooms. We begin by reviewing the connection between stress, emotional invalidation, Sense of Belonging, and Science Identity as it relates to emotions in undergraduate life sciences classrooms. Next, we highlight the impact that emotionally invalidating classroom environments have on science students' development of psychological distress, maladaptive coping, and high-risk behaviors. Assuming Emotional Intelligence can be taught and learned (i.e., the ability model of Emotional Intelligence), we develop a Model for Emotional Intelligence to advance biology education research in this arena. This essay aims to inform assessments of current and future interventions designed to counteract emotional invalidation and encourage the development of emotional management among students and instructors. In alignment with our collective effort to support student well-being in the life sciences, the study of Emotional Intelligence in undergraduate biology education has the potential to support student mental health as future scientists and health care practitioners.

How the arts heal: a review of the neural mechanisms behind the therapeutic effects of creative arts on mental and physical health

Background

The creative arts have long been known for their therapeutic potential. These modalities, which include dance, painting, and music, among others, appear to be effective in enhancing emotional expression and alleviating adverse physiological and psychological effects. Engagement in creative arts can be pursued as a personal hobby, in a classroom setting, or through a formal therapeutic intervention with a qualified therapist. Engagement can be active (i.e., creating) or passive (i.e., viewing, listening). Regardless of the modality and manner of engagement, the mechanisms explaining the therapeutic efficacy of creative arts remain poorly understood.

Objective

This study aims to systematically review research investigating the neurological mechanisms activated during active or passive engagement in creative arts, with a specific emphasis on the roles of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the amygdala in emotional regulation (ER) and creative behaviors. The review seeks to provide preliminary evidence for the possible existence of common neural mechanisms underlying both phenomena, which could inform the development of targeted therapeutic interventions leveraging creative arts for ER.

Methods

A systematic review was conducted following the Cochrane Collaboration guideline and PRISMA standards to identify studies examining the neurological mechanisms underlying creative activities.

Results

A total of six out of 85 records meet the inclusion criteria, with all being basic research studies. Preliminary findings suggest that active and passive engagement with creative arts consistently activate neural circuits implicated in adaptive emotional regulation, including the mPFC and amygdala. These activations mirror the neural pathways engaged in effective ER strategies, suggesting the possible existence of shared mechanisms between creative expression and emotional processing.

Conclusion

The evidence underscores the potential of creative arts as a complementary therapeutic strategy alongside conventional care and other evidence-based mind-body modalities. By elucidating the shared neural mechanisms between creative arts engagement and ER, this review contributes to the theoretical and practical understanding of the role of creative arts in mental health. Future research is recommended to further explore these neural correlations and their implications for therapeutic practice.

Decoding acceptance and reappraisal strategies from resting state macro networks

Acceptance and reappraisal are considered adaptive emotion regulation strategies. While previous studies have explored the neural underpinnings of these strategies using task-based fMRI and sMRI, a gap exists in the literature concerning resting-state functional brain networks' contributions to these abilities, especially regarding acceptance. Another intriguing question is whether these strategies rely on similar or different neural mechanisms. Building on the well-known improved emotion regulation and increased cognitive flexibility of individuals who rely on acceptance, we expected to find decreased activity inside the affective network and increased activity inside the executive and sensorimotor networks to be predictive of acceptance. We also expect that these networks may be associated at least in part with reappraisal, indicating a common mechanism behind different strategies. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a functional connectivity analysis of resting-state data from 134 individuals (95 females; mean age: 30.09 ± 12.87 years, mean education: 12.62 ± 1.41 years). To assess acceptance and reappraisal abilities, we used the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and a group-ICA unsupervised machine learning approach to identify resting-state networks. Subsequently, we conducted backward regression to predict acceptance and reappraisal abilities. As expected, results indicated that acceptance was predicted by decreased affective, and executive, and increased sensorimotor networks, while reappraisal was predicted by an increase in the sensorimotor network only. Notably, these findings suggest both distinct and overlapping brain contributions to acceptance and reappraisal strategies, with the sensorimotor network potentially serving as a core common mechanism. These results not only align with previous findings but also expand upon them, illustrating the complex interplay of cognitive, affective, and sensory abilities in emotion regulation.

Comparing reappraisal and acceptance strategies to understand the neural architecture of emotion regulation: a meta-analytic approach

Introduction

In the emotion regulation literature, the amount of neuroimaging studies on cognitive reappraisal led the impression that the same top-down, control-related neural mechanisms characterize all emotion regulation strategies. However, top-down processes may coexist with more bottom-up and emotion-focused processes that partially bypass the recruitment of executive functions. A case in point is acceptance-based strategies.

Method

To better understand neural commonalities and differences behind different emotion regulation processes, in the present study, we applied the Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) method to perform a meta-analysis on fMRI studies investigating task-related activity of reappraisal and acceptance. Both increased and decreased brain activity was taken into account in the contrast and conjunction analysis between the two strategies.

Results

Results showed increased activity in left-inferior frontal gyrus and insula for both strategies, and decreased activity in the basal ganglia for reappraisal, and decreased activity in limbic regions for acceptance.

Discussion

These findings are discussed in the context of a model of common and specific neural mechanisms of emotion regulation that support and expand the previous dual-routes models. We suggest that emotion regulation may rely on a core inhibitory circuit, and on strategy-specific top-down and bottom-up processes distinct for different strategies.

Mindfulness in the focus of the neurosciences - The contribution of neuroimaging to the understanding of mindfulness

BACKGROUND

Mindfulness affects human levels of experience by facilitating the immediate and impartial perception of phenomena, including sensory stimulation, emotions, and thoughts. Mindfulness is now a focus of neuroimaging, since technical and methodological developments in magnetic resonance imaging have made it possible to observe subjects performing mindfulness tasks.

OBJECTIVE

We set out to describe the association between mental processes and characteristics of mindfulness, including their specific cerebral patterns, as shown in structural and functional neuroimaging studies.

METHODS

We searched the MEDLINE databank of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics via PubMed using the keywords: "mindfulness," "focused attention (FA)," "open monitoring (OM)," "mind wandering," "emotional regulation," "magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)" and "default mode network (DMN)." This review extracted phenomenological experiences across populations with varying degrees of mindfulness training and correlated these experiences with structural and functional neuroimaging patterns. Our goal was to describe how mindful behavior was processed by the constituents of the default mode network during specific tasks.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Depending on the research paradigm employed to explore mindfulness, investigations of function that used fMRI exhibited distinct activation patterns and functional connectivities. Basic to mindfulness is a long-term process of learning to use meditation techniques. Meditators progress from voluntary control of emotions and subjective preferences to emotional regulation and impartial awareness of phenomena. As their ability to monitor perception and behavior, a metacognitive skill, improves, mindfulness increases self-specifying thoughts governed by the experiential phenomenological self and reduces self-relational thoughts of the narrative self. The degree of mindfulness (ratio of self-specifying to self-relational thoughts) may affect other mental processes, e.g., awareness, working memory, mind wandering and belief formation. Mindfulness prevents habituation and the constant assumptions associated with mindlessness. Self-specifying thinking during mindfulness and self-relational thinking in the narrative self relies on the default mode network. The main constituents of this network are the dorsal and medial prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex. These midline structures are antagonistic to self-specifying and self-relational processes, since the predominant process determines their differential involvement. Functional and brain volume changes indicate brain plasticity, mediated by mental training over the long-term.

Underlying mechanisms of mindfulness meditation: Genomics, circuits, and networks

Understanding neuropsychological mechanisms of mindfulness meditation (MM) has been a hot topic in recent years. This review was conducted with the goal of synthesizing empirical relationships via the genomics, circuits and networks between MM and mental disorders. We describe progress made in assessing the effects of MM on gene expression in immune cells, with particular focus on stress-related inflammatory markers and associated biological pathways. We then focus on key brain circuits associated with mindfulness practices and effects on symptoms of mental disorders, and expand our discussion to identify three key brain networks associated with mindfulness practices including default mode network, central executive network, and salience network. More research efforts need to be devoted into identifying underlying neuropsychological mechanisms of MM on how it alleviates the symptoms of mental disorders.

Mindfulness meditation increases default mode, salience, and central executive network connectivity

Recent research has begun to identify the neural mechanisms underlying the beneficial impact of mindfulness meditation training (MMT) on health and cognition. However, little is known about the effects of MMT on the global interplay of large-scale networks (LSNs) in the brain. In the present study, healthy, meditation-naïve adults (N = 46) underwent resting state fMRI prior to and upon completing 31 days of MMT or an active control intervention. Independent component analysis, sliding time window, and seed-based correlation analyses were performed to assess training-related changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and between networks with relevance to mindfulness meditation. Across sliding time window analyses and seed-based correlation analyses, we found increased FC between nodes of the default mode network (DMN) and nodes of the salience network (SN) in participants of the MMT. Seed-based correlation analyses revealed further connectivity increases between the SN and key regions of the central executive network (CEN). These results indicate, that, among multiple LSNs, one month of mindfulness meditation effectively increases interconnectivity between networks of the triple network model (DMN, SN, CEN), hereby introducing a potential mechanistic concept underlying the beneficial impact of MMT.

Clinical trial registration: This study is listed as a clinical trial on the ISRCTN registry with trial ID ISRCTN95197731 (date of first registration: 15/02/2022).

Spatial-topographic nestedness of interoceptive regions within the networks of decision making and emotion regulation: Combining ALE meta-analysis and MACM analysis

Prominent theories propose that interoception modulates our behavioral and emotional responses involving decision-making and emotion regulation. Are the regions implicated in interoception also spatially related to and possibly nested within the networks of decision making and emotion regulation? Addressing this question, we performed three meta-analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to identify the regions that are commonly activated by the three domains using activation likelihood estimation (ALE). Additionally, we assessed the coactivation pattern of identified common regions using meta-analytic connectivity modeling (MACM). The results showed major overlaps of interoception with both decision making and emotion regulation in specifically the right dorsal anterior insula. The pairwise contrast analyses confirmed this finding and revealed conjunction-based activities in decision making and emotion regulation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). MACM based on the identified insula revealed a widespread convergent coactivation pattern with the left anterior insula, dACC, and bilateral thalamus which, together, constitute the salience network. Among these co-activated regions, bilateral insula and the dACC were shared among all three domains. These results suggest that the regions mediating interoception including intero-exteroceptive integration and salience attribution are contained and thus spatially nested within the more extensive networks recruited during decision making and emotion regulation.

The neurophysiology of the intervention strategies of Awareness Training Program on emotion regulation

Emotion regulation is essential for healthy living. Previous studies have found that mental training such as compassion meditation could help with emotion regulation. However, the underlying neural mechanism and possible intervention strategies of group-based Mahayana Buddhist intervention involved in emotion regulation are still unclear. This event-related potential (ERP) study investigated how compassion and wisdom meditations, two key components of the Awareness Training Program (ATP), may regulate emotion during different mental processing stages, namely attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modification. Eighty-five middle-aged working adults with moderate stress were voluntarily recruited for this study, using a 128-channel electroencephalogram system. After 7 weeks of training, participants (ATP attendance, n = 42; waitlist control, n = 43) were instructed to view negative pictures while practicing compassion or wisdom meditation, with corresponding priming words. Another normal priming condition and a neutral picture condition were set as control conditions. ERP results in the ATP group showed that negative pictures induced greater prefrontal activity (N400 component) in both compassion and wisdom meditation conditions compared with the normal condition, while the control group showed little difference between the conditions. Significantly higher heart rate variability was found in the compassion but not wisdom meditation when compared with the neutral priming condition. Correspondent changes in behavioural data were also found. Converging evidence showed that compassion meditation training could modulate negative emotion processing in stages of attention deployment, cognitive change, and behavioural responses. The prefrontal lobe could play an important role in the process of emotion regulation by compassion meditation, possibly due to the emphasis of the ATP on contemplative practices.

A systematic review of neural, cognitive, and clinical studies of anger and aggression

Anger and aggression have large impact on people's safety and the society at large. In order to provide an intervention to minimise aggressive behaviours, it is important to understand the neural and cognitive aspects of anger and aggression. In this systematic review, we investigate the cognitive and neural aspects of anger-related processes, including anger-related behaviours and anger reduction. Using this information, we then review prior existing methods on the treatment of anger-related disorders as well as anger management, including mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy. At the cognitive level, our review that anger is associated with excessive attention to anger-related stimuli and impulsivity. At the neural level, anger is associated with abnormal functioning of the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. In conclusions, based on cognitive and neural studies, we here argue that mindfulness based cognitive behavioural therapy may be better at reducing anger and aggression than other behavioural treatments, such as cognitive behavioural therapy or mindfulness alone. We provide key information on future research work and best ways to manage anger and reduce aggression. Importantly, future research should investigate how anger related behaviours is acquired and how stress impacts the development of anger.

Enhanced Resting-State Functional Connectivity With Decreased Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations of the Salience Network in Mindfulness Novices

Mindfulness and accordant interventions are often used as complementary treatments to psychological or psychosomatic problems. This has also been gradually integrated into daily lives for the promotion of psychological well-being in non-clinical populations. The experience of mindful acceptance in a non-judgmental way brought about the state, which was less interfered by a negative effect. Mindfulness practice often begins with focused attention (FA) meditation restricted to an inner experience. We postulate that the brain areas related to an interoceptive function would demonstrate an intrinsic functional change after mindfulness training for the mindful novices along with paying more attention to internal processes. To further explore the influence of mindfulness on the organization of the brain regions, both functional connectivity (FC) in the voxel and the region of interest (ROI) level were calculated. In the current study, 32 healthy volunteers, without any meditation experiences, were enrolled and randomly assigned to a mindfulness-based stress reduction group (MBSR) or control group (CON). Participants in the MBSR group completed 8 weeks of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and rated their mindfulness skills before and after MBSR. All subjects were evaluated via resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) in both baselines and after 8 weeks. They also completed a self-report measure of their state and trait anxiety as well as a positive and negative affect. Pre- and post-MBSR assessments revealed a decreased amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) in the right anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC.R), left anterior and posterior insula (aIC.L, pIC.L), as well as left superior medial frontal gyrus (SFGmed.L) in MBSR practitioners. Strengthened FC between right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC.R) and aIC.R was observed. The mean ALFF values of those regions were inversely and positively linked to newly acquired mindful abilities. Along with a decreased negative affect score, our results suggest that the brain regions related to attention and interoceptive function were involved at the beginning of mindfulness. This study provides new clues in elucidating the time of evaluating the brain mechanisms of mindfulness novices.

Effects of mindfulness meditation on trait mindfulness, perceived stress, emotion regulation, and quality of life in hemodialysis patients: A randomized controlled trial

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Neural correlates of emotion acceptance and suppression in borderline personality disorder

BACKGROUND

Emotion dysregulation is a central feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Since impaired emotion regulation contributes to disturbed emotion functioning in BPD, it is crucial to study underlying neural activity. The current study aimed at investigating the neural correlates of two emotion regulation strategies, namely emotion acceptance and suppression, which are both important treatment targets in BPD.

METHODS

Twenty-one women with BPD and 23 female healthy control participants performed an emotion regulation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While watching fearful movie clips, participants were instructed to either accept or to suppress upcoming emotions compared to passive viewing.

RESULTS

Results revealed acceptance-related insular underactivation and suppression-related caudate overactivation in subjects with BPD during the emotion regulation task.

CONCLUSION

This is a first study on the neural correlates of emotion acceptance and suppression in BPD. Altered insula functioning during emotion acceptance may reflect impairments in emotional awareness in BPD. Increased caudate activity is linked to habitual motor and cognitive processes and therefore may accord to the well-established routine in BPD patients to suppress emotional experiences.

Neurobiological models of emotion regulation: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of acceptance as an emotion regulation strategy

Emotional acceptance is an important emotion regulation strategy promoted by most psychotherapy approaches. We adopted the Activation Likelihood Estimation technique to obtain a quantitative summary of previous fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) studies of acceptance and test different hypotheses on its mechanisms of action. The main meta-analysis included 13 experiments contrasting acceptance to control conditions, yielding a total of 422 subjects and 170 foci of brain activity. Additionally, subgroups of studies with different control conditions (react naturally or focus on emotions) were identified and analysed separately. Our results showed executive areas to be affected by acceptance only in the subgroup of studies in which acceptance was compared to natural reactions. In contrast, a cluster of decreased brain activity located in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus was associated with acceptance regardless of the control condition. These findings suggest that high-level executive cortical processes are not a distinctive feature of acceptance, whereas functional deactivations in the PCC/precuneus constitute its specific neural substrate. The neuroimaging of emotional acceptance calls into question a key tenet of current neurobiological models of emotion regulation consisting in the necessary involvement of high-level executive processes to actively modify emotional states, suggesting a complementary role for limbic portions of the default system.

Keeping weight off: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction alters amygdala functional connectivity during weight loss maintenance in a randomized control trial

Obesity is associated with significant comorbidities and financial costs. While behavioral interventions produce clinically meaningful weight loss, weight loss maintenance is challenging. The objective was to improve understanding of the neural and psychological mechanisms modified by mindfulness that may predict clinical outcomes. Individuals who intentionally recently lost weight were randomized to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or a control healthy living course. Anthropometric and psychological factors were measured at baseline, 8 weeks and 6 months. Functional connectivity (FC) analysis was performed at baseline and 8 weeks to examine FC changes between regions of interest selected a priori, and independent components identified by independent component analysis. The association of pre-post FC changes with 6-month weight and psychometric outcomes was then analyzed. Significant group x time interaction was found for FC between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, such that FC increased in the MBSR group and decreased in controls. Non-significant changes in weight were observed at 6 months, where the mindfulness group maintained their weight while the controls showed a weight increase of 3.4% in BMI. Change in FC at 8-weeks between ventromedial prefrontal cortex and several ROIs was associated with change in depression symptoms but not weight at 6 months. This pilot study provides preliminary evidence of neural mechanisms that may be involved in MBSR’s impact on weight loss maintenance that may be useful for designing future clinical trials and mechanistic studies.

Underlying Mechanisms of Psychological Interventions in Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Image-Guided Radiology Procedures

Positive patient care and healthcare facility outcomes are associated with using various psychological interventions during magnetic resonance imaging and interventional radiology procedures. Interventions such as hypnosis, relaxation, guided imagery, and empathic communication can improve anxiety, pain, and hemodynamic stability during procedures, as well as improve claustrophobia and anxiety during magnetic resonance imaging. Little is understood as to the potential underlying mechanisms of how these interventions operate and contribute to positive outcomes. Thus, this article seeks to address that question by integrating autonomic nervous system functioning, neuropsychological concepts, and common factors theory of psychotherapy as potential underlying mechanisms. Opportunities for future directions in the field are also included.

Opponent Effects of Hyperarousal and Re-experiencing on Affective Habituation in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

BACKGROUND

Aberrant emotion processing is a hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with neurobiological models suggesting both heightened neural reactivity and diminished habituation to aversive stimuli. However, empirical work suggests that these response patterns may be specific to subsets of those with PTSD. This study investigates the unique contributions of PTSD symptom clusters (re-experiencing, avoidance and numbing, and hyperarousal) to neural reactivity and habituation to negative stimuli in combat-exposed veterans.

METHODS

Ninety-five combat-exposed veterans (46 with PTSD) and 53 community volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing emotional images. This study examined the relationship between symptom cluster severity and hemodynamic responses to negative compared with neutral images (NEG>NEU).

RESULTS

Veterans exhibited comparable mean and habituation-related responses for NEG>NEU, relative to civilians. However, among veterans, habituation, but not mean response, was differentially related to PTSD symptom severity. Hyperarousal symptoms were related to decreased habituation for NEG>NEU in a network of regions, including superior and inferior frontal gyri, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, superior and middle temporal gyri, and anterior insula. In contrast, re-experiencing symptoms were associated with increased habituation in a similar network. Furthermore, re-experiencing severity was positively related to amygdalar functional connectivity with the left inferior frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex for NEG>NEU.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate that hyperarousal symptoms in combat-related PTSD are associated with decreased neural habituation to aversive stimuli. These impairments are partially mitigated in the presence of re-experiencing symptoms, such that during exposure to negative stimuli, re-experiencing symptoms are positively associated with amygdalar connectivity to prefrontal regions implicated in affective suppression.

Building Resilience Against the Sequelae of Adverse Childhood Experiences: Rise Up, Change Your Life, and Reform Health Care

A reformed approach to health care tackles health at its roots. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in those exposed to them may contribute significantly to the root causes of many diseases of lifestyle. ACEs are traumatic experiences, such as physical and emotional abuse and exposure to risky family environments. In 1998, a ground-breaking study found that nearly 70% of Americans experience at least 1 ACE in their lifetime, and graded exposure is associated with the presence of mental health disorders, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases. Over the past 20 years, evidence has demonstrated further disease risk, outcomes, and epigenetic underpinnings in children and adults with ACEs. Building resilience-the capacity to adapt in healthy ways to traumatic experiences-through lifestyle modification offers potential to combat the negative health effects associated with ACEs. Emerging research demonstrates resilience is cultivated through individual skills (emotional intelligence, coping, and fostering healthy lifestyle choices), and nurturing supportive relationships. Being mindful of the impact and prevalence of ACEs and diversity of individuals' experiences in society will help build resilience and combat the root cause of chronic disease. This review aims to cultivate that awareness and will discuss 3 objectives: to discuss the effects and hypothesized pathophysiological underpinnings of traumatic experiences in childhood on health and wellbeing throughout life, to present ways we can promote resilience in our daily lives and patient encounters, and to demonstrate how advocacy for the reduction of ACEs and promotion of resilient, trauma-informed environments are fundamental to health care reform.

Mindfulness-related differences in neural response to own infant negative versus positive emotion contexts

Mindfulness is thought to promote well-being by shaping the way people respond to challenging social-emotional situations. Current understanding of how this occurs at the neural level is based on studies of response to decontextualized emotion stimuli that may not adequately represent lived experiences. In this study, we tested relations between mothers' dispositional mindfulness and neural responses to their own infant in different emotion-eliciting contexts. Mothers (n = 25) engaged with their 3-month-old infants in videorecorded tasks designed to elicit negative (arm restraint) or positive (peekaboo) emotion. During a functional MRI session, mothers were presented with 15-s clips from these recordings, and dispositional mindfulness scores were used to predict their neural responses to arm restraint > peekaboo videos. Mothers higher in nonreactivity showed relatively lower activation to their infants’ arm restraint compared to peekaboo videos in hypothesized regions—insula and dorsal prefrontal cortex—as well as non-hypothesized regions. Other mindfulness dimensions were associated with more limited areas of lower (nonjudgment) and higher (describing) activation in this contrast. Mothers who were higher in mindfulness generally activated more to the positive emotion context and less to the negative emotion context in perceptual and emotion processing areas, a pattern that may help to explain mindfulness-related differences in well-being.

A distinction between two instruments measuring dispositional mindfulness and the correlations between those measurements and the neuroanatomical structure

The most widely used measurements of mindfulness are the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). However, controversies exist regarding the application of these scales. Additionally, the neural mechanisms of dispositional mindfulness havebecome a topic of interest. In the current study, we used surface-based methodology to identify the brain regions underlying individual differences in dispositional mindfulness in a large non-clinical sampleand compared the two instruments for measuring the dispositional mindfulness. The results indicated that theMAAS scores were significantly associated with increased greymatter volumes in the right precuneus and the significant association between the precuneus and depression symptomatology was mediated by MAAS scores. Regarding the FFMQ, the Describing, Nonjudging, and Nonreactivity facets were selectively associated with the cortical volume, thickness and surface area of multiple prefrontal regions as well as the inferior parietal lobule. Importantly, Describing mediated the association between the dorsolateral PFC volume and the cognitive reappraisal strategies of emotion regulation. These resultssuggested that the MAASwere mainly associated with self-awareness, while the FFMQ facets were selectively involved in emotion regulation, attention control and self-awareness. Therefore, this study characterized the differences in inter-individual variability between the two typical measurements of dispositional mindfulnessand the correlations between those measurements and imaging analyses.

A structured literature review on the role of mindfulness, mindful eating and intuitive eating in changing eating behaviours: effectiveness and associated potential mechanisms

The role of mindfulness, mindful eating and a newer concept of intuitive eating in modulating eating habits is an area of increasing interest. In this structured literature review, a summary of the current evidence is presented, together with details of interventions undertaken and the tools to measure outcomes. It is broad in scope given the emerging evidence base in this area. The review yielded sixty-eight publications: twenty-three interventions in obese/overweight populations; twenty-nine interventions in normal-weight populations; sixteen observational studies, three of which were carried out in overweight/obese populations. Mindfulness-based approaches appear most effective in addressing binge eating, emotional eating and eating in response to external cues. There is a lack of compelling evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness and mindful eating in weight management. Mindfulness-based approaches may prevent weight gain. Reduced food intake was seen in some of the studies in overweight and obese populations, but this was less apparent in the studies in normal-weight populations. The evidence base for intuitive eating is limited to date and further research is needed to examine its potential in altering eating behaviours. Mindfulness appears to work by an increased awareness of internal, rather than external, cues to eat. Mindfulness and mindful eating have the potential to address problematic eating behaviours and the challenges many face with controlling their food intake. Encouraging a mindful eating approach would seem to be a positive message to be included in general weight management advice to the public.

Review on Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation and Music: Implications for Emotion Dysregulation

Previous studies have examined the neural correlates of emotion regulation and the neural changes that are evoked by music exposure. However, the link between music and emotion regulation is poorly understood. The objectives of this review are to (1) synthesize what is known about the neural correlates of emotion regulation and music-evoked emotions, and (2) consider the possibility of therapeutic effects of music on emotion dysregulation. Music-evoked emotions can modulate activities in both cortical and subcortical systems, and across cortical-subcortical networks. Functions within these networks are integral to generation and regulation of emotions. Since dysfunction in these networks are observed in numerous psychiatric disorders, a better understanding of neural correlates of music exposure may lead to more systematic and effective use of music therapy in emotion dysregulation.

8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction induces brain changes similar to traditional long-term meditation practice - A systematic review

The objective of the current study was to systematically review the evidence of the effect of secular mindfulness techniques on function and structure of the brain. Based on areas known from traditional meditation neuroimaging results, we aimed to explore a neuronal explanation of the stress-reducing effects of the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program.

METHODS

We assessed the effect of MBSR and MBCT (N=11, all MBSR), components of the programs (N=15), and dispositional mindfulness (N=4) on brain function and/or structure as assessed by (functional) magnetic resonance imaging. 21 fMRI studies and seven MRI studies were included (two studies performed both).

RESULTS

The prefrontal cortex, the cingulate cortex, the insula and the hippocampus showed increased activity, connectivity and volume in stressed, anxious and healthy participants. Additionally, the amygdala showed decreased functional activity, improved functional connectivity with the prefrontal cortex, and earlier deactivation after exposure to emotional stimuli.

CONCLUSION

Demonstrable functional and structural changes in the prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, insula and hippocampus are similar to changes described in studies on traditional meditation practice. In addition, MBSR led to changes in the amygdala consistent with improved emotion regulation. These findings indicate that MBSR-induced emotional and behavioral changes are related to functional and structural changes in the brain.

"Food Addiction" in Patients with Eating Disorders is Associated with Negative Urgency and Difficulties to Focus on Long-Term Goals

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate if eating disorder patients differ in specific personality traits depending on a positive screening of food addiction (FA) and to find a model to predict FA in eating disorder patients using measures of personality and impulsivity.

Methods: Two hundred seventy eight patients, having an eating disorder, self-reported on FA, impulsivity, personality, eating and general psychopathology. Patients were then split into two groups, depending on a positive or negative result on the FA screening. Analysis of variance was used to compare means between the two groups. Stepwise binary logistic regression was used to obtain a predictive model for the presence of FA.

Results: Patients with FA had lower self-directedness, and more negative urgency and lack of perseverance than patients not reporting addictive eating. The probability of FA can be predicted by high negative urgency, high reward dependence, and low lack of premeditation.

Conclusion: Eating disorder patients who have more problems to pursue tasks to the end and to focus on long-term goals seem to be more likely to develop addictive eating patterns.

Abnormal Neural Responses to Emotional Stimuli but Not Go/NoGo and Stroop Tasks in Adults with a History of Childhood Nocturnal Enuresis

Background

Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is a common disorder in school-aged children. Previous studies have reported that children with NE exhibit structural, functional and neurochemical abnormalities in the brain, suggesting that children with NE may have cognitive problems. Additionally, children with NE have been shown to process emotions differently from control children. In fact, most cases of NE resolve with age. However, adults who had experienced NE during childhood may still have potential cognitive or emotion problems, and this possibility has not been thoroughly investigated.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In this work, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate brain functional changes in adults with a history of NE. Two groups, consisting of 21 adults with NE and 21 healthy controls, were scanned using fMRI. We did not observe a significant abnormality in activation during the Go/NoGo and Stroop tasks in adults with a history of NE compared with the control group. However, compared to healthy subjects, young adults with a history of NE mainly showed increased activation in the bilateral temporoparietal junctions, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex while looking at negative vs. neutral pictures.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results demonstrate that adults with a history of childhood NE have no obvious deficit in response inhibition or cognitive control but showed abnormal neural responses to emotional stimuli.