The effect of meditation on brain functional activation when engaged in an attention task was evaluated longitudinally using BOLD fMRI in nine young healthy subjects. Functional activation before and after meditation practice was compared and the change of functional activation was correlated with practice time. Following the meditation practice, response time to the attention task was significantly shorter; functional activation in the somatomotor network, frontal, basal ganglia, and insular regions was significantly reduced; more practice time was associated with less reduced activation. The findings suggest that meditation can improve brain efficiency but may have a complex neural mechanism.
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