Kurzfassung

Mindfulness denotes a state of consciousness characterized by receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experiences. As a personality trait, it constitutes the ability to become aware of mental activities such as sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, and to disengage from judgement, conditioned emotions and their cognitive processing or automatic inhibition. Default brain activity reflects the stream of consciousness and sense of self at rest. Analysis of brain activity...Mindfulness denotes a state of consciousness characterized by receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experiences. As a personality trait, it constitutes the ability to become aware of mental activities such as sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, and to disengage from judgement, conditioned emotions and their cognitive processing or automatic inhibition. Default brain activity reflects the stream of consciousness and sense of self at rest. Analysis of brain activity at rest in persons
with mindfulness propensity may help to elucidate the neurophysiological basis of this important mental trait. Dispositional Mindfulness (DM) was operationalized by Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Brain resting metabolic activity was assessed by Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-18-FDG PET). It was shown that resting cerebral glucose metabolism of the superior parietal lobule and the left precuneus/Brodmann Area (BA) 7 was positively associated with DM. Activity of the left inferior frontal orbital gyrus (BA 47) and bilateral anterior thalamus were inversely associated with DM. DM appears to be associated with increased metabolic activity in some core area of the default mode network (DMN) and areas connected to the DMN, such as BA 7, hosting sense of self functions. Hypometabolism on the other hand was found in some nodes connected to the DMN, such as left inferior frontal orbital gyrus and bilateral thalamus, commonly related to functions of memory retrieval, decision making or outward attention.

Literatur: Gartenschläger M et al. Mindfulness 2017 in press» weiterlesen» einklappen