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"Age effects on gray matter volume and attentional performance in Zen meditation", Neurobiology of Aging
Zen meditation, a Buddhist practice centered on attentional and postural
self-regulation, has been speculated to bring about beneficial long-term
effects for the individual, ranging from stress reduction to improvement
of cognitive function. In this study, we examined how the regular
practice of meditation may affect the normal age-related decline of
cerebral gray matter volume and attentional performance observed in
healthy individuals.
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), a recent technique to measure gray matter
changes from MRI brain scans, and a computerized task of sustained
attention were employed in 13 regular practitioners of Zen meditation
and 13 control subjects matched for age and education level who never
practiced meditation. While both total gray matter volume and
attentional performance displayed the expected decrease with age in
control subjects, meditators did not show such a trend. Furthermore, the
difference in volumetric decline between meditators and controls was
most prominent in the putamen, a basal ganglia structure that has been
implicated in attentional processing in general and attention deficit
and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in particular. While results will need
to be confirmed by a longitudinal study on a larger sample, these
findings suggest that the regular practice of meditation may have
neuroprotective effects and reduce the cognitive decline associated with
normal aging. |
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