Mindfulness and dynamic functional neural connectivity in children and adolescents

Publication date: 15 January 2018
Source:Behavioural Brain Research, Volume 336
Author(s): Hilary A. Marusak, Farrah Elrahal, Craig A. Peters, Prantik Kundu, Michael V. Lombardo, Vince D. Calhoun, Elimelech K. Goldberg, Cindy Cohen, Jeffrey W. Taub, Christine A. Rabinak
BackgroundInterventions that promote mindfulness consistently show salutary effects on cognition and emotional wellbeing in adults, and more recently, in children and adolescents. However, we lack understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying mindfulness in youth that should allow for more judicious application of these interventions in clinical and educational settings.MethodsUsing multi-echo multi-band fMRI, we examined dynamic (i.e., time-varying) and conventional static resting-state connectivity between core neurocognitive networks (i.e., salience/emotion, default mode, central executive) in 42 children and adolescents (ages 6–17).ResultsWe found that trait mindfulness in youth relates to dynamic but not static resting-state connectivity. Specifically, more mindful youth transitioned more between brain states over the course of the scan, spent overall less time in a certain connectivity state, and showed a state-specific reduction in connectivity between salience/emotion and central executive networks. The number of state transitions mediated the link between higher mindfulness and lower anxiety, providing new insights into potential neural mechanisms underlying benefits of mindfulness on psychological health in youth.ConclusionsOur results provide new evidence that mindfulness in youth relates to functional neural dynamics and interactions between neurocognitive networks, over time.



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