The Individual Difference Of Dispositional Mindfulness: The Structural And Functional Basis

Mindfulness meditation is typically characterized as an attribute of open-hearted awareness of moment-to-moment perceptible experience without judging,within Buddhist perspective,which is regarded as an assistant method in clinical treatment.Most of the studies of mindfulness meditation focus on deliberate mindfulness(the part of mindfulness that can be altered by training),and few studies have explored the association between neuroanatomy/brain activity and individual differences in mind meditation,but for meditation exploring individual differences is necessary.Firstly,the individual differences(dispositional mindfulness)that exist in each person before the start of dispositional mindfulness training may affect the effect of training.Secondly,mindfulness meditation training is not effective for everyone.Then for those who do not want to participate in the group or do not want to participate in long-term training,whether we can through the change of dispositional mindfulness rather than intentional mindfulness(deliberate mindfulness)to achieve the purpose of improving mental health.These are based on the accurate understanding of the individual differences of dispositional mindfulness.In contrast to the rapid increase in the number of mindfulness meditation intervention study,the study of individual differences in dispositional mindfulness is much less,and then the individual differences of many dispositional mindfulness dimensions in the level of various brain structure and functional indicators explore even less.Moreover,the multidimensional,multilevel,and static alternation of the dispositional mindfulness has determined that it has a complex working mechanism,and that everyone's response to the mindfulness meditation is different.So the individual difference of mindfulness is very complicated.At present,the neuroanatomial and functional basis of midnfulness meditation is unknown,and the use of cortical index(cortical volume,thickness,surface area,etc.)to explore the individual differences in dispositional mindfulness is not seen.In short,for the brain structure and functional basis of individual differences in dispositional mindfulness need further exploration,and from the nerve level to understand the minds of meditation of the various components and mechanisms.The first part of this study was based on the most classic single-dimensional questionnaires,which was used to measure the dispositional mindfulness.The behavioral data of study 1 were collected from the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale,Baker Depression Questionnaire,Emotional Regulatory Questionnaire.And,the brain structural data also was collected.Using the freesurfer software package to execute the correlation analysis between the questionnaire scores and the cerebral cortex of the various surface indicators(cortical thickness,cortical surface area,cortical volume).And then using the average signal of significant brain areas,Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale scores,depression scores/emotional regulation scores perform mediation analysis.Finally,it was found that there was a significant positive correlation between the MAAS scores and the cortical volume of the precuneus,and the correlation between precuneus and severity of depression was influenced by dispositional mindfulness.Study 2 was a longitudinal study,which aim to test the stability of the results of study 1.One year later,the subjects who participated in the study 1 were recruited(re-measured over half of the subjects)and then Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale was performed.Then,the correlation between the average signal value of the precuneus in study 1 and the score of this behavior test was analysed.Finally,it was found that the brain signal of the precuneus was significantly correlated with the second behavior scores,indicating that the precuneus was able to predict the dispositional mindfulness after one year.The results demonstrate the stability of the precuneus,which may be the critical brain area of dispositional mindfulness.In Study 3,we selected the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire as a tool for multidimensional measurement of mindfulness.This part attempted to examine the components of dispositional mindfulness from the perspective of neuroimaging.Because of the mindfulness measurement of study 1 was a single dimension.In order to more fully examine individual differences in brain structure and function of dispositional mindfulness,this research finally selects Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire.At the same time,Beck Depression Inventory and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire were performed.Brain imaging data was collected in the structure and resting state.In addition,various studies indicated that mindfulness has a very positive role in mental health,but few studies investigated the correlation in dispositional mindfulness,brain,and mental health from the view of trait mindfulness.So this study used the mediating effect analysis through the analysis of the brain-trait mindfulness-mental health to verify the potential positive effects of mindfulness meditation of individual differences on mental health.Finally,we found that describing dimension was significant positively correlated to the cortical surface of the right inferior frontal cortex(BA 46),c(BA 40),left superior frontal gyrus(BA 9)and the cortical volume of the right inferior frontal gyrus(BA46).And nonjudging dimension was significantly related to cortical surface of superior frontal cortex(BA 10)and occipital cortex.In addition,there was a negative correlation between nonreactivity dimension and the cortical thickness of right superior frontal gyrus(BA 8),and through analysis of resting state functional connectivity,the functional connectivity between precuneus and medial prefrontal cortex was negatively related to nonreactivity.What is more,describing mediated the association between the GM volume of right inferior frontal cortex(BA 46)and the cognitive reappraisal strategies of emotion regulation.The mediating effects show that trait mindfulness may play a protective role in emotion regulation.In general,these brain areas not only play a key role in self-awareness,but also play an important role in attentional control and emotional regulation,and those three are important components of mindfulness meditation.Combining the three parts of this study,we can see that the individual differences in mindfulness meditaion measured by Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale were mainly reflected in the cortical volume of the precuneus,which mainly involved in self-awareness.The individual differences in mindfulness meditaion measured by Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire were mainly reflected in the structure of superior/inferior frontal cortex and inferior parietal lobule and in the functional connectivity between precuneus and medial prefrontal cortex.These regions selectively engaged in self-awareness(especially in sensory information and internal bodily sensations)and emotion regulation.