***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: Therapeutic interventions that incorporate training in mindfulness meditation have become increasingly popular , but to date little is known about neural mechanisms associated with these interventions . Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction ( MBSR ) , one of the most widely used mindfulness training programs , has been reported to produce positive effects on psychological well-being and to ameliorate symptoms of a number of disorders . Here , we report a controlled longitudinal study to investigate pre-post changes in brain gray matter concentration attributable to participation in an MBSR program . Anatomical magnetic resonance ( MR ) images from 16 healthy , meditation-naïve participants were obtained before and after they underwent the 8-week program . Changes in gray matter concentration were investigated using voxel-based morphometry , and compared with a waiting list control group of 17 individuals . Analyses in a priori regions of interest confirmed increases in gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus . Whole brain analyses identified increases in the posterior cingulate cortex , the temporo-parietal junction , and the cerebellum in the MBSR group compared with the controls . The results suggest that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes , emotion regulation , self-referential processing , and perspective taking Previous work suggests that explicit and implicit evaluations ( goodbad ) involve somewhat different neural circuits that process different dimensions such as valence , emotional intensity , and complexity . To better underst and these differences , we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify brain regions that respond differentially to such dimensions depending on whether or not an explicit evaluation is required . Participants made either  goodbad judgments ( evaluative ) or abstract concrete judgments ( not explicitly evaluative ) about socially relevant concepts ( e.g. , murder , happiness , abortion , welfare ) . After scanning , participants rated the concepts for goodness , badness , emotional intensity , and how much they tried to control their evaluation of the concept . Amygdala activation correlated with emotional intensity and right insula activation correlated with valence in both tasks , indicating that these aspects of stimuli were processed by these areas regardless of intention . In contrast , for the explicitly evaluative goodbad task only , activity in the anterior cingulate , frontal pole , and lateral areas of the orbital frontal cortex correlated with ratings of control , which in turn were correlated with a measure of ambivalence . These results highlight that evaluations are the consequence of complex circuits that vary depending on task dem and Mindfulness meditation reduces  pain  in experimental and clinical setting s. However , it remains unknown whether mindfulness meditation engages pain-relieving mechanisms other than those associated with the placebo effect ( e.g. , conditioning , psychosocial context , beliefs ) . To determine whether the analgesic mechanisms of mindfulness meditation are different from placebo , we r and omly assigned 75 healthy , human volunteers to 4 d of the following : ( 1 )  mindfulness meditation , ( 2 ) placebo conditioning , ( 3 ) sham mindfulness meditation , or ( 4 ) book-listening control intervention . We assessed intervention efficacy using psychophysical evaluation of experimental pain and functional neuroimaging . Importantly , all cognitive manipulations ( i.e. , mindfulness meditation , placebo conditioning , sham mindfulness meditation ) significantly attenuated pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings when compared to rest and the control condition ( p < 0.05 ) . Mindfulness meditation  reduced pain intensity ( p = 0.032 ) and pain unpleasantness ( p < 0.001 ) ratings more than placebo analgesia . Mindfulness meditation also reduced pain intensity ( p = 0.030 ) and pain unpleasantness ( p = 0.043 ) ratings more than sham mindfulness meditation . Mindfulness-meditation-related pain relief was associated with greater activation in brain regions associated with the cognitive modulation of pain , including the orbitofrontal , subgenual anterior cingulate , and anterior insular cortex . In contrast , placebo analgesia was associated with activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and deactivation of sensory processing regions ( secondary somatosensory cortex ) . Sham mindfulness meditation-induced analgesia was not correlated with significant neural activity , but rather by greater reductions in respiration rate . This study is the first to demonstrate that mindfulness-related pain relief is mechanistically distinct from placebo analgesia . The elucidation of this distinction confirms the existence of multiple , cognitively driven , supraspinal mechanisms for pain modulation . SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent findings have demonstrated that mindfulness meditation significantly reduces pain . Given that the “ gold st and ard ” for evaluating the efficacy of behavioral interventions is based on appropriate placebo comparisons , it is imperative that we establish whether there is an effect supporting meditation-related pain relief above and beyond the effects of placebo . Here , we provide novel evidence demonstrating that mindfulness meditation produces greater pain relief and employs distinct neural mechanisms than placebo cream and sham mindfulness meditation . Specifically , mindfulness meditation-induced pain relief activated higher-order brain regions , including the orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices . In contrast , placebo analgesia was associated with decreased pain-related brain activation . These findings demonstrate that mindfulness meditation  reduces pain through unique mechanisms and may foster greater acceptance of meditation as an adjunct pain therapy OBJECTIVE The aim of the current study is to investigate structural changes on brain MRI using voxel based morphometry ( VBM ) related to an eight-week mindfulness based intervention ( MBI ) in Parkinson 's Disease ( PD ) . METHODS A total of 27 out of 30 PD patients completed a r and omized controlled longitudinal trial . Fourteen patients participated in a structured eight-week program of MBI .  Thirteen patients received usual care ( UC ) alone . MRI data sets of the brain were obtained at baseline and after eight weeks follow-up . VBM analysis was performed using DARTEL from the SPM8 software . The result ing difference maps were statistically compared to examine gray matter density ( GMD ) differences . Results were reported at p<0.001 , uncorrected for multiple comparisons . RESULTS Increased GMD was found in the MBI compared to the UC group in the region of interest ( ROI ) analysis in the right amygdala , and bilaterally in the hippocampus . Whole brain analysis showed increased GMD in the left and right cau date nucleus , the left occipital lobe at the lingual gyrus and cuneus , the left thalamus , and bilaterally in the temporo-parietal junction . In contrast , GMD differences were found in the UC group in the left anterior lobe and dentate nucleus of the cerebellum . CONCLUSIONS To the best of our knowledge this is the first quantitative analysis of neurobiological effects of MBI in PD . Increased GMD was found in the MBI group in the neural networks that have been postulated to play an important role in PD . These areas have also been implicated in the functional networks mediating the benefits of meditation Flaws in the design , conduct , analysis , and reporting of r and omised trials can cause the effect of an intervention to be underestimated or overestimated . The Cochrane Collaboration ’s tool for assessing risk of bias aims to make the process clearer and more Emotions have been shown to exert influences on decision making during economic exchanges . Here we investigate the underlying neural mechanisms of a training regimen which is hypothesized to promote emotional awareness , specifically mindfulness training ( MT ) . We test the hypothesis that MT increases  cooperative economic decision making using fMRI in a r and omized longitudinal design involving 8 weeks of either MT or active control training ( CT ) .  We find that MT results in an increased willingness to cooperate indexed by higher acceptance rates to unfair monetary offers in the Ultimatum Game . While controlling for acceptance rates of monetary offers between intervention groups , subjects in the MT and CT groups show differential brain activation patterns . Specifically , a subset of more cooperative MT subjects displays increased activation in the septal region , an area linked to social attachment , which may drive the increased willingness to express cooperative behavior in the MT cohort . Furthermore , MT result ed in attenuated activity in anterior insula compared with the CT group in response to unfair monetary offers post-training , which may suggest that MT enables greater ability to effectively regulate the anterior insula and thereby promotes social cooperation . Finally , functional connectivity analyses show a coupling between the septal region and posterior insula in the MT group , suggesting an integration of interoceptive inputs . Together , these results highlight that MT may be employed in context s where emotional regulation is required to promote social cooperation The beneficial effects of mindful awareness and mindfulness meditation training on physical and psychological health are thought to be mediated in part through changes in underlying brain processes . Functional connectivity MRI ( fcMRI ) allows identification of functional networks in the brain . It has been used to examine state-dependent activity and is well suited for study ing states such as meditation . We applied fcMRI to determine if Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction ( MBSR ) training is effective in altering intrinsic connectivity networks ( ICNs ) . Healthy women were r and omly assigned to participate in an 8-week  Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction ( MBSR ) training course or an 8-week waiting period . After 8 weeks , fMRI data ( 1.5 T ) was acquired while subjects rested with eyes closed , with the instruction to pay attention to the sounds of the scanner environment . Group independent component analysis was performed to investigate training-related changes in functional connectivity . Significant MBSR-related  differences in functional connectivity were found mainly in auditory/salience and medial visual networks . Relative to findings in the control group , MBSR subjects showed ( 1 ) increased functional connectivity within auditory and visual networks , ( 2 ) increased functional connectivity between auditory cortex and areas associated with attentional and self-referential processes , ( 3 ) stronger anticorrelation between auditory and visual cortex , and ( 4 ) stronger anticorrelation between visual cortex and areas associated with attentional and self-referential processes . These findings suggest that 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation training alters intrinsic functional connectivity in ways that may reflect a more consistent attentional focus , enhanced sensory processing , and reflective awareness of sensory experience Mindfulness meditation is a set of attention-based , regulatory , and self-inquiry training regimes . Although the impact of mindfulness training ( MT ) on self-regulation is well established , the neural mechanisms supporting such plasticity are poorly understood . MT is thought to act through interoceptive salience and attentional control mechanisms , but until now conflicting evidence from behavioral and neural measures renders difficult distinguishing their respective roles . To resolve this question we conducted a fully r and omized 6 week longitudinal trial of MT , explicitly controlling for cognitive and treatment effects with an active-control group . We measured behavioral metacognition and whole-brain blood oxygenation level-dependent ( BOLD ) signals using functional MRI during an affective Stroop task before and after intervention in healthy human subjects . Although both groups improved significantly on a response-inhibition task , only the MT group showed reduced affective Stroop conflict . Moreover , the MT group displayed greater dorsolateral prefrontal cortex responses during executive processing , consistent with increased recruitment of top-down mechanisms to resolve conflict . In contrast , we did not observe overall group-by-time interactions on negative affect-related reaction times or BOLD responses . However , only participants with the greatest amount of MT practice showed improvements in response inhibition and increased recruitment of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex , medial prefrontal cortex , and right anterior insula during negative valence processing . Our findings highlight the importance of active control in MT research , indicate unique neural mechanisms for progressive stages of mindfulness training , and suggest that optimal application of MT may differ depending on context , contrary to a one-size-fits-all approach Mindfulness-based stress reduction ( MBSR ) is thought to reduce emotional reactivity and enhance emotion regulation in patients with social anxiety disorder ( SAD ) . The goal of this study was to examine the neural correlates of deploying attention to regulate responses to negative self-beliefs using functional magnetic resonance imaging . Participants were 56 patients with generalized SAD in a r and omized controlled trial who were assigned to MBSR or a comparison aerobic exercise ( AE ) stress reduction program . Compared to AE , MBSR yielded greater ( i ) reductions in negative emotion when implementing regulation and ( ii ) increases in attention-related parietal cortical regions . Meditation practice was associated with decreases in negative emotion and social anxiety symptom severity , and increases in attention-related parietal cortex neural responses when implementing attention regulation of negative self-beliefs . Changes in attention regulation during MBSR may be an important psychological factor that helps to explain how mindfulness meditation training benefits patients with anxiety disorders Mindfulness training aims to impact emotion regulation . Generalized anxiety disorder ( GAD ) symptoms can be successfully addressed through mindfulness-based interventions . This preliminary study is the first to investigate neural mechanisms of symptom improvements in GAD following mindfulness training . Furthermore , we compared brain activation between GAD patients and healthy participants at baseline . 26 patients with a current DSM-IV GAD diagnosis were r and omized to an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction ( MBSR , N = 15 ) or a stress management education ( SME , N = 11 ) active control program .  26 healthy participants were included for baseline comparisons . BOLD response was assessed with fMRI during affect labeling of angry and neutral facial expressions . At baseline , GAD patients showed higher amygdala activation than healthy participants in response to neutral , but not angry faces , suggesting that ambiguous stimuli reveal stronger reactivity in GAD patients . In patients , amygdala activation in response to neutral faces decreased following both interventions . BOLD response in ventrolateral prefrontal regions ( VLPFC ) showed greater increase in MBSR than SME participants . Functional connectivity between amygdala and PFC regions increased significantly pre- to post-intervention within the MBSR , but not SME group . Both , change in VLPFC activation and amygd 
    Output:
    
RESULTS The prefrontal cortex , the cingulate cortex , the insula and the hippocampus showed increased activity , connectivity and volume in stressed , anxious and healthy participants .
Additionally , the amygdala showed decreased functional activity , improved functional connectivity with the prefrontal cortex , and earlier deactivation after exposure to emotional stimuli .
Demonstrable functional and structural changes in the prefrontal cortex , cingulate cortex , insula and hippocampus are similar to changes described in studies on traditional meditation practice .
In addition , MBSR led to changes in the amygdala consistent with improved emotion regulation .
These findings indicate that MBSR-induced  emotional and behavioral changes are related to functional and structural changes in the brain