***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: Background : Social anxiety disorder ( SAD ) is characterized by distorted self-views . The goal of this study was to examine whether mindfulness-based stress reduction ( MBSR ) alters behavioral and brain measures of negative and positive self-views . Methods : Fifty-six adult patients with generalized SAD were r and omly assigned to MBSR or a comparison aerobic exercise ( AE ) program . A self-referential encoding task was administered at baseline and post-intervention to examine changes in behavioral and neural responses in the self-referential brain network during functional magnetic resonance imaging . Patients were cued to decide whether positive and negative social trait adjectives were self-descriptive or in upper case font . Results : Behaviorally , compared to AE , MBSR produced greater decreases in negative self-views , and equivalent increases in positive self-views . Neurally , during negative self versus case , compared to AE , MBSR led to increased brain responses in the posterior cingulate cortex ( PCC ) . There were no differential changes for positive self versus case . Secondary analyses showed that changes in endorsement of negative and positive self-views were associated with decreased social anxiety symptom severity for MBSR , but not AE . Additionally , MBSR-related increases in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex ( DMPFC ) activity during negative self-view versus case were associated with decreased social anxiety related disability and increased mindfulness . Analysis of neural temporal dynamics revealed MBSR-related changes in the timing of neural responses in the DMPFC and PCC for negative self-view versus case . Conclusion : These findings suggest that MBSR attenuates maladaptive habitual self-views by facilitating automatic ( i.e. , uninstructed ) recruitment of cognitive and attention regulation neural networks . This highlights potentially important links between self-referential and cognitive-attention regulation systems and suggests that MBSR may enhance more adaptive social self-referential processes in patients with SAD Decentering has been proposed as a potential mechanism of mindfulness-based interventions but has received limited empirical examination to date in experimental studies comparing mindfulness meditation to active comparison conditions . In the present study , we compared the immediate effects of mindful breathing ( MB ) to two alternative stress-management techniques : progressive muscle relaxation ( PMR ) and loving-kindness meditation ( LKM ) to test whether decentering is unique to mindfulness meditation or common across approaches . Novice meditators ( 190 female undergraduates ) were r and omly assigned to complete one of three 15-min stress-management exercises ( MB , PMR , or LKM ) presented by audio recording . Immediately after the exercise , participants completed measures of decentering , frequency of repetitive thoughts during the exercise , and degree of negative reaction to thoughts . As predicted , participants in the MB condition reported greater decentering relative to the other two conditions . The association between frequency of repetitive thought and negative reactions to thoughts was relatively weaker in the MB condition than in the PMR and LKM conditions , in which these two variables were strongly and positively correlated . Consistent with the construct of decentering , the relative independence between these two variables in the MB condition suggests that mindful breathing may help to reduce reactivity to repetitive thoughts . Taken together , results help to provide further evidence of decentering as a potential mechanism that distinguishes mindfulness practice from other credible stress-management approaches 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 amygdala – prefrontal connectivity were correlated with change in Beck Anxiety Inventory ( BAI ) scores , suggesting clinical relevance of these changes . Amygdala – prefrontal connectivity turned from negative coupling ( typically seen in down-regulation of emotions ) , to positive coupling ; potentially suggesting a unique mechanism of mindfulness . Findings suggest that in GAD , mindfulness training leads to changes in fronto-limbic areas crucial for the regulation of emotion ; these changes correspond with reported symptom improvements Cardiovascular fitness is thought to offset declines in cognitive performance , but little is known about the cortical mechanisms that underlie these changes in humans . Research using animal models shows that aerobic training increases cortical capillary supplies , the number of synaptic connections , and the development of new neurons . The end result is a brain that is more efficient , plastic , and adaptive , which translates into better performance in aging animals . Here , in two separate experiments , we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge , in humans that increases in cardiovascular fitness results in increased functioning of key aspects of the attentional network of the brain during a cognitively challenging task . Specifically , highly fit ( Study 1 ) or aerobically trained ( Study 2 ) persons show greater task-related activity in regions of the prefrontal and parietal cortices that are involved in spatial selection and inhibitory functioning , when compared with low-fit ( Study 1 ) or nonaerobic control ( Study 2 ) participants . Additionally , in both studies there exist groupwise differences in activation of the anterior cingulate cortex , which is thought to monitor for conflict in the attentional system , and signal the need for adaptation in the attentional network . These data suggest that increased cardiovascular fitness can affect improvements in the plasticity of the aging human brain , and may serve to reduce both biological and cognitive senescence in humans Mindfulness-based stress reduction ( MBSR ) is an established program shown to reduce symptoms of stress , anxiety , and depression . MBSR is believed to alter emotional responding by modifying cognitive-affective processes . Given that social anxiety disorder ( SAD ) is characterized by emotional and attentional biases as well as distorted negative self-beliefs , we examined MBSR-related changes in the brain-behavior indices of emotional reactivity and regulation of negative self-beliefs in patients with SAD . Sixteen patients underwent functional MRI  while reacting to negative self-beliefs and while regulating negative emotions using 2 types of attention deployment emotion regulation-breath-focused attention and distraction-focused attention . Post-MBSR , 14 patients completed neuroimaging  assessment s. Compared with baseline , MBSR completers showed improvement in anxiety and depression symptoms and self-esteem . During the breath-focused attention task ( but not the distraction-focused attention task ) , they also showed ( a ) decreased negative emotion experience , ( b ) reduced amygdala activity , and ( c ) increased activity in brain regions implicated in attentional deployment .  MBSR training in patients with SAD may reduce emotional reactivity while enhancing emotion regulation . These changes might facilitate reduction in SAD-related avoidance behaviors , clinical symptoms , and automatic emotional reactivity to negative self-beliefs in adults with SAD Inhibitory control and error detection are among the highest evolved human self-monitoring functions . Attempts in functional neuroimaging to effectively isolate inhibitory motor control from other cognitive functions have met with limited success . Different brain regions in inferior , mesial , and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices and parietal and temporal lobes have been related to inhibitory control in go/no-go and stop tasks . The widespread activation reflects the fact that the design s used so far have comeasured additional noninhibitory cognitive functions such as selective attention , response competition , decision making , target detection , and inhibition failure . Here we use rapid , mixed trial , event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to correlate brain activation with an extremely difficult situation of inhibitory control in a challenging stop task that controls for noninhibitory functions . The difficulty of the stop task , requiring withholding of a triggered motor response , was assured by an algorithm that adjusted the task individually so that each subject only succeeded on half of all stop trials , failing on the other half . This design allowed to elegantly separate brain activation related to successful motor response inhibition and to inhibition failure or error detection . Brain activation correlating with successful inhibitory control in 20 healthy volunteers could be isolated in right inferior prefrontal cortex . Failure to inhibit was associated with activation in mesial frontopolar and bilateral inferior parietal cortices , presumably reflecting an attention network for error detection 
    Output:
    
Results showed a predominance of greater prefrontal/frontal activity related to meditation , which might indicate the increased recruitment of cognitive/attentional control re sources in naïve and long-term meditators .
This increased frontal activity was also observed when participants were asked to simply react to negative stimuli .
Findings from emotion-related areas were scarce but suggested increased insular activity in meditators , potentially indicating that meditation might be associated with greater bodily awareness .
Conclusions : Meditation practice prompts regulatory mechanisms when participants face aversive stimuli , even without an explicit request .
Moreover , some studies reported increased insular activity in meditators , consistent with the hypothesis that meditation helps foster an interoceptive awareness of bodily and emotional states