Meditation, mindfulness and other mind-body practices have been increasingly studied in the recent years, as also related to their beneficial effects on cognition, physical and mental health.
The research project will focus on Focused Attention Meditation (FAM) and another mind-body practice, Quadrato Motor Training (QMT), with established effects on cognition, brain, body and psychological wellbeing. It is linked to recent important trends in cognitive neuroscience and biology, in an original integration with focus on FAM and QMT training and related longitudinal assessment.
Based on the interdisciplinary expertise and multiple research methods, the project is aimed to an advance in research about meditation and the neurocognitive and molecular correlates of mind-body practices, with a particular focus on brain networks and epigenetics, as well as relationships between variables at different levels: mental, behavioral (associated to cognition and emotion), electrophysiological, and molecular.
The research will involve three groups of participants (FAM, QMT, and control group) that will be assessed two times with an interval of 12 weeks.
To assess brain networks, EEG resting and task-related recording will be performed. Attentional functions will be assessed through the Attentional Network Test. To assess cognitive control, the Stroop task will be performed, also in its emotional form.
At the molecular level, we will investigate effects through the gene expression and the epigenetic regulation analysis of neurotrophin genes. To this end, saliva samples from participants practicing QMT and FAM (as well as in the control group) will be collected,
We will also assess correlations and conduct predictive and causal statistical analyses between measures at different levels, including electrophysiological, cognitive, emotional and molecular measures, in a novel integrated approach.
The research project is expected to provide an advance in research about meditation and the neurocognitive and molecular correlates of mind-body practices, with a particular focus on brain networks and epigenetics, as well as interactions between variables at different levels: mental/subjective, behavioral (associated to attentional/cognitive and emotional/emotion regulation factors), electrophysiological, and molecular.
Based on recent trens in neuroscience, promisingly, meditation and mindfulness training efficiently train and balance the interactions between key brain networks (Tang et al., 2015). This has the potential to affect a set of brain functions and states including executive control, cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, as well as reactions of the autonomous nervous system. Meditation is indeed suggested to be one of the most effective methods of training multiple brain networks and brain states, including those believed to be altered in ageing and in major neurological disorders and psychopathologies (Tang et al., 2015).
Our project is expected to lead to an increased understanding of how key brain networks and their interplay are affected by two forms of mind-body training, as also related to relevant neurocognitive and neuroaffective functions, as well as self-reported indices of psychological wellbeing and mind states, in an integrated approach.
At molecular and cellular levels, meditation and mindfulness are regarded as promising for salutary effects on stress and ageing (Epel et al., 2009). An inverse relationship between pro-NGF and pro-BDNF expression was described following 4-12 weeks of daily QMT practice (Ben-Soussan et al., 2015; Venditti et al., 2015). The dynamic multi-level regulation of neurotrophin expression may explain how cellular signalling and genomic programs enable excitable cells, such as neurons, to cope with adverse environmental stimuli through mind-body and meditation/mindfulness practices aimed at achieving an increased state of well-being.
At the molecular level, the planned experiments aim to establish a link between MBPs and DNA methylation profiles at selected genes, relevant for brain function and cognition. A relevant output may be the characterization of specific DNA methylation profiles capable to predict the response triggered by different external factors/stimuli and to represent a sort of stress/wellness biomarkers.
We also originally aim to study correlations between effects of mind-body training on oscillatory activity of the brain, with particular reference to the key brain networks SN, CEN and DMN, effects in terms of molecular/epigenetic factors, and effects on psychological wellbeing, by also keeping into account causality and predictive analysis, in an integrated approach bridging multiple levels.
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