> > > Functional MRI shows how mindfulness meditation changes decision-making > process > > April 20th, 2011 in Neuroscience > > If a friend or relative won $100 and then offered you a few dollars, would > you accept this windfall? The logical answer would seem to be, sure, why not? > "But human decision making does not always appear rational," said Read > Montague, professor of physics at Virginia Tech and director of the Human > Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. > > According to research conducted over the last three decades; only about > one-fourth of us would say, "Sure. Thanks." The rest would say, "But that's > not fair. You have lots. Why are you only giving me a few?" In fact, people > will even turn down any reward rather than accept an 'unfair' share. > > Unless they are Buddhist meditators, in which case – fair or not – more than > half will take what is offered, according to new research by Ulrich Kirk, > research assistant professor with the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at > Virginia Tech; Jonathan Downar, assistant professor with the Neuropsychiatry > Clinic and the Centre for Addition and Mental Health at the University of > Toronto; and Montague, published in the April 2011 issue of Frontiers in > Decision Neuroscience. > > Their research shows that Buddhist meditators use different areas of the > brain than other people when confronted with unfair choices, enabling them to > make decisions rationally rather than emotionally. The meditators had trained > their brains to function differently and make better choices in certain > situations. > > The research "highlights the clinically and socially important possibility > that sustained training in mindfulness meditation may impact distinct domains > of human decision making," the researchers write. > > The research came about when Montague wondered whether some people are > capable of ignoring the social consideration of fairness and can appreciate a > reward based on its intrinsic qualities alone. "That is," he said, "can they > uncouple emotional reaction from their actual behavior?" > > Using computational and neuroimaging techniques, Montague studies the > neurobiology of human social cognition and decision-making. He and his > students recruited 26 Buddhist meditators and 40 control subjects for > comparison and looked at their brain processes using functional MRI (fMRI) > while the subjects played the "ultimatum game," in which the first player > propose how to divide a sum of money and the second can accept or reject the > proposal. > > The researchers hypothesized that "successful regulation of negative > emotional reactions would lead to increased acceptance rates of unfair > offers" by the meditators. The behavioral results confirmed the hypothesis. > > But the neuroimaging results showed that Buddhist meditators engaged > different parts of the brain than expected. Kirk, Downar, and Montague > explained that "The anterior insula has previously been linked to the emotion > of disgust, and plays a key role in marking social norm violations, > rejection, betrayal, and mistrust. In previous studies of the ultimatum game, > anterior insula activity was higher for unfair offers, and the strength of > its activity predicted the likelihood of an offer being rejected. In the > present study, this was true for controls. However, in meditators, the > anterior insula showed no significant activation for unfair offers, and there > was no significant relationship between anterior insula activity and offer > rejection. Hence, meditators were able to uncouple the negative emotional > response to an unfair offer, presumably by attending to internal bodily > states (interoception) reflected by activity in the posterior insula." > > The researchers conclude, "Our results suggest that the lower-level > interoceptive representation of the posterior insula is recruited based on > individual trait levels in mindfulness. When assessing unfair offers, > meditators seem to activate an almost entirely different network of brain > areas than do normal controls. Controls draw upon areas involved in theory of > mind, prospection, episodic memory, and fictive error. In contrast, > meditators instead draw upon areas involved in interoception and attention to > the present moment. …This study suggests that the trick may lie not in > rational calculation, but in steering away from what-if scenarios, and > concentrating on the interoceptive qualities that accompany any reward, no > matter how small." > > More information: The article, "Interoception drives increased rational > decision-making in meditators playing the Ultimatum Game," is available at > http://bit.ly/gp6YnA > > Provided by Virginia Tech > > > "Functional MRI shows how mindfulness meditation changes decision-making > process." April 20th, 2011. > http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-functional-mri-mindfulness-meditation-decision-making.html >
