Expertise-dependent hub and axis reorganization of functional brain networks during meditation state.

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• Tun Jao, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
• Tuesday 11 June 2013, 11:00-12:00
• BCNI seminar room, Sir William Hardy Building, Downing Site.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Mikail Rubinov.

Meditation is one of the few distinct and reversible states of consciousness, and it therefore provides the chance to study neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) from a different angle. In this study, we explored meditation by using graph theoretical methods on rs-fMRI data of Taoist meditators. Although common network metrics were well preserved during the meditation state, Taoist meditation was characterized by an extensive and expertise-dependent reorganization of the hubs. Furthermore, we demonstrated that axis reorganization of brain networks underpinned the observed hub reorganization. Without global wiring cost changes, meditation state introduced a new balance between grid-like long-range transverse and longitudinal network edges. We propose that this large-scale reorganization of network hubs and directionality might be a prerequisite for the shift in consciousness during meditation state.

This talk is part of the Brain Mapping Unit Networks Meeting and the Cambridge Connectome Consortium series.

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• BCNI seminar room, Sir William Hardy Building, Downing Site
• Brain Mapping Unit Networks Meeting and the Cambridge Connectome Consortium
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