Default Mode Network, Meditation, and Age-Associated Brain Changes: What Can We Learn from the Impact of Mental Training on Well-Being as a Psychotherapeutic Approach?

Figure 1

Typology of meditation practices and role of attentional family in the regulation of DMN and TPN networks. The traditional and contemporary meditation practices, following the classification of Dahl et al., can be grouped into attentional, constructive, and deconstructive families. According to this model, the primary cognitive mechanisms in these three families are (i) attention regulation and meta-awareness for the attentional family; (ii) perspective taking and reappraisal for the constructive family; (iii) and self-inquiry and insight for the deconstructive family. Attentional family practices teach a variety of processes related to the regulation of attention through 2 main techniques: focus attention (FA) and open monitoring meditation (OM) (see the text). Regardless of the used method, the activity of the default mode network (DMN) and task-positive networks (TPN) could be voluntarily modulated after the continuous training through their upregulation (green arrows) or downregulation (red-dotted arrows).