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Using fNIRS to Examine Neural Mechanisms of Change Associated with Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Stress and Trauma: Results of a Pilot Study for Women

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Abstract

Objectives

This research aimed to examine the mechanisms of change associated with mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) and test the feasibility of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to objectively measure MBI-responsive neuro-cognitive functions impaired by stress and trauma: attentional control (AC), emotional regulation (ER), and working memory (WM).

Methods

fNIRS data were collected from 31 female participants during AC, ER, and WM cognitive tasks. Measurements were conducted at baseline and follow-up. Half of participants (n = 16) engaged in a 6-week MBI, whereas the active control group (n = 15) did not. fNIRS measures blood oxygenation (HbO) and deoxygenation (HbR) in specific brain regions as changes in activation of neural networks.

Results

After using general linear modeling to isolate the hemodynamic response in the fNIRS data, group-level statistical analyses revealed significant (p ≤ .05) changes among the MBI group for AC tasks in the frontopolar area (FP), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and premotor cortex (PMC); these changes were accompanied by significant improvements in AC performances. Among the control group, there was a significant decline in AC task performance and significant decreased OFC activation. Among the MBI group, there were also significant changes in FP and OFC activation during ER tasks and significant changes in OFC and PMC activation during WM tasks. Performance changes for ER and WM tasks were mixed.

Conclusions

fNIRS is a viable means of measuring MBI-related changes in neuro-cognitive activity and MBIs yield significant changes in attentional performance and activation of FP, OFC, and PMC.

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source detector pairings are 3 cm apart in the Hitachi probe configurations

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

DBC: designed and executed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and wrote the paper. LH: collaborated with the design and writing of the study. TG: collected and analyzed the data, and wrote sections of the methodology and parts of the results. RR and MC: collaborated with the design, data analyses, and writing of the manuscript. PK: collaborated in the data collection and editing of the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dessa Bergen-Cico.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Statement

All study procedures were approved by Syracuse University’s Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA. The study’s methods were carried out in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki-World Health Organization’s standard ethical guidelines.

Informed Consent Statement

All participants completed written informed consent prior to enrollment in the study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Bergen-Cico, D., Grant, T., Hirshfield, L. et al. Using fNIRS to Examine Neural Mechanisms of Change Associated with Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Stress and Trauma: Results of a Pilot Study for Women. Mindfulness 12, 2295–2310 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01705-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01705-6

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