Announcements & News
- Chinese Meditation Prompts Double Positive Punch in Brain White Matter – Texas Tech Today
Related News Clips: TopNews.in, BioScholar, Asian Scientist, CBC News, Doctors Lounge, News track india, Medical Express, Spiegel Online, Science ORF.at, Frankfurter Rundschau, Kleine Zeitung, Krone.at, Focus online, Scienza & Tecnica, La Repubblica, Benessere Blog, AGI Salute, Financial Times Deutschland (70+ articles) - Yi-Yuan Tang Named Director of Neuroimaging Institute – Texas Tech Today, November 15, 2011
- Texas Tech Creates New Neuroimaging Institute – Texas Tech Discoveries, Spring 2011
- TTNI staff will be speaking with interested researchers in their home departments late march and early April.
Please contact Kasey Rieken, at kasey.rieken@ttu.edu, to be added to the schedule. - Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT) Meditation Found to Boost Brain Connectivity – Science Daily
 |
Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), Dr. Tang's lab recently demonstrated the mechanisms of white matter changes induced by 11 h of IBMT. Reductions in radial diffusivity (RD) have been interpreted as improved myelin but reductions in axial diffusivity (AD) involve other mechanisms, such as axonal density. After 11h IBMT, both RD and AD decrease accompanied by increased FA, indicating improved efficiency of white matter involves increased myelin as well as other axonal changes. However, 5h IBMT reduced AD, but not RD or FA, and improved moods. Our results demonstrate the time-course of white matter neuroplasticity in short-term meditation, see details on Tang et al, PNAS, 2012 [pdf] |
 |
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is part of a network implicated in the development of self-regulation and whose connectivity changes dramatically in development. In previous studies we showed that 3 h of IBMT increases ACC activity and improves self-regulation. We here report that 11 h of IBMT increases fractional anisotropy (FA), an index indicating the integrity and efficiency of white matter in the corona radiata, an important white-matter tract connecting the ACC to other structures. Thus IBMT could provide a means for improving self-regulation and perhaps reducing or preventing various mental disorders. (Fig. white matter track for one subject.) See details on Tang et al, PNAS, 2010 [pdf] |