Fig. 1.
Examples of fMRI Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent percent signal change in a) a novice meditator who was instructed to pay attention to the breath, b) an experienced meditator who was instructed to pay attention to the breath; and c) an experienced meditator who was instructed to pay attention to the breath and in particular any related feeling of interest, wonder, and joy. Percent signal change (calculated relative to an active baseline) in a subregion of the posterior cingulate cortex was displayed after a processing delay of roughly 0.5 seconds (see Scheinost et al for methodological details). Each meditation period lasted three minutes.