Music Therapy Today - World Federation of Music Therapy

Meditating Brains
"One of them is right up in the front of your brain right above your right
eye, and this is an area that's involved in decision making and in working
memory, working short term memory," she explains.
She also saw thickening in another region of the brain, called the insula,
that she considers "a central switchboard of the brain," connecting the
primitive limbic cortex and the more advanced cortex, which is highly
developed in primates and humans. Lazar says this region is thought to
be "involved in coordinating the brain and the body and the emotions and
thoughts," she explains. "It helps us better make decisions."
The researchers think this thickening might help to counteract the natural
thinning of the cortex that occurs as we get older. The brain's cortex starts
getting thinner from about age 20 and continues to thin throughout life.
"It's not a cure-all, but it perhaps can help prevent the loss of some func-
tions," Lazar says. "One small part of the front of the brain does not get
thinner with age… and this suggests that this part of the brain is not
affected by age. And this part of the cortex is involved in short term
working memory and cognitive decision-making."
Their results also suggested that continuing to meditate would continue
the thickening process. "The thickness is strongly correlated with the
amount of experience. So the more they sat, the thicker it was," Lazar
says.
She says she'd expect a similar effect from other forms of meditation. She
plans to further study how meditation might affect mental ability by test-
ing people "at multiple time points and to test their cognitive ability to
Odds and ends - themes and trends 499