ObjectivesTo investigate regional differences in grey matter volume associated with the practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation.DesignTwenty three experienced practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and twenty three non-meditators matched on age, gender and education level, were scanned using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging and their grey matter volume were compared using Voxel-Based Morphometry.ResultsGrey matter volume was larger in meditators relative to non-meditators across the whole brain. In addition, grey matter volume was larger in several predominantly right hemispheric regions: in insula, ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex, inferior temporal and parietal cortices as well as in left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and left insula. No areas with larger grey matter volume were found in non-meditators relative to meditators.ConclusionsThe study shows that long-term practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation is associated with larger grey matter volume overall, and with regional enlargement in several right hemispheric cortical and subcortical brain regions that are associated with sustained attention, self-control, compassion and interoceptive perception. The increased grey matter volume in these attention and self-control mediating regions suggests use-dependent enlargement with regular practice of this meditation.

The major objectives of this study were to develop a questionnaire based on the National Association for the Education of Young Children guidelines (1986) for developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education and to use this questionnaire for obtaining information regarding kindergarten teachers' beliefs and practices. The Teacher Questionnaire containing two subscales, the Teachers' Beliefs Scale and the Instructional Activities Scale, was constructed and administered to 113 kindergarten teachers from four Southern states. In addition to encouraging psychometric properties, positive correlations were found between develomentally appropriate beliefs and activities (r = .63, p = .000) as well as between developmentally inappropriate beliefs and activities (r = .71, p = .000). The teachers with higher ratings on developmentally appropriate beliefs felt more in control of planning and implementation of instruction than did the teachers with lower ratings. The Teacher Questionnaire shows promise of being a useful instrument for the study of teachers' perceptions of their beliefs and practices. The information obtained supports the contention that there is a great deal of teaching in today's kindergartens which is not congruent with NAEYC standards for developmentally appropriate practice.The publication of guidelines for developmentally appropriate early childhood educational practices by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 1986) served as an impetus to develop a means for identifying kindergarten teachers who value and exemplify such practices and those who do not. The authors decided to construct a questionnaire that could be used for this purpose. This article describes the development and characteristics of The Teacher Questionnaire and the information obtained from administering the questionnaire to 113 kindergarten teachers.

Abstract-Some meditation techniques teach the practitioner to achieve the state of mental silence. The aim of this study was to investigate brain regions that are associated with their volume and functional connectivity (FC) with the depth of mental silence in long-term practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation. Twenty-three longterm practitioners of this meditation were scanned using Magnetic Resonance Imaging. In order to identify the neural correlates of the depth of mental silence, we tested which gray matter volumes (GMV) were correlated with the depth of mental silence and which regions these areas were functionally connected to under a meditation condition. GMV in medial prefrontal cortex including rostral anterior cingulate cortex were positively correlated with the subjective perception of the depth of mental silence inside the scanner. Furthermore, there was significantly increased FC between this area and bilateral anterior insula/putamen during a meditation-state specifically, while decreased connectivity with the right thalamus/parahippocampal gyrus was present during the meditation-state and the resting-state. The capacity of long-term meditators to establish a durable state of mental silence inside an MRI scanner was associated with larger gray matter volume in a medial frontal region that is crucial for topdown cognitive, emotion and attention control. This is furthermore corroborated by increased FC of this region during the meditation-state with bilateral anterior insula/putamen, which are important for interoception, emotion, and attention regulation. The findings hence suggest that the depth of mental silence is associated with medial fronto-insular-striatal networks that are crucial for top-down attention and emotional control.

El objetivo principal de este estudio consistió en la baremación y el análisis del desarrollo evolutivo, en una amplia muestra de población infantil de habla española, de dos pruebas destinada a la evaluación de la fluidez verbal (semántica y fonológica). Analizamos el desarrollo de ambas tareas dentro de un contexto de diseño transversal. Se seleccionó una muestra de 1.032 sujetos con edades comprendidas entre los 6 años y 3 meses y los 12 años y cuatro meses que cursaban entre primero y sexto de educación primaria. La fluidez verbal semántica se evaluó con la tarea de evocación ‘de animales en un minuto’ y la fluidez verbal fonológica se evaluó con las consignas ‘F, A, M’. Los resultados muestran una mejora progresiva en el rendimiento en función de la edad en ambas pruebas. Se presentan tablas de medias, desviación estándar y percentiles para los distintos grupos de edad.

Despite a poor/moderate inter-rater agreement between parent and expert opinions, all agreed that the quality of the web-based information on treatment choices for ADHD is generally poor.

Meditators appear to pass through an initial intense neural self-control process necessary to silence their mind. After this they experience relatively reduced brain activation concomitant with the deepening of the state of mental silence over right inferior frontal cortex, probably reflecting an effortless process of attentional contemplation associated with this state.

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