Inside the mindful moment: The effects of brief mindfulness practice on large-scale network organization and intimate partner aggression

Abstract

Mindfulness can produce neuroplastic changes that support adaptive cognitive and emotional functioning. Recently interest in single-exercise mindfulness instruction has grown considerably due to the advent of mobile health technology. Accordingly, the current study sought to extend neural models of mindfulness by investigating transient states of mindfulness during single-dose exposure to focused attention meditation. Specifically, we examined the ability of a brief mindfulness induction to attenuate intimate partner aggression via adaptive changes to intrinsic functional brain networks. To do so, we employed a dual regression approach to examine large-scale functional network organization in 50 intimate partner dyads (total n = 100) while they received either mindfulness (n = 50) or relaxation (n = 50) instruction. Mindfulness instruction reduced coherence within the Default Mode Network and increased functional connectivity within the Frontoparietal Control and Salience Networks. Additionally, mindfulness decoupled primary visual and attention-linked networks. Yet this induction was unable to elicit changes in subsequent intimate partner aggression and such aggression was broadly unassociated with any of our network indices. These findings suggest that minimal doses of focused attention-based mindfulness can promote transient changes in large-scale brain networks that have uncertain implications for aggressive behavior.