As Intentional Mindfulness is practiced, the brain begins to acquire "learned" mindfulness (otherwise known as Dispositional or Trait Mindfulness). Extensively trained mindfulness practitioners have a keen sense of their current surroundings, a deep understanding of the body, and overall contain high levels of Dispositional Mindfulness. 

University of Toledo

Mindfulness meditation  may  effect the cognitive processes of enhanced self-regulation, including attention control, emotion regulation and self-awareness.  Scientists have discovered changes in brain structure related to mindfulness meditation in brain regions that control these cognitive processes.

Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation

The study of Intentional Mindfulness within the lens of Neurobiology. In other words, figuring out what brain functions correspond to the experience of Intentional Mindfulness. 

The Neurobiology of Intentional Mindfulness

Wheeler, M., Arnkoff, D., & Glass, C. (2017). The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: How Mindfulness Alters the Brain and Facilitates Emotion Regulation. Mindfulness, 8(6), 1471-1487.

Wheeler, Arnkoff, & Glass (2017)

Volumetry

Concentration

Thickness

Fractional Anisotropy

Diffusivity

Gyrification

Morphometric measures used to study neural changes in meditation practitioners 

Morphometric neuroimaging seeks to discover whether meditation is a form of skill learning that can produce anatomical changes in the brain. These  changes would  implicate  increases in brain structure as a partial neural explanation for the numerous cognitive and emotional benefits of mediation.

Meaning of changes in brain structure of meditators

Mindfulness meditation improves conflict monitoring and reduces attentional blink. These changes were studies using the attention network test (ANT) and other experimental paradigms to determine the effects of meditation on attentional performance.

Effects of mindfulness meditation on attention

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to lead to the development of skills that allow individuals to regulate their emotions effectively as they arise. 

Through fMRI and DTI, activity changes were shown in several regions, including: amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and adjacent prefrontal cortex. 
Decreased activity in the amygdala and insula, paired with increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and adjacent prefrontal cortex, signifies both more stability in emotion regulation and better impulse control.

Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Emotion Regulation

- models of food intake regulation that emphasize the interplay of psychological and physiological control processes
- self-regulation theory
- neuro-cognitive and therapeutic models of mindfulness meditation

Theoretical Approaches in Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training

- Anterior Cingulate Cortex
- Insular Cortex
- Prefrontal Cortex
- Amygdala

Areas of the Brain Responsible for Mindfulness

The Mindfully Trained Brain

Experienced mindfulness practitioners with extensive engagement in deliberate mindfulness practice displayed greater cortical thickness in areas of the brain thought to be important for attentional control.

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