@article{5d9e71d2b0984f849f79342a28e6aec2,
title = "Nonlinear brain correlates of trait self-boundarylessness",
abstract = "Alterations of the sense of self induced by meditation include an increased sense of boundarylessness. In this study, we investigatedbehavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging correlates of trait self-boundarylessness during resting state and the performanceof two experimental tasks. We found that boundarylessness correlated with greater self-endorsement of words related to fluidityand with longer response times in a math task. Boundarylessness also correlated negatively with brain activity in the posterior cingulatecortex/precuneus during mind-wandering compared to a task targeting a minimal sense of self. Interestingly, boundarylessnessshowed quadratic relations to several measures. Participants reporting low or high boundarylessness, as compared to those in between,showed higher functional connectivity within the default mode network during rest, less brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortexduring self-referential word processing, and less self-endorsement of words related to constancy. We relate these results to our previousfindings of a quadratic relation between boundarylessness and the sense of perspectival ownership of experience. Additionally,an instruction to direct attention to the centre of experience elicited brain activation similar to that of meditation onset, includingincreases in anterior precentral gyrus and anterior insula and decreases in default mode network areas, for both non-meditators andexperienced meditators.",
keywords = "self-boundaries, fMRI, self-referential processing",
author = "Lena Lindstr{\"o}m and Philippe Goldin and Johan M{\aa}rtensson and Etzel Carde{\~n}a",
year = "2023",
doi = "10.1093/nc/niad006",
language = "English",
journal = "Neuroscience of Consciousness",
issn = "2057-2107",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
}