There is a large amount of evidence into the neurological and biological effects mindfulness has, a number of links to several journals can be found on this page as well as on the research and additional readings sections of the 8 week course.

 

However, Tomasz Jankowski and Pawel Holas proposed a metacognitive model of mindfulness in 2013 where he postulates and discusses 5 hypothesis:

(1) mindfulness is related to the highest level of metacognition;

(2) mindfulness depends on dynamic cooperation of three main components of the metacognition (metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive experiences and metacognitive skills);

(3) a mindful meta-level is always conscious while the other meta-cognitive processes can occur implicitly;

(4) intentionally practiced mindfulness decreases dissociations between awareness and meta-awareness;

(5) components of mindful meta-level develop and change during continuous practice.

The model is discussed in the light of empirical data and other theoretical approaches to mindfulness.

​

A large number of neuroimaging studies have looked at the effects of meditation on brain structure and function and findings have helped clarify the biological underpinnings of the positive effects of meditation practice and the possible integration of this technique in standard therapy. The large amount of data collected so far allows drawing some conclusions about the neural effects of meditation practice. In 2015 Boccia, Piccardi and Guariglia carried out a coordinate-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging data on the effects of meditation on brain structure and function. A summary of the functional

changes in the brain of expert meditators and controls

can be found in table 1. While table 2 is a summary of

sMRI scans looking at changes in the structure of the

brain of those who meditate. Boccia and his colleagues

concluded that meditation leads to activation in brain

areas involved in processing self-relevant information,

self-regulation, focused problem-solving, adaptive behavior, and interoception. Results also showed that meditation practice induces functional and structural brain modifications in expert meditators, especially in areas involved in self-referential processes such as self-awareness and self-regulation. These results demonstrate that a biological substrate underlies the positive pervasive effect of meditation practice and suggest that meditation techniques could be adopted in clinical populations and to prevent disease.

​

​