Mindfulness and meditation - Real-Time Neurofeedback: A Window Into the Meditating Mind Artwork

The Dr. Jud Podcast

Welcome to the Dr. Jud podcast. I am an addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist. My lab first at Yale and now at Brown University has been researching how our brains form negative behavior patterns, bad habits and addictions, and the specific techniques needed to create lasting change. My aim with this podcast, is to use every day issues that we all struggle with from anxiety to emotional eating to self judgment to help us understand how our minds work so that we can put them to work for us. I'll show you how you can use your brain to overcome the habits and “everyday addictions” that are holding you back. And along the way, you'll learn how helping yourself can help create a kinder and more compassionate world. Thank you for your interest in learning how to work with your mind.-Dr. Jud Brewer

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The Dr. Jud Podcast

Mindfulness and meditation - Real-Time Neurofeedback: A Window Into the Meditating Mind

April 19, 2025 • Dr. Jud Brewer

Effortless Awareness: Using Real-Time Neurofeedback to Investigate Correlates of Posterior Cingulate Cortex Activity in Meditators' Self-Report explores how real-time fMRI neurofeedback can link meditation experience to brain activity. In this episode, Dr. Jud Brewer and his collaborators discuss their groundbreaking study, which analyzed first-person reports of experienced meditators and real-time feedback of posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) activity. The study reveals how “effortless awareness” and “undistracted attention” correlate with PCC deactivation, while “efforting” and “distraction” activate the region. These findings provide fresh insights into the neuroscience of mindfulness, self-referential processing, and how meditation can train the brain towards a state of effortless presence.

Reference:
Garrison KA, Santoyo JF, Davis JH, Thornhill TA IV, Kerr CE, Brewer JA. Effortless Awareness: Using Real-Time Neurofeedback to Investigate Correlates of Posterior Cingulate Cortex Activity in Meditators' Self-Report. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2013;7:440. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00440

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