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Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Jun 15;44(9):3795-3814.
doi: 10.1002/hbm.26312. Epub 2023 Apr 17.

Cognition, body, and mind: A three-in-one coordinate-based fMRI meta-analysis on cognitive, physical, and meditative trainings

Sara Lo Presti  1 , Sara Origlia  2 , Claudia Gianelli  3 , Nicola Canessa  1   2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Cognition, body, and mind: A three-in-one coordinate-based fMRI meta-analysis on cognitive, physical, and meditative trainings

Sara Lo Presti et al. Hum Brain Mapp. .

Abstract

While mounting evidence shows promising effects of brain training on cognitive functioning in healthy and pathological conditions, the spread of variable training approaches highlights the need to compare their efficacy and identify their neural correlates, representing possible targets for neuromodulation treatments. We performed coordinate-based functional magnetic resonance imaging meta-analyses to compare the neural correlates and the cognitive outcomes of cognitive (n = 22), physical (n = 22), and meditative (n = 20) training in healthy non-expert individuals. Pre/post-training cognitive metrics improved after cognitive and physical training, but their heterogeneity, or even the lack of these measurements in some studies, highlights the need of more structured protocols. Cognitive, physical, and meditative interventions increased brain activity in distinct fronto-medial areas likely mediating training effects on cognitive, action, and attentional control, respectively. The modular, training-specific, engagement of a region that is known to mediate feedback-based learning provides cues for boosting brain training via combined interventions that might jointly outperform their individual effects.

Keywords: cognitive training; fMRI; medial prefrontal cortex; meditative training; meta-analysis; physical training; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) flowchart of both original (13 April 2021) and updated (22 December 2022) literature search and selection process for cognitive training.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) flowchart of both original (13 April 2021) and updated (22 December 2022) literature search and selection process for physical training.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) flowchart of both original (13 April 2021) and updated (22 December 2022) literature search and selection process for meditative training.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
From top to bottom, the figure depicts the areas that were consistently associated with cognitive (red), physical (green), and meditative (blue) training (a), as well as their respective connectivity coactivation maps generated by Neurosynth (yellow; b–d) and the overlap of the coactivation maps in the midcingulate cortex (e). Colourbars represent the strength of activation likelihood estimation (ALE) scores, that is, the voxel‐wise consistency of brain activity across the included studies.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
The figure depicts the areas that were specifically associated with cognitive, physical, or meditative training, as shown by pairwise direct comparisons.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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