Cross-sectional white matter microstructure differences in age and trait mindfulness

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Gerontology

Background:

• Aging is associated with cognitive decline and brain structural changes.
• Understanding how psychological factors like mindfulness interact with aging is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate changes in trait mindfulness during aging.
• To identify brain structural alterations linked to aging and mindfulness.
• To explore the mediating role of mindfulness in age-related brain changes.

Main Methods:

• Collected Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) data for trait mindfulness.
• Acquired diffusion-weighted imaging (DTI) data from 97 middle-aged to elderly participants.
• Analyzed white matter integrity using diffusion tensor modeling.

Main Results:

• Trait mindfulness showed an increase with advancing age.
• White matter integrity decreased with age, indicated by increased radial diffusivity and decreased fractional anisotropy (FA).
• Trait mindfulness mediated the relationship between age and FA in specific white matter tracts (internal/external capsule, corona radiata).

Conclusions:

• Trait mindfulness may mitigate age-associated declines in white matter integrity.
• Mindfulness may play a protective role against neurocognitive decline in aging.
• This study pioneers the use of DTI to examine the age and mindfulness relationship.