# Brain Mechanisms Supporting Mindfulness Meditation-Induced Pain and Stress Relief

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2024 · $76,756

## Abstract

Project Summary
Stress and chronic pain disorders are comorbid conditions wherein stress exacerbates pain. Mindfulness
meditation, a non-opioidergic and self-regulatory technique that trains non-reactive awareness to arising
sensory and affective events, reduces clinical and experimentally induced pain and stress. Our recently
completed psychophysical and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study found that four, 20-minute
sessions of mindfulness training in healthy participants reduced stress ( 39%, p = .023) and pain intensity (
32%, p < .001) in response to noxious heat (49°C). Stress reductions also predicted lower pain intensity (p
= .013). The perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), a cognitive-affective brain area involved in
reappraisal, and the amygdala, a key brain area involved in sensory and emotional processing, are associated
with modulating pain and stress and share extensive anatomical connections. Our laboratory has
demonstrated that increased pgACC activity underlies mindfulness-induced reductions in pain and anxiety in
healthy individuals, while mindfulness-induced deactivation of the amygdala has been shown to correlate with
pain and stress relief across separate studies. Despite these findings, no study has determined whether
mindfulness meditation promotes stress relief and analgesia by modulating the pgACC and corresponding
neural activity in and connectivity between nociceptive and negative affect-specific brain regions. To this end,
we will analyze the blood-oxygen-level-dependent fMRI data corresponding to our behavioral findings to test
the following hypotheses. We will first determine if higher pgACC (HYP1a) and lower amygdala (HYP1b)
activity during mindfulness is associated with higher pain/stress relief. We will next determine if increased
pgACC-amygdalar functional connectivity correlates with mindfulness-induced pain (HYP1c) and stress relief
(HYP1d). Our preliminary analyses found that mindfulness-induced analgesia correlates with reductions in
machine-learned, multivariate fMRI signatures sensitive and specific to nociception (neurologic pain signature;
NPS, p = .03) and stimulus-induced negative affect (p = .01). We will similarly determine if reductions in
negative affect brain responses correspond to stress relief (HYP2a). Finally, we will confirm if increased NPS-
(HYP2b) and negative affect signature- (HYP2c) pgACC connectivity is associated with pain and/or stress
relief. The proposed research and training will be accomplished under the mentorship of my Sponsor, Co-
sponsors, and Co-Mentor, who are experts in fMRI clinical trials on pain, meditation, and/or stress. Activities
include a) training in pain-evoking procedures and statistical and computational techniques, programming, and
neuroanatomy for analysis of behavioral and fMRI data b) ethical interactions with individuals with chronic pain
and stress, c) scientifically validated mindfulness training, and d) fostering career developmen...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10888176
- **Project number:** 5F32AT012587-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Jon Gregory Dean
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $76,756
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-01 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10888176

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10888176, Brain Mechanisms Supporting Mindfulness Meditation-Induced Pain and Stress Relief (5F32AT012587-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10888176. Licensed CC0.

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