Authors: J. A. Brefczynski-Lewis, A. Lutz, H. S. Schaefer, D. B. Levinson and R. J. Davidson
Year: 2007
Title: Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners
Summary: With the use of fMRI it was found that people with an average of 19.000 hours of meditation experience had greater activation of brain regions associated with sustained attention than novice meditators. However it appears that experienced meditators with an average of 44,000 hours meditation had less activation of the same regions (inverted u-shaped curve distribution). When compared to novices, experienced meditators appear to have less brain activation in regions related to discursive thoughts but greater activation in response inhibition regions.
Perspective: Neuroscience
Link: http://www.pnas.org/content/104/27/11483.long#sec-5
The Science of Meditation and Mindfulness 