In some types of meditation, such as mindfulness and Zen, breathing is the focus of attention, whereas during an excessive, short-period of anaerobic exercise, the muscles become the focus of attention. Thus, during both efforts, one’s attention is focused on a certain feature of the body. Both meditation and exercise generally provide mental refreshment to humans. We hypothesized that the same brain regions are activated by both efforts in humans. To examine this hypothesis, we engaged participants in 3 tasks: meditation, exercise, and a control task. After each task, the participants underwent a 2-back test to concentrate their thoughts, while changes in their blood hemoglobin levels were simultaneously monitored using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Seventeen participants (20–24 years of age; 11 men, 6 women) were enrolled. We applied a fast-Fourier transform (FFT) analysis to the NIRS wave data and calculated the correlation coefficients of the FFT data between (1) meditation and control, (2) exercise and control, and (3) meditation and exercise, at the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), brain areas that are generally involved in mental refreshment. A significant difference in the correlation coefficients between the OFC and DLPFC was detected in the meditation and exercise analysis, and signal source analysis confirmed that the NIRS waves spread from the right and left OFC edges (i.e., right and left temples) toward the center. Our results suggest that both meditation and exercise activate the OFC, which is involved in emotional reactions and motivation behavior, resulting in mental refreshment.

Pain in the elbow, shoulder, knee, lower back, and various other joints is relieved by adhesion of pyramidal thorn patches. To elucidate the pain relief mechanism induced by the patches, we established a quantitative method for estimating the pain reduction and investigated the brain regions that change in association with pain relief. We first attempted to quantify the pain relief using transcutaneous electric stimulation (TCES) and a visual analog scale (VAS), and then applied near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to the prefrontal cortex, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). We also examined the salivary oxytocin levels, which are thought to reflect oxytocin secretion levels from the posterior pituitary in the brain. Application of pyramidal thorn patches to pain regions decreased the pain degree estimated using TCES and VAS. Oxyhemoglobin levels were likely to be decreased in the left DLPFC on the basis of NIRS measurements during patch treatment, suggesting that the left DLPFC is involved in pain relief. On the other hand, the salivary oxytocin levels varied widely. A potential reason for the varying salivary oxytocin levels is its utilization in the pain region as an analgesic agent. Our results suggest that the left DLPFC will become a target brain region for pain therapy.

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e e ect of a task that encouraged participants to divide their attention between a present distractive task and previous negative events on improving negative mood and evaluation was investigated. Participants n 24 were randomly assigned to three task groups: A distraction, B distraction while recalling negative events, and C recalling negative events without distraction. en, they performed each task for 10 minutes. Negative mood and the evaluation of previous negative events were assessed a er induced rumination, task engagement, and resting for two minutes. Analyses of variance indicated no signi cant di erences in negative mood between the groups. However, groups A and B, compared to group C showed a higher reduction in the evaluation of negative events. Moreover, only group B showed a signi cant reduction in negative evaluation between a er task and a er resting. ese results suggest that when a person cannot stop ruminating about negative events, distraction with recalling negative events would be more e ective for improving negative evaluations than merely continuing to ruminate.

Focused-distraction (FD), which aims to interrupt negative thoughts, is a major coping strategy for depressive moods, but it may also function as maladaptive avoidance and prevent acknowledging problems. This study compared the effects of FD and dividing-attention distraction (DD), a strategy to think about a negative past event while engaging in distraction, on mood and thoughts about the event. Sixty-five students (undergraduates and graduates) ruminated about negative past events, followed by an 8-minute DD, FD, or no-task session, and then a 5-minute rest. After one week, students ruminated again. Participants' moods and evaluations of negative events were measured after the initial rumination, task session, rest, and the second rumination. The FD group showed lower anxiety than other groups after each task but FD group participants with high-rumination levels showed higher tenseness than the no-task group after the second rumination. The rate of DD participants who reported non-negative thoughts after one week was higher than the FD group. These findings suggest that one's attentional state while using distraction affects mood and attitude with respect to a negative memory.