Dynamic functional connectivity signatures of focused attention on the breath in adolescents

Breathing meditation typically consists of directing attention toward breathing and redirecting attention when the mind wanders. As yet, we do not have a full understanding of the neural mechanisms of breath attention, in particular, how large-scale network interactions may be different between breath attention and rest and how these interactions may be modulated during periods of on-task and off-task attention to the breath. One promising approach may be examining fMRI measures including static connectivity between brain regions as well as dynamic, time-varying brain states. In this study, we analyzed static and dynamic functional connectivity in 72 adolescents during a breath-counting task (BCT), leveraging physiological respiration data to detect objective on-task and off-task periods. During the BCT relative to rest, we identified increases in static connectivity within attention-direction and orienting networks and anticorrelations between attention networks and the DMN. Dynamic connectivity analysis revealed four distinct brain states, including a DMN-anticorrelated brain state, proportionally more present during the BCT than the rest. We found there were distinct brain state markers of (i) breathing tasks vs rest and (ii) momentary on-task vs off-task attention within the BCT, yet in this analysis, no identifiable brain states reflecting between-individual behavioral variability.