Creswell et al. (2007) also found trait mindfulness scores to be positively related both to higher activations in regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during emotional threat, and a dampening of amygdala activation through this higher PFC activation in a way theorized to reflect better emotion regulation. (academic.oup.com)
(A) RVLPFC activity during labeling of emotions as a function of psychosocial resources; (B) Left amygdala activation during threat task as a function of psychosocial resources; (C) Relation of left amygdala during threat task to cortisol reactivity during TSST. (pnas.org)
Collectively, this is indicative of a threat - response system that is overly sensitized, with greater amygdala activation combined with more compromised PFC suppression and down - regulation of the emotional threat response [36, 38, 39 • •, 40, 95]. (link.springer.com)