{
  "abstract": "How mental training reshapes the temporal architecture of large-scale brain dynamics and how these mechanisms differ between healthy and clinically vulnerable populations remains poorly understood. Time-averaged neural measures collapse the multi-scale nature of brain activity, obscuring the dynamic processes through which behavioural interventions reorganise hierarchical brain function. Here, applying a sliding-window Temporal Irreversibility Index to source-reconstructed EEG across three complementary cohorts (n = 141), we decompose hierarchical brain trajectories into three orthogonal temporal descriptors and uncover two dissociable, mechanistically interpretable axes of intervention-induced plasticity. Cumulative meditation practice drives a universal, pan-cerebral reduction in the exploratory breadth of hierarchical dynamics, tracking dose-dependently with lifetime hours of practice. Temporal persistence is bidirectionally tuned by 8-week mindfulness-based interventions in a population-specific way: reduced in healthy meditators but increased in trauma-exposed individuals, revealing that comparable MBI protocols engage qualitatively distinct network mechanisms depending on baseline clinical status. A joint Hidden Markov Model further links these dynamical shifts to distinct microstate substrates, and longitudinal changes selectively track improvements in a single facet of mindfulness, attentional presence in daily life. Together, these findings establish a mechanistic framework for how behavioural training reorganises non-equilibrium brain dynamics, with direct implications for tailoring mindfulness-based interventions to individual clinical profiles.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.20854",
  "author_total": 14,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Victor Oswald"
    },
    {
      "name": "David Zarka"
    },
    {
      "name": "Riku Johannes Ihalainen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gulshan Kumar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Rikkert Hindriks"
    },
    {
      "name": "Auretta Sonia Kummar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Helen Correia"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hakuei Fujiyama"
    },
    {
      "name": "Saketh Malipeddi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ravindra P Nagendra"
    },
    {
      "name": "Arun Sasidharan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bindu M Kutty"
    },
    {
      "name": "Steven Laureys"
    },
    {
      "name": "Prejaas K. B. Tewarie"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2m07gdqxp49kt.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.20854",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "2m07gdqxp49kt",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.20854",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "q-bio.NC"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3203|Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222703732",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.20854",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-14",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2m07gdqxp49kt.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:55Z",
      "native_id": "2610.20854",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.20854"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "arxiv:q-bio.NC",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Two dissociable axes of brain hierarchical dynamics track universal and population-specific effects of mindfulness",
  "title_text": "Two dissociable axes of brain hierarchical dynamics track universal and population-specific effects of mindfulness",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:55Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2m07gdqxp49kt",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}