Comment by rd108

The two areas highlighted in the article show prefrontal cortex (front of brain) and PCC (towards the back) shutting down. The prefrontal cortex is associated with executive attention and reasoning, while PCC appears to be differentially dialed up or down in conditions with altered states of consciousness (like people under anesthesia, in a coma, or apparently meditating.) Shameless plug: We're using these neuroscientific insights to design a meditation self-tracking tool at http://brainbot.me now.