Matthew D. Sacchet is a neuroscientist, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, and Director of the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital ("Mass General"). His research focuses on advancing the science of meditation and includes studies of brain structure and function using multimodal neuroimaging, in addition to clinical trials, neuromodulation (neurofeedback and neurostimulation), and computational approaches (e.g., machine learning). He is notable for his work at the intersection of meditation, neuroscience, and mental illness. His work has been cited over 6,000 times and covered by major media outlets including CBS, NBC, NPR, Time, Vox, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2017 Forbes Magazine selected Sacchet for the “30 Under 30”.
Education
Sacchet received a Sc.B. in Contemplative Science from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Neurosciences from Stanford University.
Academia
Career
Sacchet has held research positions at Brown University, Harvard University, McLean Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Tübingen, and Stanford University. Since 2019, he has been faculty at Harvard Medical School and since 2022 Massachusetts General Hospital where he directs the Meditation Research Program. The Meditation Research Program is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. The Meditation Research Program uses research approaches from affective and cognitive neuroscience, applied phenomenology, clinical psychology and psychiatry, computer science and related computational disciplines, contemplative and religious studies, neuroimaging and electrophysiology, psychometrics and psychological assessment, and psychosomatic medicine. The goal of the Meditation Research Program is to “contribute to improving individual well-being and the collective health of society by informing the development of meditation training and meditation-based interventions that are more effective, efficient, and targeted.”
Work
Sacchet’s work has influenced several areas, including the science of meditation, brain connectivity in depression, machine learning and person-specific biomarkers for depression, and depression and the brain across the lifespan.
References
- ^ "Matthew D. Sacchet". Harvard Brain Science Initiative. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- "Publications".
- ^ "Matthew Sacchet". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- "Matthew D. Sacchet". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- "Mindfulness". www.cbsnews.com. 14 December 2014. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- Lewis, Tanya. "How Your Brain Ignores Distractions". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- "Pain Really Is All In Your Head And Emotion Controls Intensity". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- "Why the Patriots Will Forget About Deflategate". Time. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- Jarow, Oshan (2023-08-22). "Meditation is more than either stress relief or enlightenment". Vox. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
- Hsu, Michael (2015-12-31). "Can Meditation Gadgets Help You Reduce Your Stress—and Find Happiness?". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- "Matthew Sacchet". mbb.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
- "Matthew Sacchet".
- ^ "Meditation Research Program". meditation.mgh.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- "Psychiatric Neuroimaging Division". Massachusetts General Hospital. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
- "Mathew Sacchet | Martinos Center". 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
- Roberts-Wolfe, Douglas; Sacchet, Matthew; Hastings, Elizabeth; Roth, Harold; Britton, Willoughby (2012). "Mindfulness Training Alters Emotional Memory Recall Compared to Active Controls: Support for an Emotional Information Processing Model of Mindfulness". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 6: 15. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00015. ISSN 1662-5161. PMC 3277910. PMID 22347856.
- Kerr, Catherine E.; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Lazar, Sara W.; Moore, Christopher I.; Jones, Stephanie R. (2013). "Mindfulness starts with the body: somatosensory attention and top-down modulation of cortical alpha rhythms in mindfulness meditation". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 7: 12. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00012. ISSN 1662-5161. PMC 3570934. PMID 23408771.
- van Lutterveld, Remko; Houlihan, Sean D.; Pal, Prasanta; Sacchet, Matthew D.; McFarlane-Blake, Cinque; Patel, Payal R.; Sullivan, John S.; Ossadtchi, Alex; Druker, Susan; Bauer, Clemens; Brewer, Judson A. (May 2017). "Source-space EEG neurofeedback links subjective experience with brain activity during effortless awareness meditation". NeuroImage. 151: 117–127. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.047. ISSN 1053-8119. PMC 5001938. PMID 26921712.
- Lifshitz, Michael; Sacchet, Matthew; Huntenburg, Julia; Thiery, Thomas; Fan, Yan; Gärtner, Matti; Grimm, Simone; Winnebeck, Emilia; Fissler, Maria (2019-05-30). "Mindfulness-based therapy regulates brain connectivity in major depression". Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 88 (6): 375–377. doi:10.31231/osf.io/ctkwq. PMID 31509824. S2CID 243254702.
- Sezer, Idil; Pizzagalli, Diego A.; Sacchet, Matthew D. (2022). "Resting-state fMRI functional connectivity and mindfulness in clinical and non-clinical contexts: A review and synthesis". Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 135: 104583. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104583. ISSN 0149-7634. PMC 9083081. PMID 35202647. S2CID 247013699.
- Sparby, Terje; Sacchet, Matthew D. (2022-01-28). "Defining Meditation: Foundations for an Activity-Based Phenomenological Classification System". Frontiers in Psychology. 12: 795077. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.795077. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 8832115. PMID 35153920.
- Yang, Winson Fu Zun; Chowdhury, Avijit; Bianciardi, Marta; van Lutterveld, Remko; Sparby, Terje; Sacchet, Matthew D. (2023-11-06). "Intensive whole-brain 7T MRI case study of volitional control of brain activity in deep absorptive meditation states". Cerebral Cortex. 34 (1): bhad408. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhad408. ISSN 1460-2199. PMC 10793575. PMID 37943791.
- Chowdhury, Avijit; van Lutterveld, Remko; Laukkonen, Ruben E.; Slagter, Heleen A.; Ingram, Daniel M.; Sacchet, Matthew D. (2023-11-05). "Investigation of advanced mindfulness meditation "cessation" experiences using EEG spectral analysis in an intensively sampled case study". Neuropsychologia. 190: 108694. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108694. hdl:1871.1/5cdd1195-31bf-4eeb-8689-0d96a367a204. ISSN 0028-3932.
- Wright, Malcolm J.; Sanguinetti, Joseph L.; Young, Shinzen; Sacchet, Matthew D. (2023-05-01). "Uniting Contemplative Theory and Scientific Investigation: Toward a Comprehensive Model of the Mind". Mindfulness. 14 (5): 1088–1101. doi:10.1007/s12671-023-02101-y. ISSN 1868-8535.
- Galante, Julieta; Grabovac, Andrea; Wright, Malcolm; Ingram, Daniel M.; Van Dam, Nicholas T.; Sanguinetti, Joseph L.; Sparby, Terje; van Lutterveld, Remko; Sacchet, Matthew D. (2023-05-01). "A Framework for the Empirical Investigation of Mindfulness Meditative Development". Mindfulness. 14 (5): 1054–1067. doi:10.1007/s12671-023-02113-8. ISSN 1868-8535.
- Sacchet, Matthew D; Ho, Tiffany C; Connolly, Colm G; Tymofiyeva, Olga; Lewinn, Kaja Z; Han, Laura KM; Blom, Eva H; Tapert, Susan F; Max, Jeffrey E; Frank, Guido KW; Paulus, Martin P (November 2016). "Large-Scale Hypoconnectivity Between Resting-State Functional Networks in Unmedicated Adolescent Major Depressive Disorder". Neuropsychopharmacology. 41 (12): 2951–2960. doi:10.1038/npp.2016.76. ISSN 0893-133X. PMC 5061890. PMID 27238621.
- Ho, Tiffany C; Sacchet, Matthew D; Connolly, Colm G; Margulies, Daniel S; Tymofiyeva, Olga; Paulus, Martin P; Simmons, Alan N; Gotlib, Ian H; Yang, Tony T (2017-05-29). "Inflexible Functional Connectivity of the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Adolescent Major Depressive Disorder". Neuropsychopharmacology. 42 (12): 2434–2445. doi:10.1038/npp.2017.103. ISSN 0893-133X. PMC 5645733. PMID 28553837.
- Pines, Adam R.; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Kullar, Monica; Ma, Jun; Williams, Leanne M. (2018-09-19). "Multi-unit relations among neural, self-report, and behavioral correlates of emotion regulation in comorbid depression and obesity". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 14032. Bibcode:2018NatSR...814032P. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-32394-2. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 6145883. PMID 30232351. S2CID 52299935.
- Hamilton, J. Paul; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Hjørnevik, Trine; Chin, Frederick T.; Shen, Bin; Kämpe, Robin; Park, Jun Hyung; Knutson, Brian D.; Williams, Leanne M.; Borg, Nicholas; Zaharchuk, Greg (2018-11-30). "Striatal dopamine deficits predict reductions in striatal functional connectivity in major depression: a concurrent 11C-raclopride positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation". Translational Psychiatry. 8 (1): 264. doi:10.1038/s41398-018-0316-2. ISSN 2158-3188. PMC 6269434. PMID 30504860.
- Sacchet, Matthew D; Prasad, Gautam; Foland-Ross, Lara C; Joshi, Shantanu H; Hamilton, J; Thompson, Paul M; Gotlib, Ian H (2014). "Structural abnormality of the corticospinal tract in major depressive disorder". Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders. 4 (1): 8. doi:10.1186/2045-5380-4-8. ISSN 2045-5380. PMC 4187017. PMID 25295159.
- Sacchet, Matthew D.; Prasad, Gautam; Foland-Ross, Lara C.; Thompson, Paul M.; Gotlib, Ian H. (2015-02-18). "Support Vector Machine Classification of Major Depressive Disorder Using Diffusion-Weighted Neuroimaging and Graph Theory". Frontiers in Psychiatry. 6: 21. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00021. ISSN 1664-0640. PMC 4332161. PMID 25762941.
- Sacchet, Matthew D.; Livermore, Emily E.; Iglesias, Juan Eugenio; Glover, Gary H.; Gotlib, Ian H. (September 2015). "Subcortical volumes differentiate Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and remitted Major Depressive Disorder". Journal of Psychiatric Research. 68: 91–98. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.06.002. ISSN 0022-3956. PMID 26228406.
- Foland-Ross, Lara C.; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Prasad, Gautam; Gilbert, Brooke; Thompson, Paul M.; Gotlib, Ian H. (2015-08-24). "Cortical thickness predicts the first onset of major depression in adolescence". International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience. 46 (1): 125–131. doi:10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2015.07.007. ISSN 0736-5748. PMC 4604750. PMID 26315399.
- Kambeitz, Joseph; Cabral, Carlos; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Gotlib, Ian H.; Zahn, Roland; Serpa, Mauricio H.; Walter, Martin; Falkai, Peter; Koutsouleris, Nikolaos (September 2017). "Detecting Neuroimaging Biomarkers for Depression: A Meta-analysis of Multivariate Pattern Recognition Studies". Biological Psychiatry. 82 (5): 330–338. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.10.028. ISSN 0006-3223. PMID 28110823. S2CID 1666174.
- Miller, Chris H.; Hamilton, J. Paul; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Gotlib, Ian H. (2015-10-01). "Meta-analysis of Functional Neuroimaging of Major Depressive Disorder in Youth". JAMA Psychiatry. 72 (10): 1045–1053. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.1376. ISSN 2168-622X. PMID 26332700.
- Ho, Tiffany C.; Zhang, Shunan; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Weng, Helen; Connolly, Colm G.; Henje Blom, Eva; Han, Laura K. M.; Mobayed, Nisreen O.; Yang, Tony T. (2016-02-01). "Fusiform Gyrus Dysfunction is Associated with Perceptual Processing Efficiency to Emotional Faces in Adolescent Depression: A Model-Based Approach". Frontiers in Psychology. 7: 40. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00040. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 4740953. PMID 26869950.
- Sacchet, Matthew D.; Camacho, M. Catalina; Livermore, Emily E.; Thomas, Ewart A.C.; Gotlib, Ian H. (2017-05-01). "Accelerated aging of the putamen in patients with major depressive disorder". Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience. 42 (3): 164–171. doi:10.1503/jpn.160010. ISSN 1180-4882. PMC 5403661. PMID 27749245.
- Tymofiyeva, Olga; Connolly, Colm G.; Ho, Tiffany C.; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Henje Blom, Eva; LeWinn, Kaja Z.; Xu, Duan; Yang, Tony T. (January 2017). "DTI-based connectome analysis of adolescents with major depressive disorder reveals hypoconnectivity of the right caudate". Journal of Affective Disorders. 207: 18–25. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.09.013. ISSN 0165-0327. PMC 5107159. PMID 27673479.
External links
- Mass General/Harvard Meditation Research Program
- Google Scholar profile
- Mass General/Harvard Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging Investigator profile
- Harvard Brain Science Initiative Faculty profile
- Harvard Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative Faculty profile