Research on Meditation: -changes in brain's emotional processing

Reading the synopsis of this research
Meditation appears to produce enduring changes in emotional processing in the brain: had me asking questions about prayer. First a bit of result.

In the mindful attention group, the after-training brain scans showed a decrease in activation in the right amygdala in response to all images, supporting the hypothesis that meditation can improve emotional stability and response to stress. In the compassion meditation group, right amygdala activity also decreased in response to positive or neutral images. But among those who reported practicing compassion meditation most frequently outside of the training sessions, right amygdala activity tended to increase in response to negative images -- all of which depicted some form of human suffering.

This would play well with what I think is a Christian noetic principle: what we fill our minds and hearts with changes our attitudes, behaviours and character in turn. So my question is whether (as I suspect) practising prayer related to these meditative practices. For example, how about looking into the effects of self-examination and confession? I'm pretty sure that these have made a difference to my neural 'wiring' over the years in ways that might well show up in the amygdala. Or what about intercessory prayer related to matters of compassion? Come to that what about lectio divina /traditional evangelical Quiet Time?

It's useful in considering this to look at this synopsis of research.

"Through continued practice, the person can develop a psychological distance from any negative thoughts and can inhibit natural impulses that constantly fuel bad habits," ... continued practice can also increase empathy and eliminate our attachments to things we like and aversions to things we don't like. "The result of practice is a new You with a new multidimensional skill set for reducing biases in one's internal and external experience and sustaining a healthy mind,"

This is a set of interprentations of research which puts together a set of plausible mechanisms for what is happening to produce healthy thought processes. In doing so it helps to begin to see how other kinds of religious practice might also contribute -as clearly they do.