Cognitive Control as a Function of Trait Mindfulness

Abstract

Mindfulness is associated with many positive health and lifestyle outcomes, but its effects on domain-general cognitive control have produced mixed results. Recent studies suggest that mindfulness might lead to better inhibitory control because high mindful individuals often have an advantage over low mindful individuals on conflict resolution tasks. Here we show that mindfulness is a better predictor of post-conflict recovery processes than conflict resolution, and this may help to explain discrepancies in the literature. Participants performed a task-switching paradigm in which they encountered occasional conflict trials amongst mostly non-conflict trials. Trait mindfulness (MAAS) scores strongly predicted recovery from conflict as measured on non-conflict trials following the conflict trial but did not predict performance on the conflict trials themselves. These findings are interpreted as evidence that mindfulness is associated with domain-general post-conflict recovery processes rather than inhibitory control.

Differences in Emotional Conflict Processing between High and Low Mindfulness Adolescents: An ERP Study

“…When a distractor attracts attention, it is observed, and attention is refocused on the target object. In other words, highly mindful individuals are good at recovering from distractions and conflict [44]. Therefore, we hypothesized that high trait mindfulness adolescents would show smaller conflict effects than low trait mindfulness adolescents.…”

“…When attention is distracted, the individual becomes aware and refocuses his attention on the task he is performing. In other words, people with high levels of mindfulness are good at refocusing their attention from a conflict situation [ 44 ]. Therefore, we hypothesized that high trait mindfulness adolescents would show smaller conflict effects than low trait mindfulness adolescents.…”

The Role of Trait and State Mindfulness in Cognitive Performance of Male Adolescents

“… 13 Such programmes typically include focused breathing 14 and awareness of senses where students are encouraged to adopt mindfulness as a way of life. Whilst mindfulness has been purported to improve with practice 15 and trait mindfulness predicts the ability to recover from conflict 16 it can also be a negative experience for some adolescents who try to practice it. Due to this age group finding it challenging to be too aware of themselves, coupled with a lack of understanding how awareness works for this sample.…”

Trait Mindfulness and Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Role of Stop and Start Control

“…Schuman-Olivier et al ( 2020) also highlighted that mindfulness can impact self-regulation, including emotional regulation, self-processing, and attention and cognitive control, leading to behavioural changes. Mindfulness has been found to improve inhibition control (Grundy et al, 2018).…”