Mindfulness and Enhanced Executive Control: From Training to Trait
Year: 2022
Type: dissertation
Abstract: From mastering a new skill, to planning our finances, to navigating the complex and \ndynamic world of interpersonal relationships, we oftentimes face situations in which relying \non reactive or automatic behavior would lead us astray. Such situations, instead, require \nus to apply top-down, voluntary control of our attention and actions. This critical cognitive \nability, which comprises the functions of inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive \nflexibility, is commonly referred to as executive control. Mindfulness, in turn, is the name \ngiven to a family of mental training regimes intended to foster the regulation of attentional \nand emotional processes (mindfulness training), as well as to the psychological faculty \nthat these practices develop (mindfulness trait). Could the cultivation of mindfulness help \nus strengthen our executive control? This dissertation was proposed with the aim to shed \nlight onto whether or not, to what extent, and by which mechanisms the construct of \nmindfulness (training and trait) is linked to enhanced executive control. \nThree studies along with a broad review and conceptual analysis of the state of the \nevidence in the field were conducted to address this overarching question. These include \n(a) a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials testing the effectiveness of mindfulness \ntraining in enhancing executive control; (b) a highly-powered individual differences \ninvestigation examining the attentional and executive control basis of mindfulness trait \nusing a novel ANTI-Vea task; and, (c) a multi-sample study investigating the \ninterrelationships between self-reported trait mindfulness, external distraction (i.e., \nexecutive control of attention), and internal distraction (i.e., mind-wandering). Finally, the \nmain results from these studies are discussed in the light of (d) an extensive meta-review \nand theoretical analysis of the state of the art of the target literature, which culminates in \nthe proposal of a novel mechanistic account of the relationship between mindfulness and \nexecutive control. The empirical and theoretical analysis conducted throughout this dissertation \nindicates that, based on available evidence, it can be asserted with moderate confidence \nthat mindfulness is linked to enhanced executive control performance. This effect would \nbe circumscribed to the domains of inhibitory control and working memory, while no \nrelationship was revealed for cognitive flexibility. In terms of magnitude, the effect is \nexpected to be rather small under most circumstances. In addition, available evidence \nsuggests that mindfulness brings about this salutary cognitive effect not by enhancing \nexecutive control capacity in itself, but by enabling a more efficient use of it, possibly by \ncausal routes that include downregulation of both affective reactivity and unintended mindwandering \nas core mechanisms. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of \npotentially fruitful avenues for future meta-analytical and empirical research at the \nintersection of mindfulness, mind-wandering, and executive control.
Author: Cásedas Alcaide, Luis
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7011603134