Abstract
Previous studies have shown that dispositional mindfulness is positively associated with cognitive performance, including the ability to stop behavioral actions (formally called inhibitory control). However, some studies suggest that the relationship may be context dependent. The current study addressed previous limitations and focused on the role of reward context regarding the relationship between mindfulness and inhibitory control. Seventy-five participants (31 men, 44 women) between 18–50 years old (M = 30, SD = 9) were included in the final sample. Participants filled out a self-report measure of mindfulness and performed a stop signal task with three conditions that varied in terms of reward context. In the neutral condition, go stimuli (stimuli to which a response was required) were letters; in the food and money condition, these were pictures of food and money, respectively. Results showed that inhibitory control was reduced in the money condition relative to the neutral condition (p = 0.012). Mindfulness was positively correlated with inhibitory control, but only in the money condition (p = 0.001). However, results might differ when inhibitory control is required while perceiving a learned reward-related stimulus. The latter represents an open question for future research.
Highlights
Inhibitory control is important for adaptive everyday functioning
Less is known about dispositional mindfulness in relation to inhibitory control, though previous studies have indicated that high dispositional, or in other words trait, mindfulness is associated with improved executive functioning using mixed measures [7,8]
We found that the MAAS score was inversely related to the stop signal reaction time in the money condition, indicating a positive association between mindfulness and inhibitory control when perceiving money-related stimuli
Summary
Inhibitory control is important for adaptive everyday functioning. Previous studies suggest that mindfulness training is positively associated with executive functions, including inhibitory performance [5,6], which obviously has clinical implications. Less is known about dispositional mindfulness in relation to inhibitory control, though previous studies have indicated that high dispositional, or in other words trait, mindfulness is associated with improved executive functioning using mixed measures [7,8]. Previous studies have suggested that mindfulness is associated with improved cognitive performance [6,10,11]. Mindfulness training has been shown to enhance go/nogo type task performance [5], which may suggest an inhibitory improvement. In such a task, visual go stimuli to which a simple response is required are presented sequentially
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