App-based mindfulness meditation training enhances cognitive flexibility and modulates ACC and medial frontal gyrus activation during task switching in adolescent OCD.
Neuroimage. Reports June 1, 2026 Sarah Rempel, Maria McDonald, Veit Roessner et al.
Adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder who completed an app-based mindfulness training showed improved cognitive flexibility compared to those who listened to audiobooks. In a randomized trial with 53 participants aged 10–19, the mindfulness group had reduced switch costs on a task-switching paradigm. EEG data analyzed with multivariate pattern analysis revealed that mindfulness training altered brain activity related to response selection in the medial frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex between 300 and 400 milliseconds after a stimulus. The findings suggest that mindfulness meditation enhances cognitive flexibility by modulating frontal brain processes involved in choosing how to respond.